Jason Clarke leads Lanthimos' The Lobster

Yorgos Lanthimos’ English-language debut The Lobster is attracting an impressive cast, including lead Jason Clarke and supporting cast Ben Whishaw, Léa Seydoux, Olivia Colman, Ariane Labed and Angeliki Papoulia.

Protagonist Pictures will be shopping the anticipated drama at the American Film Market (AFM) next month.

Several key roles are still yet to be cast before the scheduled start of shoot in March 2014.

Dogtooth and Alps director Lanthimos co-wrote the script with long-time collaborator Efthimis Filippou.

The unconventional love story, announced exclusively by ScreenDaily during Cannes, is set in a dystopian future where finding a partner is a matter of life and death.

Producers are Ireland’s Element Pictures, Lanthimos’ own UK production outfit Limp and Ceci Dempsey’s Scarlet Films.

Producers are Lanthimos, Lee Magiday, Ed Guiney and Ceci Dempsey, with Andrew Lowe acting as executive producer.

Partnering on the project are Christos V. Konstantakopoulos of Faliro House in Greece, Carole Scotta of Haut et Court, who will be both the French co-producer and distributor of the film, and Derk-Jan Warrink, Joost de Vries and Leontine Petit of Lemming Films in Holland.

Hot cast

Clarke is coming off lead roles in Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty and Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby. Upcoming productions include Working Title’s action epic Everest opposite Jake Gyllenhaal and Stephen Gaghan’s Candy Store with Robert De Niro.

Ben Whishaw was recently seen as “Q” in James Bond blockbuster Skyfall and will next be seen in Ron Howard’s Heart of The Sea and the 24^th James Bond film, which will shoot next year.  

Léa Seydoux is coming off the enormous success of Abdellatif Kechiche’s Palme d’Or winner, Blue Is The Warmest Colour. She will next be seen as La Belle opposite Vincent Cassel in Christophe Gans’ Beauty And The Beast and in Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel.

UK actress Olivia Colman recently won two BAFTAs for her work in BBC comedy Twenty Twelve and drama series Accused. Her film credits include Hyde Park On Hudson, The Iron Lady, I Give It A Year, Tyrannosaur and the upcoming Locke and Cuban Fury.

Ariane Labed starred in Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Attenberg for which she won the best actress prize at the Venice Film Festival 2010. Her subsequent credits include Alps with Lanthimos and Before Midnight directed by Richard Linklater.

Angeliki Papoulia starred in both Dogtooth and Alps for Lanthimos.

The Lobster was awarded the ARTE International Prize for best project at the CineMart co-production market in Rotterdam earlier this year.