THE FAVOURITE (2018) About The Director and Cast

Director and Produced YORGOS LANTHIMOS , and cast RACHEL WEISZ (Lady Sarah), RACHEL WEISZ (Lady Sarah), EMMA STONE (Abigail), and OLIVIA COLMAN (Queen Anne)

YORGOS LANTHIMOS , p.g.a. (Director/Produced by) was born in Athens, Greece. He has directed a number of dance videos in collaboration with Greek choreographers, in addition to TV commercials, music videos, short films and theatre plays. KINETTA, his first feature film, played at Toronto and Berlin film festivals to critical acclaim.

His second feature DOGTOOTH, won the Un Certain Regard Prize at the 2009 Cannes film festival, followed by numerous awards at festivals worldwide. It was nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award (Oscar) in 2011. ALPS won the Osella for Best Screenplay at the 2011 Venice film festival and Best Film at the Sydney film festival in 2012.

His first English language feature film THE LOBSTER was presented In Competition at the 68th Cannes Film Festival and won the Jury Prize. It also won Best Screenplay and Best Costume Design at the 2015 European Film Awards. In 2017 it was nominated for a Best Original Screenplay Academy Award (Oscar). Colin Farrell was nominated for a Golden Globe and a European Film Academy Award for his performance in the film.

THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER, his fifth feature film, premiered in Competition at the 70th Cannes Film Festival and won the Best Screenplay award. It was nominated for Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actor (Colin Farrell) in the European Film Academy Awards.

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Academy Award-winning actress RACHEL WEISZ (Lady Sarah), who is known for portraying women of incredible spirit and intelligence, continues to seek out challenging projects and roles both on screen and on stage and as a producer.

Weisz produced and stars in Sebastian Lelio's DISOBEDIENCE alongside Rachel McAdams and Alessandro Nivola. The film, which is based on the novel by Naomi Alderman, premiered at the 2017 Toronto Film Festival to rave reviews and was released by Bleecker Street in April 2018. DISOBEDIENCE is the story of forbidden love set in a closed Orthodox Jewish community in North London to which Ronit (Weisz), a photographer living in New York returns to confront her troubled past after the sudden death of her father, a well-respected Rabbi.

Weisz recently co-starred with Colin Firth in James Marsh's THE MERCY, based on the story of amateur sailor Donald Crowhurst and his solo attempt to circumnavigate the globe.

In 2005 Weisz earned a Screen Actors Guild Award, Golden Globe Award and the Academy Award for her performance in Fernando Meirelles' THE CONSTANT GARDNER. In 2012 she received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in Terence Davies' THE DEEP BLUE SEA. Her performance also earned her Best Actress awards from The New York Film Critics Circle, and the Toronto Film Critics Association.

Weisz's diverse film work includes MY COUSIN RACHEL, DENIAL, COMPLETE UNKNOWN, THE LIGHT BETWEEN THE OCEANS, YOUTH, THE LOBSTER, AGORA, THE BROTHERS BLOOM, MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS, THE LOVELY BONES, DEFINITELY MAYBE, THE WHISTLEBLOWER, THE BOURNE LEGACY, OZ: THE GREAT AND POWERFUL, THE SHAPE OF THINGS, THE FOUNTAIN, RUNAWAY JURY, ABOUT A BOY, ENEMY AT THE GATES, CONSTANTINE, STEALING BEAUTY, THE MUMMY and THE MUMMY RETURNS. She executive produced THE RADIATOR, the directorial debut of Tom Browne.

In 2016, Weisz starred in the off-Broadway production of The Public Theater's Plenty. In 2013, she starred on Broadway in Mike Nichols' Betrayal. In 2010, Weisz won the Laurence Olivier Award in the category of "Best Actress" for her performance as Blanche DuBois in the West End revival of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire.

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With her striking beauty and sincere talent, Academy Award winning actress, EMMA STONE (Abigail) has claimed her role as one of Hollywood's most sought out actresses. Stone appeared in Damien Chazelle's LA LA LAND in 2016. She went on to win the Academy Award for "Best Actress," Screen Actors Guild Award for "Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role," Golden Globe for "Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy," British Academy Film Award for "Best Actress in a Leading Role" and "Best Actress" at the Venice Film Festival for her work in the film. She was also honored along with co-star Ryan Gosling with the Santa Barbara Film Festival's "Outstanding Performers of the Year" and the Palm Springs International Film Festival's "Vanguard Award" with Gosling and Chazelle.

