After crafting one the year’s finest films with The Lobster, writer-director Yorgos Lanthimos is already working on his next feature, titled The Killing of a Sacred Deer. Now, Deadline reports Alicia Silverstone, Raffey Cassidy (Tomorrowland), and Bill Camp (Jason Bourne) have all joined a cast that already includes Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan, Colin Farrell — who will be re-teaming with the director — and Sunny Suljic.
The film concerns a surgeon (Farrell) who has taken a teenaged boy (Keoghan) under his wing, and the “unthinkable sacrifice” he has to make as his world unravels due to his behavior. With Kidman taking the role of Farrell’s wife and Silverstone playing the boy’s mother, the psychological drama is co-written by Lanthimos and Efthymis Fillippou, and will be distributed by A24. It just kicked off filming in Cincinnati and, below, one can see the official synopsis, along with 1.5-hours-worth of talks with the director.
The story follows a young man that needs to take revenge, a doctor that has to make a decision, and his family that must survive. A psychological thriller with supernatural elements.
Inspired by a Euripides tragedy, the story centers on Steven, a charismatic surgeon, and a teenage boy who seeks to integrate him into his broken family. When the boy’s actions become increasingly sinister, Steven’s ideal life starts to fall apart and he is forced to make an unthinkable sacrifice.
The Killing of a Sacred Deer will likely premiere in 2017.