Inside
Inside
Heretic, Schiwago, A Private View
Focus Features
Description
Inside tells the story of Nemo, an art thief who enters a collector’s penthouse apartment hunting for valuable works of art. As he enters, the security system locks everything down. And then malfunctions. He is locked inside. At first, he expects his partner-in-crime to arrive, then the security guards or the police. Or the owner. But no one comes. Then he hopes and prays for a cleaning lady to come. A servant. Anyone. But no one comes. And days stretch out into weeks and months. He is locked inside a prison adorned with exquisite, strange, even eerie works of art: works that he both covets and admires, but which are now, for him, useless. Instead, he must use all of his cunning and invention to survive. To break into all the locked spaces to find all the food and liquid he will need. The luxury penthouse – this locus of perfection and aspiration – has become a prison. A desert island. A torture chamber. And then a place of revelation
Release date
17 March 2023
Directed by
Vasilis Katsoupis
Screenplay by
Ben Hopkins
Story by
Vasilis Katsoupis
Produced by
Giorgos Karnavas, Marcos Kantis, Dries Phlypo, Jim Stark, Vasilis Katsoupis, Konstantinos Kontovrakis, Charles E. Breitkreuz, Martin Lehwald, Jean-Claude Van Rijckeghem and Stephen Kelliher
Starring
Willem Dafoe as Nemo
Cinematography
Steve Annis
Edited by
Lambis Haralambidis
Music by
Frederik van de Moortel
Director Vasilis Katsoupis discusses Inside
“Inside is a story about a house and a man, both sharing the leading role. An ironic look at how our golden cages can come out as prison cells. A brutal view of the dark side of luxury. A note on the perception of the real world and how it changes given unprecedented stimuli. And, last but not least, a cinematographic take on contemporary art and living, and its real value.”
“The film, at its core, is a call for the lead actor to an exploration, a trip within oneself beyond and beneath the script. The lead role was a work of art to be molded mainly by the actor in collaboration with me, a ‘live installation’ - as exposed as all the other elements in the penthouse - interacting with time, perception, the fine line between reality, shooting, and the allegory the film wishes to bring out. That’s why it was of utmost importance for the plot to be interwoven with the lead actor’s personality, their own chimeras, fears, and perception of the world. The lead actor - his expressions, body movements, language - is the sole medium between the meaning of the film and the audience. The house is the co-star, the setting to host and enhance the emotional struggle.”
“As there is no verbal dialogue, the film invites the audience to invent the character along with the progress. Who is he? What lies in his past? So, the lead actor needed to possess all the tools to make that dialogue happen between him and the audience. He is the enigma waiting to be solved until the very end of the film.”
“When we were thinking about who the best actor for Nemo might be, we thought of Willem’s face. It kept coming back to us. His face is like a living sculpture in a way. I was lucky to have met Willem at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2017 when he was the president of the jury. One of my films was competing in the international competition and we won the main award, so there was a connection to go back to. We made contact again at the Venice Film Festival in 2018 when Willem was presenting At Eternity’s Gate. We gave him the first draft through executive producer Jim Stark, and I was extremely surprised to learn that he found the time to read it within a couple of weeks. His reaction was: ‘I want to meet those guys.’”
“What Willem did is so important if you think about it. He is a pure artist, a person who embraces artistic risks, and who makes leaps of faith. His support from the beginning was what defined us, gave us courage and confidence that we were making something important and interesting. He made it possible for this film to happen.”
“I couldn’t have wished for more. Willem has a unique toolbox of acting skills and undoubtable talent, which made him ideal for the one-role condition; physical and mental characteristics that bridge the harshness of the character with its internal melt; the experience and maturity needed to mold the hero’s personality and treat Nemo as an evolving work of art.”
Ben Hopkins discusses Inside
“I did a Skype call with Vasilis, and he told me the story of a guy getting trapped in a luxurious apartment, and the luxurious apartment becoming a prison. It was like a Robinson Crusoe story stuck in the middle of a city, living and dying in complete luxury. I thought it was a fantastic idea and a great hook for a film.”
“It is almost a completely dialogue-free movie where you just have an actor, a penthouse, and his relationship with the location. The film hopefully works on several levels. The essential story is about a man trying to escape a prison, but the film is also about what it means to escape a prison.
What does it mean to be trapped in a physical body? What does it mean to have a soul? And is it possible to escape the physical world or are we imprisoned in it?”
Willem Dafoe discusses Inside
“When I read the script, it struck me as very particular in the respect that it's basically one person interacting with one situation without a lot of text so that setup was really interesting to me. I liked working with Vasilis because it's his idea. It's in his imagination. But then he's sending me out as his body, his person, to live this fantasy that he has.”
“Movies are most powerful for me when they’re not just an exotic idea, but they inspire a different way of looking at things. Inside deals with very elemental things about how we survive, what we need, how we think, what gives us pleasure, and how we look at our lives.”
“You're talking all the time but you're talking to yourself. You're also talking to objects. And when I say ‘talking,’ I mean you're having interplay. Something as simple as pouring a glass of water, in the context of some of these things, is a big, dramatic event. There's something very beautiful about that because it lets you see things in a different way and value these little actions in your life. You realize that your life is made up of these relationships with things.”
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