In 2018, Stone will be seen in the Netflix series "Maniac" opposite Jonah Hill. Directed by Cary Fukunaga, the series is a dark comedy about a guy who lives a fantasy life in his dreams, but in reality, is locked up at an institution. Both Stone and Hill play patients in the institution. The series, which is based on a Norwegian series, marks Stone's regular TV debut as well as her first production credit.

Stone was most recently seen on the big screen in Fox Searchlight's BATTLE OF THE SEXES, in which she played Billie Jean King opposite Steve Carell's Bobby Riggs. Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, the film told the story of when former tennis champ Riggs faced off against King in a highly-publicized exhibition match. Stone was nominated for a Golden Globe for "Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy" for her performance.

Stone's additional film credits include Fox Searchlight's critically acclaimed film BIRDMAN which won the award for "Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture" at the SAG Awards, "Best Film" at the Independent Spirit Awards, and "Best Picture" at the Academy Awards. Her performance landed her an Academy Award nomination for "Best Supporting Actress" as well as a Golden Globe, SAG, and Independent Spirit nomination. She has also appeared in Woody Allen's IRRATIONAL MAN; Cameron Crowe's film ALOHA; Woody Allen's MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT; the superhero franchise THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN in which she starred in the first two films; the Oscar nominated animated film THE CROODS for Dreamworks Animation; the period drama GANGSTER SQUAD; EASY A which earned her a Golden Globe nomination and an MTV Movie Award for "Best Comedic Performance"; the award winning drama, THE HELP; the romantic comedy CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE; Screen Gems FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS; the independent drama PAPERMAN; the Twentieth Century Fox animated comedy, MARMADUKE; Columbia Picture's hit comedy ZOMBIELAND; the Warner Brothers romantic comedy GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST; the Columbia Pictures/Happy Madison hit comedy, THE HOUSE BUNNY; Twentieth Century Fox's THE ROCKER; and the Judd Apatow comedy SUPERBAD.

In 2014, Stone made her Broadway debut playing the iconic 'Sally Bowles' in Rob Marshall's production of Cabaret. The New York Times said, "Emma Stone is scintillating in an irresistible Broadway debut. Her Sally is wild, fierce and heartbreaking - someone you're unlikely to forget. She provides a very good reason to revisit Cabaret."

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OLIVIA COLMAN (Queen Anne) is a multi-award winning actress. She will portray Queen Elizabeth II in the third and fourth seasons of the critically acclaimed original Netflix series "The Crown."

Her film credits include the 2011 BAFTA- winning TYRANNOSAUR directed by Paddy Considine, for which she won a World Cinema Special Jury Prize for breakout performance at Sundance, and Best Actress awards at the British Independent Film Awards and Evening Standard British Film Awards. In 2015 she starred in Dystopian romantic comedy THE LOBSTER, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. The film was nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes and went on to win the Jury Prize. For her role, Colman won Best Supporting Actress at the 2015 British Independent Film Awards and was nominated in the Best Comedy Performance category at the Evening Standard British Film Awards the same year. Other film credits include MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS directed by Kenneth Branagh, THE IRON LADY playing Carol Thatcher opposite Meryl Streep, the verbatim musical film LONDON ROAD, HYDE PARK ON HUDSON with Bill Murray; LOCKE; CUBAN FURY; and HOT FUZZ.

In Television - Olivia won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in a mini-series in 2017 for her portrayal of Angela Burr in the BBC/AMC's "The Night Manager," and won a Television BAFTA for Leading Actress in 2014 for her role as DS Ellie Miller in the hit ITV series: "Broadchurch" which ran for three series. In 2013, Colman was double award winner at the Television BAFTAs, winning Female Performance in a Comedy Programme for "Twenty Twelve," as well as Supporting Actress for her role in "Accused." She was also nominated for Best Female Performance in a Comedy Drama at the 2015 BAFTAs for her role BBC Two's clerical comedy "Rev." Other television credits include: "Flowers" (Channel 4); "Fleabag" (BBC / Amazon); "Accused" (BBC); "The Thirteenth Tale" (BBC); "Twenty Twelve" (BBC); "Mr. Sloane" (Sky Atlantic); "The Secrets" (BBC); "The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher II" (ITV1); "Peep Show" (Channel 4); "Exile" (BBC); and "Greenwing" (Channel 4).

On stage, Colman recently finished a run of Lucy Kirkwood's Mosquitoes at the National Theatre, directed by Rufus Norris, for which she won Best Actress in the 2018 Whatsonstage Awards.