ComingSoon’s Jonathan Sim recently spoke with actors Joe Alwyn (The Favourite, Mary Queen of Scots, Boy Erased) and Mamadou Athie (Elemental, Jurassic World: Dominion, Underwater) about their roles in the new Yorgos Lanthimos film Kinds of Kindness, which is now playing in theaters.
“Kinds of Kindness is a triptych fable, following a man without choice who tries to take control of his own life; a policeman who is alarmed that his wife who was missing-at-sea has returned and seems a different person; and a woman determined to find a specific someone with a special ability, who is destined to become a prodigious spiritual leader,” reads the official synopsis.
Jonathan Sim: So you each play three different characters in three different stories in Kinds of Kindness. What was the filming process like? Were you ever jumping back and forth between characters, and how much time did you get ready to play these characters?
Joe Alwyn: We weren’t jumping around. We shot them in order. I think they shot one, two, and three, right? So one of the useful things on this film, normally, you are all over the place with a schedule and you’re shooting the end at the beginning and the beginning of the end. But one of the nice things here is they blocked off story order, which for people particularly like, you know, Jesse [Plemons] and Emily [Stone] was, I imagine a godsend.
Mamadou Athie: Can you imagine if that [was shot] out of order? I couldn’t just, like, I can’t do the movie.
Did you ever do any research to confidently play these characters as they were written?
Athie: I had a friend who used to work as a cop, and I asked him some questions about what that would be like. Especially, you know, the traffic stop. The swimming instructor, he’s coaching kids, you know, so I figured I had that on lock. And the morgue nurse—he was an unethical morgue nurse, so I think I just did my own thing there.
Alwyn: Yeah, I didn’t do any. I’m trying to think what I would’ve done. I play a collectible appraiser. And a guy who gets pulled over by the cops and then an ex-husband. So no, I just went with Yorgos’ way of approaching things, which is a rehearsal process and kind of going on instinct a lot rather than thinking about things too much.
Building off of that, Yorgos Lanthimos’ worlds all feel very unique. Is there a certain direction that he gave you that stuck out to you as something that you remember that helped you get into character for both of you?
Alwyn: You know, in my experience, he doesn’t say a whole lot in terms of character or even conventional direction. It’s pretty technical the way he talks or at least that I remember. It’s like you’re being placed in a bigger picture, and he might want you to say the lines faster or slower, or he might say it’s a bit dull or it’s great, but he’s not gonna say, “Let’s sit down and think about intentions here or themes or whatever it might be.” That was my experience, anyway.
Athie: Yeah, no, that’s similar. I mean, there were times [where] we didn’t talk about the character or the scenes or anything like that, but there were times he’d come up to him, he was like, “a little less.” You know? I’m like, “oh, got it. Sure. Okay, dude.” That’s about it, really.
Alwyn: He doesn’t like it.
Athie: Yeah. I’m like, dang. Sorry.
Out of all the three characters that you play in Kinds of Kindness, do you have one that you’re particularly excited for most audiences to see?
Athie: I’m not gonna lie to you. My most sizable character that I played in his story would be Neil, so it would be that. But I thought the morgue nurse was really interesting just because he’s just like, “ooh, what kind of person does that?”
Alwyn: Yeah. I mean, hopefully, no one.
Athie: Yeah, what about you?
Alwyn: The more sizable role is Joseph, but the funnest scene was probably in the second one with you guys. I think he was called Jerry. The guy who gets pulled over by the cops and stuff happens.
Kinds of Kindness is now playing in theaters.
