Chris Evans and Anya Taylor-Joy began most days on the set of their new film, “Sacrifice,” by hiking up a volcano in Santorini, Greece. “You’re just looking around at the majesty of the world,” Evans said of the panoramic view. “It’s easy to completely lose yourself.”
Directed by Romain Gavras and co-written with Will Arbery, “Sacrifice” is an audacious satire of celebrity, wealth, and radicalism. Evans plays a movie star in an existential crisis who is targeted by a cult leader, portrayed by Taylor-Joy. Her mission: to sacrifice him to fulfill a prophecy and prevent a volcanic eruption.
For Taylor-Joy, the bold and “wacky” premise offered a way to process her severe anxiety about climate change. “I was becoming a real bummer at parties,” she said. “The script came by and I realized, ‘Oh, this is what you do with big feelings. You go away and you make art about it.'”
The 10-week shoot, which took place in caves and caverns across Greece and Bulgaria, proved therapeutic. “Spending all that time outdoors gives me a lot of peace,” Taylor-Joy explained. “To know my scale, to be around landscapes that have been there for a long time before me and will be there a long time after me, that just relaxes me.”
Evans and Taylor-Joy, who also serve as executive producers, barely knew each other before filming. After a series of coincidental encounters while they were both considering the script, Evans began to think their collaboration might be fate.
Evans, known for his superhero roles, was drawn to the character’s internal struggle. He plays an actor whose stable life is thrown into a tailspin by his father’s death, leaving him unrecognizable to himself. He views Taylor-Joy’s character, Joan, as a fierce force who awakens him. “It felt like Joan was an allegorical representation of Mike’s soul,” he noted. “When your soul breaks through the noise to save you. It’s captivating.”
The film’s action unfolds during a star-studded gala at an environmental summit hosted by a cold billionaire (Vincent Cassel) and his glamorous wife (Salma Hayek Pinault). The ensemble includes Sam Richardson as the agent, John Malkovich as Joan’s father, and Jonatan “Yung Lean” Leandoer as her brother. Charli XCX and Ambika Mod also appear, performing a climate change anthem that is violently interrupted by the radical group.
Evans describes the film as a “Rorschach test” that walks a fine line between allegory and absurdism. “There’s this yin and yang of drama and comedy in every scene, which is pretty reflective of life,” he said. In his view, the story is an allegory for the death of the ego. “The volcano represents transformation,” he explained. “Surrender. It’s realizing that true liberation doesn’t come from money or power or even control; it comes from letting go of the things that we think define us.”
Both actors felt profoundly changed by the experience. “Sometimes you make movies that really speak to your soul,” Evans reflected. “We got to throw ourselves into this project that actually demanded a lot of us every day, and it ended up with a product that I’m deeply, deeply proud of.”
“Sacrifice” premieres at the Toronto Film Festival on September 6.
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