Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro; Quentin Tarantino and Samuel L. Jackson; Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. These are some of the most acclaimed director-actor pairings to ever grace the silver screen. After the success of The Favourite and most recently with Poor Things, Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone are looking to join that coveted club. Kinds of Kindness will mark the two’s fourth project together (they also worked together on the 2022 short film Bleat), and because of their success rate, it has become one of the most anticipated flicks of 2024.
As Stone continues to be one of the front-runners in the Best Actress race, many are looking forward to what the Academy Award winner has up her sleeve next. From the film’s impressive ensemble cast and intriguing plot, here is everything we know about Kinds of Kindness.
Kinds of Kindness
- Main Genre
- Anthology
- Studio(s)
- Film4 , Element Pictures
- Distributor(s)
- Searchlight Pictures
Does ‘Kinds of Kindness’ Have a Release Date?
No, at this time we do not have a release date for Kinds of Kindness. However, since production on the film wrapped over a year ago, it seems very likely that the film will be released in 2024. There is a good chance that the film’s distributor, Searchlight Pictures, will try to capitalize off the success of Poor Things and release the film in December. There is also a good chance that the film will debut at several fall festivals, including the Venice Film Festival and the Telluride Film Festival, much like Lanthimos’ last two films.
Will ‘Kinds of Kindness’ Be in Theaters or on Streaming?
Much like Lanthimos’ other films, it is highly likely that Kinds of Kindness will initially receive an exclusive theatrical release before eventually heading to streaming. The film is being distributed by the Disney-owned Searchlight Pictures, who also distributed The Favourite and Poor Things, so the film will likely make its streaming debut on the merged Disney+ and Hulu app, which is due to launch in spring 2024.
Is There a Trailer for ‘Kinds of Kindness’?
No, a trailer has not yet been released for Kinds of Kindness. We likely won’t receive one until later in 2024 once the film gets a release date.
What Will ‘Kinds of Kindness’ Be About?
Unlike Lanthimos’ other movies, Kinds of Kindness will be an anthology film. In a recent interview with The Guardian, Lanthimos revealed some key details about the film:
“It’s a contemporary film, set in the US – three different stories, with four or five actors who play one part in each story, so they all play three different parts. It was almost like making three films, really.”
Kinds of Kindness will mark Lanthimos’ first contemporary film since The Killing of a Sacred Deer, which was released in 2017. Auteur directors tackling anthology films is not a rare occurrence in the industry; Wes Anderson did it with The French Dispatch in 2021, and Joel & Ethan Coen directed The Ballad of Buster Scruggs in 2018. Lanthimos’ distinct style feels like it will be perfectly suited to this kind of format.
Who Will Star in ‘Kinds of Kindness’?
As previously mentioned, Emma Stone will be starring in Kinds of Kindness, marking her fourth collaboration with Yorgos Lanthimos. While nothing has been revealed about the characters she will be playing, it does seem like she will be one of the recurring cast members that Lanthimos mentioned while describing the film. Outside of her work with Lanthimos, Stone is most known for her Academy Award-winning performance as the aspiring actress Mia in Damien Chazelle‘s award-winning musical La La Land. Stone also recently earned high praise for her role as the HGTV nepo-baby Whitney in Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie‘s bizarre Paramount+ limited series, The Curse. Stone also worked with Lanthimos on a secret new movie that was filmed in Greece in 2023 and is rumored to reunite with the filmmaker for Save the Green Planet, a remake of the 2003 Korean film.
Stone will not be the only Lanthimos veteran in the ensemble either. Academy Award nominee Willem Dafoe and Margaret Qualley, who appeared on-screen with Stone in Poor Things, have also joined the cast of the film. Joe Alwyn, who was a major scene stealer in The Favourite, will also be reuniting with the Oscar-nominated filmmaker.
The rest of the cast of Kinds of Kindness include Academy Award nominee Jesse Plemons (Killers of the Flower Moon), Academy Award nominee Hong Chau (The Whale), Mamoudou Athie (Elemental), and Hunter Schafer (Euphoria).
Who Is Making ‘Kinds of Kindness’?
Not only will Yorgos Lanthimos be directing and producing Kinds of Kindness, but he will also be co-writing the screenplay with Academy Award nominee Efthimis Filippou. This is not Filippou’s first collaboration with Lanthimos. He previously co-wrote the scripts for Dogtooth, Alps, The Lobster, and The Killing of a Sacred Deer with Lanthimos. Academy Award nominee Tony McNamara, who served as the screenwriter for Lanthimos’ last two films, will not be involved this time around. Producing the film alongside Lanthimos are Ed Guiney (Poor Things), Andrew Lowe (The Wonder), and Kasia Malipan (In Fabric).
After serving as the director of photography on The Favourite and Poor Things, Academy Award nominee Robbie Ryan is behind the film’s cinematography. Academy Award nominee Yorgos Mavropsaridis serves as the editor of Kinds of Kindness, having worked with Lanthimos on all of his previous movies. Academy Award-nominee Thomas Newman (Elemental) composed the score for Kinds of Kindness, which marks his first-ever collaboration with Lanthimos.
When and Where Did ‘Kinds of Kindness’ Film?
Originally titled “AND,” Kinds of Kindness began filming in October 2022 in New Orleans. Principal photography was completed the following December. In the previously mentioned interview with The Guardian, Lanthimos revealed that he was still working on editing the movie.
