As the Cannes Film Festival fast approaches, some cinephiles anticipate who will win the 2024 edition’s Palme d’Or. Others, however, like to predict the buzziest film to hit the Cannes market, and there may be a new frontrunner there. Deadline reports that “Athena” director Romain Gavras will have his latest project for sale on the Croisette in a couple of weeks, and he’s assembled quite the cast for it.
Chris Evans, Anya Taylor-Joy, Salma Hayek Pinault, and Brendan Fraser are all set to star in “Sacrifice,” Gavras’ English-language debut. The premise? It’s another thriller packed with anarchic violence like “Athena,” albeit this follow-up falls more squarely into satire, with a heavy dash of Greek mythology mixed in. Here’s a brief plot synopsis: a high-end charity gala is raided by a violent group of radicals on a mystical quest to fulfill a prophecy. Gavras and “Succession” writer Will Arbery co-write the film’s script.
Now, the set-up for “Sacrifice” already sounds enticing, but adding in retellings of Greek myths puts it over the top. The Greek Gods are a volatile lot: petty, horny, vindictive, and usually insouciant to the havoc they wreak upon humanity and each other. So why spike what sounds like a straight action thriller with that component? “It came from a very simple idea,” Gavras said, “which is every time you go to those events, whether it’s in Cannes, whether it’s a charity event and where you have all those people, the mischievous side of me, and I think the audience as well when they’re watching those events, they kind of want something to go really horribly wrong. When you see glitzy people and all the shininess and all that stuff, you want that moment to be twisted, right?”
But for Gavras, Greek myths are also a testament to his parents, who told him Greek myths as a child (Gavras is the son of legendary French-Greek auteur Costa-Gavras). “I was raised myself on Greek mythology,” continued the director. “Instead of being fed new movies when I was a kid, my parents were telling me these Greek tales, where a mom eats her kids and of sacrifices to volcanoes. Those things fed me and led to the idea of having a group of kids that have a very specific agenda that comes from a very mythological kind of belief system. There is the fondness of satire and Will is amazing at the sharpness of the tone of the characters and the humanity of them. I am so excited by our cast.”
And Gavras hopes to add a few more actors to his ensemble as he preps “Sacrifice” for the sales at Cannes. CAA Media Finance is handling the film’s world sales, but the buzz surrounding Gavras and Arbery’s script will likely have distributors circling this picture well before the festival underway. And that’s what Gavras and producers want for “Sacrifice.” As the director’s English-language debut, this could be a breakout film for him, further establishing him as a major visual artist after “Athena” attracted so much attention on Netflix two years ago. Iconoclast film and TV president Robert Walak leads producers on the film with Gavras, with Taylor-Joy and Evans also producing. Arbery is also on board as an executive producer.
What’s not to like about “Sacrifice” on paper? Gavras grabbed the movie world’s attention with “Athena,” but working with a writer like Arbery should sharpen his focus even further. And Arbery, already a renowned playwright, is fresh of a WGA Award win for his work on “Succession,” making highly sought-after in the industry right now. Then there’s the cast, featuring A-listers like Evans and Taylor-Joy, celebrated vets like Hayek Pinault, a recent Oscar-winner on the resurgence in Fraser. Evans, Hayek Pinault, and Fraser will play actors that antagonist that true believer Taylor-Joy plans to kill in “Sacrifice” — meaty roles for all, but especially Taylor-Joy, who will be on the Croisette for the world premiere of “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.” Maybe her presence at Cannes will help Gavras collect a few more star players for his next movie?
Gavras plans to shoot “Sacrifice” in September,” which means it may be ready to premiere sometime next year. Maybe he’ll return to Cannes in 2025 for its world premiere?