‘Kinds of Kindness’ Interview: Joe Alwyn and Mamoudou Athie

(L to R) Joe Alwyn and Mamoudou Athie talk ‘Kinds of Kindness’.

Opening in theaters in limited release on June 21st before opening wide on June 28th is the new anthology film from Oscar-nominated writer and director Yorgos Lanthimos (‘The Favourite’ and ‘Poor Things’) entitled ‘Kinds of Kindness’.

The new movie tells three separate and different short stories, all performed by the same cast of actors which includes Oscar-winner Emma Stone (‘La La Land’), Jesse Plemons (‘Civil War’), Willem Dafoe (‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’), Margaret Qualley (‘Drive-Away Dolls’), Hong Chau (‘The Whale’), Joe Alwyn (‘Catherine Called Birdy’), Mamoudou Athie (‘Elemental’) and Hunter Schafer (‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes’).

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Joe Alwyn and Mamoudou Athie about their work on ‘Kinds of Kindness’, their first reaction to the unusual screenplay, the challenges of playing three different characters in three separate stories, working with Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, and collaborating with director Yorgos Lanthimos on set.

Related Article: Movie Review: ‘Kinds of Kindness’

Moviefone: To begin with, Joe, can you talk about your first reaction to reading this screenplay and what did you think of the idea of telling three different stories all with the same cast?

Joe Alwyn: When I first read it, it’s unlike anything I’ve read. I was so intrigued, so baffled, and so excited. The fact that it was split into these three stories as an anthology, I really liked it. It almost felt like an experiment. I don’t know if I completely got it or if I have yet completely got it. But I also really liked his idea of having, as you say, the same cast playing different roles in each one. It felt like a theater troop and there was something playful about that. I was just excited to be invited back into Yorgos’s world. I knew I’d say yes before I’d even read it.

MF: Mamoudou, was it challenging playing three different characters in the same movie?

Mamoudou Athie: Honestly, that was the least challenging thing about it. I mean, that’s just kind of part of the job. It just happened to be protracted in a period where you’re doing it back-to-back to back. But it didn’t feel like any special task. It was just three different characters that I had to work on, which I feel like we’d all done. I mean, in drama school numerous times we were working on three different things at once, and it just so happened that these all somehow tied together in the same universe. But other than that, it was creative situation for the environment and that’s it.

MF: Do you have a favorite character or segment that you worked on?

MA: Well, obviously I have the most to do on the second, so that gave me a lot of opportunity to explore and work with Yorgos and Jesse. So, I guess it’d been the second.

MF: Joe, what is it like being an actor on a Yorgos Lanthimos set?

JA: I mean, he’s brilliant. He doesn’t, in my experience, try and tackle things the way that you might conventionally think he would, or a director would. So, there isn’t really conversation about character or themes or intention or the things that you might expect. But he’s quite blunt and quite direct in a way of getting what he wants in quite a simple, instructive way, which is useful. I think he really encourages a sense of play. He keeps things very light. So even though the stories and characters are often going into dark corners, there’s a real lightness and you feel safe, you might not know exactly what it is that’s going to come out the other end, but you feel safe and willing and wanting to jump in and give it a go.

MF: Mamoudou, what was your experience like collaborating with Yorgos on set?

MA: Oh, he’s the man. I mean, I remember being very intimidated. He’s one of my favorite directors, period. I came in with a lot of reverence. I remember leaving the project like, “Oh, I should have been a lot more irreverent” because it was just so much fun, and it didn’t have to be anything. I imagine the script as kind of like a tome or a bible, but there’s a lot of leeway and there’s a lot of play, and it was just a very fun set. There was a lot of laughs, and I was surprised by how many times we were just cracking up on set.

MF: Finally, Mamoudou, what was it like working with Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons on this project?

MA: I’ve had such respect for them, and it’s always nice when people live up to what you hope. Jesse is a real actor, a real actor’s actor, he’s committed and same for Emma. Just the commitment to the work itself. Everything else is secondary. But also, it was fun and easy, and we had just chill conversations. It was just the best working environment with two actors that I could hope for.

“We might all be in danger.”

R2 hr 44 minJun 20th, 2024

Showtimes & Tickets

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… Read the Plot

What is the plot of ‘Kinds of Kindness’?

‘Kinds of Kindness’ is an anthology film, with three separate stories that are only loosely connected. The first tells of a man (Jesse Plemons) whose life is dominated by his boss (Willem Dafoe) in extreme ways; the second follows a cop (Jesse Plemons) who is convinced that his wife (Emma Stone), who returns home after being missing and presumed dead, is not who she says she is; and in the third, two people (Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons) hit the road on behalf of a strange cult to find a woman (Margaret Qualley) who’s prophesized to have incredible powers.