Principal photography on Yorgos Lanthimos’ new Irish co-production The Killing of a Sacred Deer has begun in Cincinnati, Ohio. The film sees Colin Farrell reunite with his The Lobster director for the Element Pictures’ production.
Lanthimos will direct and co-write The Killing of a Sacred Deer, with his The Lobster co-writer Efthimis Fillipou, with production starting in the U.S. in August. The film is a psychological thriller with supernatural elements that follows a young man that needs to take revenge, a doctor that has to make a decision, and his family that must survive.
Farrell will play the doctor, with Nicole Kidman starring as his wife, along with Barry Keoghan (Mammal), Raffey Cassidy (Tomorrowland), Sunny Suljic (The Unspoken), Bill Camp (12 Years a Slave), and Alicia Silverstone (Clueless).
Lanthimos worked with Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe of Element Pictures, and David Kosse of Film4, on The Lobster. Both production companies will also be involved in this new film, which is one of a number of projects Lanthimos is developing with them. The film is being financially backed by Film4 and New Sparta Films, under a partnership arrangement brokered by Hanway Films.
The Lobster won the Cannes Jury Prize in 2015 and Dogtooth won Cannes’ Prix Un Certain Regard in 2009, before going on to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.
A24 will distribute The Killing of a Sacred Deer in the US, with Hut et Court distributors from France. Element Pictures Distribution will handle the Irish release.