{"id":583,"date":"2025-03-29T04:36:32","date_gmt":"2025-03-29T04:36:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/03\/29\/yorgos-lanthimos-talks-debut-photography-exhibition-in-los-angeles\/"},"modified":"2025-03-29T04:36:35","modified_gmt":"2025-03-29T04:36:35","slug":"yorgos-lanthimos-talks-debut-photography-exhibition-in-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/03\/29\/yorgos-lanthimos-talks-debut-photography-exhibition-in-los-angeles\/","title":{"rendered":"Yorgos Lanthimos Talks Debut Photography Exhibition in Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tYorgos Lanthimos<\/a> started taking pictures on set out of necessity. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have an on set photographer when we were making little films in Greece,\u201d the Oscar-nominated auteur recalls. \u201cI would take my own for publicity, but I enjoyed it at the same time.\u201d That pleasure has multiplied to become a full-fledged passion.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe has since been shooting on the sets of his high-profile films like Kinds of Kindness<\/em> and Poor Things<\/em>, and those collections of images respectively produced the photography books i shall sing these songs beautifully<\/em> (MACK, 2004) and Dear God, the Parthenon is Still Broken<\/em> (Void, 2024). The books have now inspired yet another creative endeavor as Lanthimos is set to have his first exhibition of still photography at MACK + Webber at 939 in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\n\tAhead of its opening this weekend \u2014\u00a0the exhibition<\/a> runs March 29-May 18 \u2014 Lanthimos joined The Hollywood Reporter<\/em> on Zoom to discuss his love of the art form, how processing images helped him and his Oscar winner Emma Stone<\/a> unwind after long days shooting Poor Things<\/em> and why he\u2019s currently fixated on his home country (but still too nervous to approach strangers).<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s a big endeavor to have an exhibition. Why did you say yes?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019ve been falling more and more in love with photography as the years go by. I love the freedom and the simplicity it offers compared to making films, not that it\u2019s simple in itself. Before we even made these two books, I didn\u2019t know if I ever would have enough pictures to fill a book, let alone make an exhibition. But it\u2019s a medium that I love. As soon as we finished the books and this opportunity arose, I couldn\u2019t wait to see the images in a different setting, in a different environment and in a different edit. The way that you interact with a book is different than the way you interact with a space. There are less images and those images relate differently to one another. It\u2019s just like how watching a film in a theater is different than watching it at home. I\u2019ve never seen my pictures before in a space like this either, so it will be an exciting and different experience.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhy do you think you\u2019ve been falling more in love with photography?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI was always definitely interested in it. I always took pictures, as we all do, but because I was into filmmaking, I was a little bit more proficient technically. I used to take pictures on film sets early on when I started making commercials. I would shoot pictures to have memories. I never took it very seriously. I was just collecting images as a way to remember and document things, and that continued until I started taking more when I started making films. In the beginning it was a necessity because we didn\u2019t have an on-set photographer when we were making little films in Greece. I would take my own for publicity, but I enjoyed it at the same time.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt wasn\u2019t until Poor Things <\/em>gave me the opportunity to say that we\u2019re building this entire world. That became an opportunity with this photography to do something that could stand on its own and show a very different view of this world that we created. The scale and the whole endeavor was interesting enough to push me to try and take more pictures, not just as a representation of the film or a scene but I wanted to see if I could find something else there. That\u2019s when I started taking these large format black-and-white portraits of the actors that are very posed and constructed in a way. <\/p>\n

\n\tWhat else were you drawn to?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThere were all these other pictures taken during the building of the world but the destruction of it was also very interesting. Pictures of the sets being demolished and the beauty of the rubble versus the beauty of the world that was created. In the end, we saw that maybe this whole collection of images could amount to a book that would be a different testament to what we went through there. That\u2019s how the first book came about, and that led me to thinking that I could take [photography] more seriously. During that time, we also started processing the film on our own, in our bathrooms in Budapest during filming. When I came back to Athens to edit the film, I built a dark room next to my editing suite. I was even more serious about it. I started to learn printing. <\/p>\n

