EXCLUSIVE: Acclaimed actor Willem Dafoe, who recently starred in Oscar-nominated pic Poor Things and can next be seen in Tim Burton’s upcoming Venice opener Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, has just wrapped filming tycoon family drama The Birthday Party from Greek production house Heretic.
The project, which has been kept under wraps until now, is directed by Miguel Angel Jimenéz based on the novel of the same name by Panos Karnezis. Dafoe stars alongside Emma Suarez, Joe Cole and Vic Carmen Sonne. Additional cast includes Christos Stergioglou, Carlos Cuevas, Antonis Tsiotsiopoulos, Fransesc Garrido, Maria Pau Pigem, Pelle Heikkilä and Elsa Lekkakou.
The story is set in the late 1970s somewhere in the Mediterranean where Marcos Timoleon, an Aristotle Onassis-like tycoon, is throwing a lavish, extravagant birthday party for Sofia, his daughter and sole heiress, on his exclusive private island. The party is a perfect excuse for various people in his life to approach him with their own agendas. But Marcos, who is used to ruthlessly controlling everything and everyone around him at whatever cost, is also secretly plotting a big decision on his daughter’s behalf.
Sofia, however, has come to share some important news of her own. As guests start pouring in and night falls, the party grows rowdier and more decadent, while the inevitable clash between Marcos and Sofia reaches a heartbreaking climax.
The Birthday Party is produced by Heretic’s Giorgos Karnavas, who co-wrote the script along with Jimenéz and Nicos Panayotopoulos. Co-producers are Adria Mones for Fasten Films, Erik, Glijnis and Leontine Petit for Lemming Film and Kurban Kassam for Raucous Pictures.
The project is a Greek-Spanish-Dutch-UK co-production and wrapped principal photography on August 17, after shooting in Corfu and Athens, Greece.
“It’s a story I’ve carried for almost 15 years so this fact speaks about what it meant to me,” said Karnavas of the film. “It’s been a super intense trip to get it made and I think we–our stellar cast and crew – all lived incredible moments during the making of this film. I am very proud of the way we walked this path with Miguel Angel and I truly hope all this energy is in the material.”
Jimenéz added: “I am incredibly proud and grateful to have worked with this exceptional cast and crew on this journey. Being surrounded by several languages, several ways of understanding life and acting during filming, amounted to an amazing experience of working on a collective set. I tried my best to create a house where one can feel at home even if they are very far away from it – a home where you are invited to participate and express your feelings. A home that I want to believe is cinema.”
The Birthday Party is funded by the Greek Film Center, ICEC, The Netherlands Film Fund and the Global Screen Fund BFI and backers are Kalamata Films, Eolo Films, Ekome, ERT, Hopeless Romantic, Osmyx Film Clinic and Frontstage Entertainment.
Jimenéz’s credits include 2020’s Window to the Sea, which starred Suarez, Ori and Chaika as well as documentaries Days of El Abanico and A God In Each Lentil.
Greek powerhouse Heretic’s past credits include triple Oscar-nominee Triangle of Sadness and BAFTA winner How to Have Sex. More recent titles include Rotterdam and Tribeca title Swimming Home by Justin Anderson, Ralph Fiennes-starrer The Return by Uberto Pasolini, Pablo Larraín’s Venice competition title Maria and Hot Milk from Rebecca Lenkiewicz, which is set to launch in early 2025.