Stefanos Rokos drew an orgy with Willem Dafoe and two koalas, as suggested by Nick Cave

the Willem Dafoe can only be consumed art. He is a thief locked in a luxury apartment New York Where works of art of untold value abound, but food, not to mention water, is little or nothing.

This survival journey, in the form of a chapter commentary (What do you do with the “golden cage” when you’re starving to death?) “inside”, His first feature film Vasilis Katsopis A Greek film with an international character, because it is a production that is distributed internationally through it focus features, Filmed in Eau de toilette In it, one of the most famous American actors of the past decades gives a one-man show. The premiere of the film, which is now also traveling to Greek theatres, took place a few weeks ago at the Berlinale.

While the film inevitably rings the closing bells we’ve all witnessed lately, it’s an idea the director has been brewing ever since. 2010 And finally managed to actually come true during the corona virus period, With the film crew traveling to Germany for filming.

In “Inside” art is Willem Dafoe’s co-star, it’s practically the only thing his hero, Nemo, can interact with. This is why the works we see in them – paintings, sculptures and even video installations – are A carefully selected selection specifically for your film needs, With an Italian editor Leonardo Pigaggi.

Since this is apparently a private collection, pre-existing works donated to the film were in turn obtained from private collections. Moreover, there were also some that were created specifically for the movie.

It was one of these too “spring” to Stefano Rocco, Image of a movie collector at an orgy. Actually, the table too The unique work of a Greek artist which we find in the “inside”.

The first draft of the script reached Stefanos Rocco 2019. “Giorgos Karnavas (a heretical producer) spoke to me about this film. We discussed the personality of the collector and what works such a person could have in his collection,” says the Greek visual artist to “K.” “We started brainstorming and at one point it turned out that he was a character with a very intense sex life, very narcissistic, and he had the style of a great stallion. And so we thought of making his image very orgy-infused.” This is how the idea was born for the work that we already see from the beginning of the movie, as the goal was already from the first minutes to understand some things about the owner of the house that became Nemo’s prison.

The fine artist entered the creative period in the first phase of the Covid confinement, with his drawing of himself Two and a half months A great orgy in the solitude of his laboratory – but also in isolation from the whole world. “Well, that wasn’t the easiest thing in the world,” he’ll say with a laugh.

In the original script, he reveals, there were also photos of the collectors locked in a luxurious loft that we saw him engaging in various sadomasochistic scenes. Those may have been left out along the way, but it’s not Stefanos Rocco’s “Spring” who “survived” in the final version of the movie.

In fact, before the painter sent the work into production for final approval, he asked to show it to a friend of his whom we all know: Nick Cave. Who had to make his own ‘bottom’ in addition to this sexual ‘palsmet’: “I sent him a rough picture of the project from my cellphone. He got excited and told me that what was missing in the project were koalas. Because he’s Australian and we have our own jokes”. A few days later, Stefanos Rokus sent him the revamped version to work with two more entries by two koalas, in the style of “Where’s Waldo?”.

The Greek artist had already handed over the painting he had commissioned, when he was curator Leonardo Pigazzi He became part of the film – in fact, Roccos was the only participant in the project who was not chosen by the Italian editor.

“Spring,” as this artistic celebration of life by Stefanos Rocco is aptly called, is A small “paradox” in the visible world of the “inside”, Because, in addition to being a work created “before Bigatti”, it is also the work’s only painting that constitutes ghost hero image, While not in the living room with the rest of the business, but opposite his bed. A more personal work in every sense of the word for the film collector, but also a more independent painting than the rest that pass on screen.

The “Inside” story may take place in a luxurious New York apartment, but it was filmed there Eau de toilette (And for those wondering, the New York backdrop was added via a continuous video projection) during the lockdown, making the film’s setting feel like a double-wrapped quarantine.

Stefanos Rokos attended twice there. While everything seemed to be on track to “spring” the commentary, there was…a behind-the-scenes plot twist. Belgian actor Dirk rose who was playing the owner-collector left filming due to Covid. “So they told me that they would either send me the work so that I could replace his face with the new actor who had not yet been found, or I would go to Cologne right away and change the image there,” he explains. The painter who finally finds he has boarded the first plane in the midst of covid to be in the German city, to finally paint his face Gene Borowitz, Features completely different from those of the original actor. Three days later, the final version of “Spring” was ready.

He found himself in Cologne again at the end of filming for barbecue From the movie, where he had the chance to party alongside his childhood hero who is none other than the protagonist of “Inside”, Willem Dafoe. “I always liked him physically, but also from what I heard him say in interviews and was worried about his condition when I met him,” admits Stefanos Rokos, who finally met a man he expected. “He’s an excellent person, very intelligent, has a great sense of humor and doesn’t carry any shopping.”

And since the visual artist couldn’t resist grabbing a brush and painting his favorite actor and now friend, he took an interest to put his hero, Nemus, into an orgy of his drawings.

Up close, we see Nemus looking at a character who looks like him in the play. It’s the moment when Dafoe is in with all his interpretive skills It begins to drive the hero crazy.

Was this really him in the painting? We leave it up to you.

“Inside” by Vassilis Katsoupis starring Willem Dafoe was shown in Greek theaters distributed by Tulip Entertainment.

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