Romain Gavras blew us away with the spectacular one-shot opening sequence in his last feature, Athena [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]; viewers sitting down to his upcoming film Sacrifice will be holding their breath for a similarly bravura moment. The movie is a modern riff on the Joan of Arc story incorporating a fantastical quest narrative, class warfare and hostage-taking, in which Anya Taylor-Joy (last seen in The Menu and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga) leads a blue-chip cast also featuring Chris Evans, Salma Hayek Pinault, Vincent Cassel, and modern pop stars Charli XCX and Yung Lean. Shooting has just commenced in Greece and Bulgaria.

Taylor-Joy plays (who else but) Joan, a zealous spirit driven by a volcanic prophecy that only she can hear, who is on a mission to save the world from a fiery reckoning. Alongside her militia of mystical disciples, she hijacks a glamorous charity gala and takes three hostages: Mike Tyler (Evans), a beleaguered movie star desperate for redemption; Bracken (Cassel), the world’s richest man; and Katie (Ambika Mod), who’s just unlucky. They are forced on a journey through forest and fire until Mike faces a defining question: what would he sacrifice for humanity?

Gavras co-wrote the screenplay with Will Arbery, a writer and co-producer on Succession. After Athena swiftly went onto Netflix after its Venice bow, Sacrifice has been mounted as an independent production officially attributed to Greece and the UK, making it the director’s first feature not to have France as an official production country. Robert Walak, Jacob Perlin and Gavras produce for international film and content group Iconoclast, together with Giorgos Karnavas for Heretic and Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska, of Mid March Media. CAA Media Finance and Rocket Science are handling worldwide sales.

Co-financing of the project also comes from Film4, Gucci, the Onassis Foundation and Athens Festival. Solent Film provides production services in Bulgaria.

Prior to Athena, Gavras’s debut, The World Is Yours [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Romain Gavras
scheda film], premiered in the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in 2018, building on an early career where he made iconic promos for pop and electronic artists M.I.A., Justice and Jamie xx. His father is the influential and Academy Award-winning Greek-French director Costa-Gavras.