Yorgos Lanthimos Talks Debut Photography Exhibition in Los Angeles

Yorgos Lanthimos started taking pictures on set out of necessity. “We didn’t have an on set photographer when we were making little films in Greece,” the Oscar-nominated auteur recalls. “I would take my own for publicity, but I enjoyed it at the same time.” That pleasure has multiplied to become a full-fledged passion.

He has since been shooting on the sets of his high-profile films like Kinds of Kindness and Poor Things, and those collections of images respectively produced the photography books i shall sing these songs beautifully (MACK, 2004) and Dear God, the Parthenon is Still Broken (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.

Ahead of its opening this weekend — the exhibition runs March 29-May 18 — Lanthimos joined The Hollywood Reporter on Zoom to discuss his love of the art form, how processing images helped him and his Oscar winner Emma Stone unwind after long days shooting Poor Things and why he’s currently fixated on his home country (but still too nervous to approach strangers).

It’s a big endeavor to have an exhibition. Why did you say yes?

I’ve 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’s simple in itself. Before we even made these two books, I didn’t know if I ever would have enough pictures to fill a book, let alone make an exhibition. But it’s a medium that I love. As soon as we finished the books and this opportunity arose, I couldn’t 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’s just like how watching a film in a theater is different than watching it at home. I’ve never seen my pictures before in a space like this either, so it will be an exciting and different experience.

Why do you think you’ve been falling more in love with photography?

I 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’t 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.

It wasn’t until Poor Things gave me the opportunity to say that we’re 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’s when I started taking these large format black-and-white portraits of the actors that are very posed and constructed in a way.

What else were you drawn to?

There 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’s 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.

You did get more serious about it.

Yes, so when the time came to film Kinds of Kindness, 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’s how the MACK book came about.

In between that and over the last few years, I’ve been photographing anyway when I travel. Even when I’m in Athens, I will go around and photograph things. I’m 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’t 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.

It’s interesting to hear you say that you like to take pictures while managing an entire movie production. How do you squeeze in the time?

It feels natural to me. Again, I’ve 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’s going on, I find that it helps.

The surprising thing is what happened on Poor Things. 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’t about squeezing it in as it became an integral part of the creative process.

Do 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?

Yeah, 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’m interested in photography. With films, it’s 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’s 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’m trying to do.

How do you describe your vision when you’re traveling or existing in the world? What are you drawn to?

For the time being, I’m 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’m more based here but we travel so much for everything that we do so I don’t end up spending too much time in one place. But I’m rediscovering the city and the country that I grew up in, it’s landscape in particular, both urban and natural. I’m very interested in observing how the city was built, which is, I don’t know if you’ve 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’t 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’s going and where it was. You see a history of the touch of the human hand.

I’m interested in portraiture as well. It’s really hard for me to approach people and ask to take pictures of them. That’s why it has been easier for me to take pictures on film sets. But I’ve done it a little bit with people that I know or are friends. I’m 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’s why photography is great because you don’t need to rush to do it in a month like you do when you’re completing a project. We’re editing another film now and as soon as I’m done with that, I’m really looking forward to taking a break and focusing on photography.

How is the editing process on Bugonia and how far along are you?

It’s great. I mean, we’re editing now and you never know exactly when you’re done until you’re done. You always think you’re all there, and then there’s 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’re at a good place. We’re almost done with the editing and yeah, we’ll see.

For the exhibit, was there a story you were trying to tell based on how you curated the images?

Not really. And that’s 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.

It’s a very almost musical thing that happens when editing the pictures. Because the exhibit is using the images from two books — which are very different to one another, not just in the content but in how they’re designed — we’re trying to utilize the space in a similar way. The images from one book are in one space and then the Poor Things images are in another. We’ve 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, which as a book is more complex and very designed, it’s a smaller space that has a lot of pictures in one place. It’s still creative. I’ve never done this before and I’m really looking forward to it.

How do the actors feel about the photography?

The 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’s 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’t 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.

Where do you go for inspiration or when you need to unplug but find that creative spark?

When I visit places, I do try and see things that I’m interested in, but also because work is so intense and it makes you travel anyway, and I just find solace when I’m 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.