\n\tYou did get more serious about it. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tYes, so when the time came to film Kinds of Kindness<\/em>, which was also in a real place in the city, it gave me an opportunity to do something that was even one step further away from what the film was about. I could turn around and photograph the city or someone who was passing by, and was curious about the film or the people who worked on it. I shot in black-and-white and used flash, which created a totally different atmosphere to what the film was. It was a conscious way of making pictures to make something very different than the film. That\u2019s how the MACK book came about.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn between that and over the last few years, I\u2019ve been photographing anyway when I travel. Even when I\u2019m in Athens, I will go around and photograph things. I\u2019m very much more consciously thinking about creating a body of work and making something with these photographs that are not related at all to my films. I don\u2019t think it was one thing that [inspired my love], maybe it was an opportunity that just got me hooked on the whole process. I love the process of photography, processing, printing, all the analog details of what it entails is so magical to me. <\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tAn image from Yorgos Lanthimos: Photographs at MACK + Webber in Los Angeles.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tYorgos Lanthimos\/Courtesy of MACK + Webber<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s interesting to hear you say that you like to take pictures while managing an entire movie production. How do you squeeze in the time?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tIt feels natural to me. Again, I\u2019ve always had a camera and I would even just be looking at shots and things through a lens to figure things out. You only need a few seconds to take a picture, or less than that. When it enters your mind, it also allows you to disengage with the rest of the process for a second, and then you go back. It also moves you to a slightly different mindset, which I actually find beneficial while filming. Instead of becoming too obsessed with one thing that\u2019s going on, I find that it helps.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe surprising thing is what happened on Poor Things.<\/em> This story has been told before but Emma and I we would sometimes just go back to process film at the end of a long day. She learned how to do it during that time and she became obsessed with it as well. It kind of gave us strength in a way because of how almost meditative it is to process. And it would help us get ready for the next day. It wasn\u2019t about squeezing it in as it became an integral part of the creative process.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tAn image from Yorgos Lanthimos: Photographs at MACK + Webber in Los Angeles.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tYorgos Lanthimos\/Courtesy of MACK + Webber<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tDo you see potential for another photography book that would include these images you mentioned taking outside of film sets, like the ones in Athens and while traveling?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, definitely, if I get enough good pictures to make a book. It makes even more sense to me that I would do that since I\u2019m interested in photography. With films, it\u2019s almost easier because you are there on a set and there are things readily available for you to photograph. But at the same time, to create something that is not replicating the film and just for pictures in a book is hard. It\u2019s not the most straightforward thing to do what we try to do. I find it more natural that my photography interests are to create something separate from the films, which is what I\u2019m trying to do. <\/p>\n

\n\tHow do you describe your vision when you\u2019re traveling or existing in the world? What are you drawn to?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tFor the time being, I\u2019m a bit fascinated with my own country. I lived for 10 years in London, and I only came back here [to Greece] three years ago. I\u2019m more based here but we travel so much for everything that we do so I don\u2019t end up spending too much time in one place. But I\u2019m rediscovering the city and the country that I grew up in, it\u2019s landscape in particular, both urban and natural. I\u2019m very interested in observing how the city was built, which is, I don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve been, but feels quite chaotic yet warm at the same time. You can see so many contradictions in how it is structured and built, so many strange things that don\u2019t go together. When you go to an island, which is beautiful still, you can see how human presence has affected that kind of landscape and where it\u2019s going and where it was. You see a history of the touch of the human hand.<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m interested in portraiture as well. It\u2019s really hard for me to approach people and ask to take pictures of them. That\u2019s why it has been easier for me to take pictures on film sets. But I\u2019ve done it a little bit with people that I know or are friends. I\u2019m planning to do it even more by meeting people that know people that know someone that I can have a chain and link of people that I can photograph and take more portraits of people. It still needs time, and that\u2019s why photography is great because you don\u2019t need to rush to do it in a month like you do when you\u2019re completing a project. We\u2019re editing another film now and as soon as I\u2019m done with that, I\u2019m really looking forward to taking a break and focusing on photography.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tAn image from Yorgos Lanthimos: Photographs at MACK + Webber in Los Angeles.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tYorgos Lanthimos\/Courtesy of MACK + Webber<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tHow is the editing process on Bugonia<\/em> and how far along are you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s great. I mean, we\u2019re editing now and you never know exactly when you\u2019re done until you\u2019re done. You always think you\u2019re all there, and then there\u2019s all these little things that come up. I allow myself a little bit of time between looking at the edit of films just to get a little bit outside of it so I can see it with fresh eyes as much as possible after a week of not looking at it. We\u2019re at a good place. We\u2019re almost done with the editing and yeah, we\u2019ll see. <\/p>\n

