#FIRSTLOOK: FOCUS FEATURES TO RELEASE “INSIDE” STARRING WILLEM DAFOE

Focus Features announced today that it has acquired and will release INSIDE, a psychological thriller starring Academy Award® nominee Willem Dafoe in filmmaker Vasilis Katsoupis’s directorial debut, on March 10, 2023. Ben Hopkins wrote the script based on an original idea by Katsoupis. The deal was negotiated by Bankside’s Stephen Kelliher on behalf of the filmmakers.

The film is produced by Giorgos Karnavas alongside producers Marcos Kantis, and Dries Phlypo and executive produced by Katsoupis, Jim Stark, Konstantinos Kontovrakis, Charles E. Breitkreuz, Martin Lehwald, Jean-Claude Van Rijckeghem, and Stephen Kelliher. Focus Features is distributing INSIDE domestically, with Universal Pictures International distributing internationally.

Creator-Director Katsoupis and Karnavas, the critically acclaimed producer of Greek boutique production and sales outfit, Heretic, whose credits include the Cannes Palme d’Or winner Triangle of Sadness, La Semaine de la Critique winner Feathers and Greece 2022 Academy Award® entry Magnetic Fields, said in a joint statement, “It’s a dream to have made this film, the way we wanted to, having the priviledge to work with Willem and all these amazing filmmakers that supported us. Focus is the perfect place for the film, and we can’t wait to share it with the world.”

INSIDE tells the story of Nemo, an art thief trapped in a New York penthouse after his heist doesn’t go as planned. Locked inside with nothing but priceless works of art, he must use all his cunning and invention to survive.

“With INSIDE, Focus continues our commitment to first-time and international filmmakers,” said Kiska Higgs, President of Production & Acquisitions at Focus Features. “Vasilis’s thought-provoking film explores an experience we’re all now familiar with – isolation – and explores it in a visually stunning way.”

Dafoe’s additional upcoming projects include Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things and Patricia Arquette’s Gonzo Girl. His most recent credits include Walter Hill’s Dead for A Dollar, Robert Eggers’ The Northman, Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley and Jon Watt’s Spiderman: No Way Home.

Upcoming features for Focus include Todd Field’s TÁR, starring Cate Blanchett in the titular role; James Gray’s Armageddon Time starring Jeremy Strong and Academy Award winners Anthony Hopkins and Anne Hathaway; Champions directed by Bobby Farrelly and starring Woody Harrelsonl A.V Rockwell’s directorial debut A Thousand and One starring Teyana Taylor; Spoiler Alert based on Michael Ausiello’s Memoir and starring Jim Parsons, Sally Field, and Ben Aldridge; Polite Society directed by Nida Manzoor and starring Ritu Arya; Bill Holderman’s Book Club 2: The Next Chapter starring Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton and Andy Garcia, and Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers starring Paul Giamatti.

Currently in production for the studio is Asteroid City, the star-studded feature reuniting Wes Anderson and Focus for the first time since Moonrise Kingdom, and Lisa Frankenstein from debut feature filmmaker, Zelda Williams, written by Academy Award and Tony winner, Diablo Cody, and starring Cole Sprouse and Katheryn Newton.

Dafoe is represented by WME and Circle of Confusion. Hopkins is represented by Curtis Brown Group.