Hong Chau, fresh from her second child, humorously remarked about her first Cannes Film Festival experience, “I probably won’t be doing the yacht parties that I’ve heard about. I’m like, ‘Well, I’m going to be pumping.'”
Chau is set to attend the premiere of Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Kinds of Kindness,” the director’s follow-up to the Oscar-winning “Poor Things.” The film, releasing on June 21 via Searchlight, features Chau alongside Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, and Jesse Plemons, each portraying multiple roles in this anthology film that unfolds in three parts.
The official synopsis describes a man seeking to break free from his predetermined path, a cop questioning his wife’s demeanor after her return from a supposed drowning, and a woman’s quest to find a renowned spiritual guide. Chau admitted, “I read the script, and I didn’t know what it was about — I still don’t know what it’s about — but it made me laugh.”
Chau, who gained recognition with Alexander Payne’s “Downsizing” and will soon reunite with Matt Damon in Doug Liman’s thriller “The Instigators,” shared insights with The Hollywood Reporter about how Kelly Reichardt helped her land “Kinds of Kindness,” filming in her hometown of New Orleans, and her interactions with Dafoe, whom she describes as a “modest guy from Wisconsin.”
Reflecting on how she joined “Kinds of Kindness,” Chau recalled, “I had just returned from the Venice Film Festival for ‘The Whale’ and got COVID for the first time. I was quarantining away from my family when my agent called and said, ‘Yorgos Lanthimos wants to talk to you about his upcoming film.’ I was thrilled, especially when I found out it was being shot in New Orleans, where I grew up.”
Chau described the emotionally challenging time, “I would hear my husband leave with my daughter and quickly run out to watch them go down the driveway. It was so, so sad.”
Heading into filming, Chau felt unmoored, “Usually, I have strong ideas about my character, but this time I was completely unsteady. However, working with Yorgos was an easy decision because his films make me feel so strange in the best way.”
Chau was excited to work with Jesse Plemons, “I’ve been a fan of his and watching his career grow. He was just such a sweet person and did not disappoint.”
All actors in “Kinds of Kindness” play multiple roles. Chau noted, “Yorgos liked the range I could play, so we were playing three different characters. Initially, we weren’t sure how drastically different we wanted to play the characters, but Yorgos decided on subtle differences.”
Chau found playing multiple roles appealing, “It was exciting for everyone, even from costumes to hair and makeup. We had no idea what we were going to do, and we found it together, letting happy accidents happen.”
Filming in New Orleans added to the film’s atmosphere, “Shooting it in New Orleans really made sense. It feels Southern and creepy without employing the typical Southern Gothic tropes.”
Chau described the filming process as organic and creative, “We played from the get-go, even during rehearsals. Yorgos uses theater games to build camaraderie among the actors, which was a first for me.”
Chau cherished her moments with Willem Dafoe, “He is an icon and a living legend, and also just a really sweet, humble, modest guy from Wisconsin. It was the best getting to be in scenes with him and just chatting in between setups.”
After “Kinds of Kindness,” Chau will star in Doug Liman’s “The Instigators,” reuniting with Matt Damon. “When the project came through, I was like, ‘Are you kidding me? I would love to reunite with Matt!’ It’s my first time doing an action movie, and I’m looking forward to both ‘Kinds of Kindness’ and ‘The Instigators’ coming out back to back.”
Chau is also excited about her first Cannes Film Festival, “I hope I run into Jia Zhangke and his wife, Zhao Tao. I hope I get to tell them how much I love and appreciate their work.”
Jesse Plemons, who had never heard of the Monty Python “Silly Walk” until a few years ago, shared his experience with Lanthimos’ unorthodox rehearsals. “You start his rehearsals and then you really feel like, ‘Oh wow, I have no clue what I’m doing,’ but it’s a helpful way of getting outside of your head and throwing yourself into something ridiculous.”
“Kinds of Kindness” marks a return to the bizarre for Lanthimos. The film, structured as a triptych of stories with thematic links, features Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, and Margaret Qualley, among others. Lanthimos explained, “Casting the same few actors in different roles provides a sense of continuity and unity between the stories.”
Plemons takes the lead in the first two tales before yielding the center of the trippy finale to Stone. Lanthimos praised Plemons, “I have wanted to work with Jesse for a long time. I think he’s one of the greats of our time.”
Plemons described his performances as distinctive, “It’s constant discovery and experimenting. The whole thing felt like a big experiment.”
The first chapter, “The Death of R.M.F.,” opens with Plemons’ Robert severing ties with his powerful boss. The second part, “R.M.F. Is Flying,” portrays a marriage in crisis, edging toward body horror. The final story, “R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich,” centers on a mysterious search.
Plemons reflected on the film’s themes, “Some characters are trying desperately to figure out how to live and find comfort, feeling like they’re on their own island.”
Lanthimos wrote “Kinds of Kindness” with Efthimis Filippou, known for their earlier breakout features. Lanthimos noted, “The films written with Efthimis have been created from scratch.”
Chau found the project exciting, “It was exciting to go into a project not knowing what I was going to do. I usually have strong opinions during wardrobe fittings, but for this one, it was just like, ‘I don’t know, I don’t know. You tell me!’”
The film’s stylish contemporary sets and natural lighting give familiar dressings to scenarios that feel anything but. Nearly every piece of dialogue could be spun in a dozen different directions.
Lanthimos’s reputation as a relatively hands-off director was already known. Plemons, Chau, and Athie approached the script uniquely, with no right or wrong way to go.
Plemons noticed himself going to places he’d never gone as an actor, “I was just flying by the end of that one, having the greatest, strangest time.”
Athie, a graduate of the Yale School of Drama, found the project freeing, “I think it’s time to bring some of your manic energy back and just be free.”
The stories were filmed back-to-back, each taking around three weeks. Plemons completed dreamwork with his wife, Kirsten Dunst, to find his footing in this world. He leaned on Stone, Dafoe, and Qualley to get a handle on Lanthimos’s methods.
Plemons laughed about the Monty Python-style rehearsals, “That really unlocked it all.”
“Kinds of Kindness” premieres this month at the Cannes Film Festival 2024, and Searchlight Pictures will release the movie in theaters on June 21.