\n\tFor the exhibit, was there a story you were trying to tell based on how you curated the images?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tNot really. And that\u2019s what I love about photography and what draws me to it. The beautiful thing about photographs is that you can put them together and they mean one thing, you put two different ones together, they mean another thing and then those same images mean different things to different people. Looking at one picture and what it says can mean vastly different things to each person according to who they are. We only go by a certain kind of intuition of which photographs make sense in the space, and if they create tension between them and how that is released. <\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s a very almost musical thing that happens when editing the pictures. Because the exhibit is using the images from two books \u2014\u00a0which are very different to one another, not just in the content but in how they\u2019re designed \u2014\u00a0we\u2019re trying to utilize the space in a similar way. The images from one book are in one space and then the Poor Things<\/em> images are in another. We\u2019ve tried to put them together and present them as different as they are in the book. One is a little bit more structured, more conventional and plain and then for Poor Things<\/em>, which as a book is more complex and very designed, it\u2019s a smaller space that has a lot of pictures in one place. It\u2019s still creative. I\u2019ve never done this before and I\u2019m really looking forward to it.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tAn image from Yorgos Lanthimos: Photographs at MACK + Webber in Los Angeles.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tYorgos Lanthimos\/Courtesy of MACK + Webber<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tHow do the actors feel about the photography?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThe first people I send the books out to are the actors and people who are in the book. They seem to be enjoying it. Emma was even involved in some of the processing so other than being in the pages, she\u2019s also helped develop some of the images. That kind of gives her a different perspective of the whole thing. But I think for the actors, it is something that doesn\u2019t have the gravity or does not require so much of them in the same way a film does. It can be a lighter experience that maybe leads to something more substantial like a book or an exhibition or something. But I think they enjoy it. <\/p>\n

\n\tWhere do you go for inspiration or when you need to unplug but find that creative spark?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tWhen I visit places, I do try and see things that I\u2019m interested in, but also because work is so intense and it makes you travel anyway, and I just find solace when I\u2019m able to think and ponder about things. When I get back home or I go to an island in Greece, that can be a kind of meditative process for me that gives me time to get into a different zone.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tAn image from Yorgos Lanthimos\u2019s first-ever exhibition of still photography, titled Yorgos Lanthimos: Photographs, at MACK + Webber in Los Angeles.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tYorgos Lanthimos\/Courtesy of MACK + Webber<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yorgos Lanthimos started taking pictures on set out of necessity. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have an on set photographer when we were making little films in Greece,\u201d the Oscar-nominated auteur recalls. \u201cI would take my own for publicity, but I enjoyed it at the same time.\u201d That pleasure has multiplied to become a full-fledged passion. He has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[150,576,578,575,149,577,49,574],"class_list":{"0":"post-583","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fashion","8":"tag-angeles","9":"tag-debut","10":"tag-exhibition","11":"tag-lanthimos","12":"tag-los","13":"tag-photography","14":"tag-talks","15":"tag-yorgos"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":585,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583\/revisions\/585"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}