We’ve heard some strange pitches for films in our time. But a dystopian future where humans are turned into animals if they don’t manage to land a romantic partner? That’s a new one on us. Still, the idea (and the team) behind The Lobster has convinced the likes of Ben Whishaw, Jason Clarke, Lea Seydoux and Olivia Colman to star, so there must be something to it{
The film’s set in a dark near future world where single people of a certain age must find a partner within 45 days or else be turned into creatures and released into the woods. One man, threatened with the process, escapes into the woods rather than face life as, we’re guessing, a crustacean.
When you realise that the men wrangling that eclectic, international cast is the Dogtooth / Alps team of writer / director Yorgos Lanthimos and co-writer Efthymis Filippou, then you begin to understand how such an odd concept came about. After all, the Oscar-nominated Dogtooth (which saw teenagers kept in a walled compound by their oddball parents’ strange rules) and Alps (a love story where people impersonate the recently deceased to help other through the grieving process) were both well received. **The Lobster **will mark the Greek pair’s English language debut.
With that talented pack of thesps on board to star, Lanthimos is set to start shooting this coming March in Ireland.
This project is not to be confused, in any case with either Consider The Lobster or that one episode of Friends{