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“Looking back at my career as director – producer – writer, I realise to what extent my choice of subject was determined by the personality and special gifts of some actor – mostly female, whose striking looks and emotional complexity I felt challenged to explore.
I had been toying with the idea of adapting a Greek tragedy to the screen, when I met Irene Papas in the early sixties. Her unique classical beauty, her intelligence and emotional power were just the right ingredients for the title role in “Electra”, which I scripted with her in mind. Distributed by United Artists, the film met with international acclaim, planting the seed for a trilogy about the Atreids and the Trojan war. This would be undertaken after my next project, designed to explore the power and versatility of a male actor for a change, that of Anthony Quinn, as Zorba the Greek, shot entirely on the island of Crete. My plans for the trilogy had to be temporarily abandoned when military dictatorship forced me into exile. Dividing my time between Paris and New York, I had to be contented with directing the other two plays of the trilogy – “Iphigenia in Aulis” and “The Trojan Women” - on the stage. It took five years before I felt ready to pick up the strands of my film career, shooting “The Trojan Women” in Spain on a modest budget with a cast headed by four brilliant actresses, taking token fees of $25,000 each: Katharine Hepburn (an old friend), Vanessa Redgrave, Genevieve Bujold and Irene Papas, this time playing Helen, the beautiful sister of Clytemnestra, Electra’s mother. Returning to Greece,
I eventually completed the trilogy, having discovered a stunning
13-yearold, Tatiana Papamoskou, to play Iphigenia, sacrificial victim
to the Gods in the cause of war. Playing Clytemnestra, her heartbroken
mother, is Irene Papas, who, owing to the time lapses between films,
became a vital link in the trilogy by portraying three women of
different ages, belonging to the same family”.
Michael Cacoyannis
The director was instrumental in the success of Greek superstar Melina Mercouri, guiding her through the multi-award-winning Stella (1955). Cacoyannis' first significant international success was Electra (1961), a fluid adaptation of the venerable Euripides play. His biggest hit was Zorba the Greek (1964), which fully demonstrated the influence that the Italian neorealist movement had had in the director's work. Unfortunately, Cacoyannis' next film, The Day the Fish Came Out (1967), was an expensive disaster, though he more than compensated for this set-back with his critically acclaimed The Trojan Women (1971) (he'd previously directed the well-received Broadway stage version of this ancient drama in 1963). After a long absence from the screen, Michael Cacoyannis directed the 1986 film Sweet Country, which received negative criticism at the time, but looks better with each passing year.
Cannes Film Festival Adaptation Award for Electra, 1962 Salonika Film Festival Best Director Our Last
Spring, 1960 Filmography 1999 The Cherry Orchard 1993 Pano Kato Ke Plagios 1987 Sweet Country 1977 Iphigenia 1975 Attila 74: The Rape of Cyprus 1974 The Story of Jacob and Joseph 1971 The Trojan Women 1967 The Day the Fish Came Out 1964 Zorba the Greek 1963 The Wastrel 1962 Electra 1960 Our Last Spring 1958 To Telefteo Psemma 1957 A Matter of Dignity 1956 Windfall in Athens 1956 Girl in Black FILMS directed
by Michael Cacoyannis: 1955 – Stella which launched
Melina Merkouri on the screen. Directed from his own screenplay,
it was acclaimed at the Cannes Festival and won several international
awards, including the Hollywood Golden Globe. 1956 – A Girl In Black
(written and directed by M.C.) a stark drama, it was distributed
internationally and critically acclaimed, winning the Golden Globe
and Silver Bear (Moscow Film Festival) and critics’ awards. 1958 – A Matter Of Dignity,
Cacoyannis’ film about the phony values of the bourgeoisie,
his third film starring Ellie Lambetti, received raves and was critically
voted Film of the Year in England. 1959 – Our Last Spring
(Greek title Eroica) was adapted by Cacoyannis from a novel about
adolescence and had a cast of non-professionals, mostly boys and
girls of about 15 years of age. It was selected for both the Berlin
and the London Film Festivals. 1960 – The Wastrel, adapted
from an American novel, was an Italian production, shot in Italy
in English, starring Van Heflin and Ellie Lambetti. It was selected
for the Cannes Film Festival and was distributed internationally. 1961-62 – Electra, scripted
by Cacoyannis from the tragedy by Euripides and starring Irene Papas,
was hailed internationally as a film classic. It won over thirty
awards including the Jury Prize at Cannes, the Prix Femina and an
Oscar nomination. 1963-64 – Zorba the Greek,
adapted from the novel by Kazantzakis with a cast including Anthony
Quinn, Alan Bates, Irene Papas and Lila Kedrova was an instant success
all over the world. It got seven Oscar nominations (including best
picture, best director and best screenplay) and won three –
for the best supporting actress, photography and art direction. 1966-67 – The day the Fish Came Out. An original screenplay by Cacoyannis, set in the not too distant future, alerting us to the dangers of the atomic age. Made with an international cast as a satire with serious undertones, the film was both provocatively critical of the policy of secrecy employed by the big powers (and America specifically) and controversially received. During the period of the Greek junta (1967-1974),
Cacoyannis was self-exiled from Greece. He lived in France and the
United States, absorbed in diverse political activities and directing
plays in the theatre. Cut off from his roots, he made only one film
in seven years. 1970-71 – The Trojan Women,
adapted from the tragedy by Euripides, starring Katharine Hepburn,
Vanessa Redgrave, Irene Papas, and Genevieve Bujold. The film was
dedicated to “those against the oppression of man by man”
and was hailed as a worthy sequel to Electra. 1974-75 – Attila ’74,
a full length documentary about the invasion of Cyprus by Turkey,
the establishment of the Attila line (so named by the Turks) dividing
the Island in two and the events that led up to it, expounded by
Archbishop Makarios and other political figures. Cacoyannis stressed
the human element by interviewing refugees, prisoners of war, victims
of Junta followers and families of the missing. The film was shown
at the American Congress and commercially release in several countries
and assessed as an important historic document. 1976-77 – Iphigenia, based
on Euripides’ tragedy “Iphigenia in Aulis”. With
this strongly anti-militaristic film, scripted, directed and edited
(as in all his films) by himself, Cacoyannis won more praise (Prix
Femina, Oscar nomination, Critics’ awards) and attained his
dream of many years to complete a Trilogy about the Trojan Wars,
inspired by the Euripides’ texts. The trilogy constitutes
the director’s major work and was universally acclaimed by
scholars the world over. Long articles, essays, and books have been
written about it (notably, “Euripides in Cinema” by
American scholar Marianne McDonald) and university symposiums are
organised around its screenings. 1985-86 – Sweet Country,
adapted from a novel by American author, Caroline Richards, inspired
by her experiences in Chile before and after the coup. The film,
a harsh human document about the corrupting effects of fear in totalitarian
regimes, had an important international cast (Jane Alexander, Joanna
Pettet, Carol Laure, Franco Nero, Jean-Pierre Aumont and Irene Papas)
and had a mixed reception – most favourable in France as opposed
to the United States. 1993 – Up, Down and Sideways.
Produced, financed, written and directed by Michael Cacoyannis,
the film was an instant box-office success in Athens. American release
is pending. “A huge-audience pleaser,” Hollywood Reporter.
It is an “anarchic comedy” about the horrors and tribulations
of life in a modern city, with Irene Papas heading an all-Greek
cast. 1998-99 – The Cherry Orchard Cacoyannis’s return to cinema with a self-adapted
English language version of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard is
a triumph. Michael Cacoyannis – his big hit was Zorba
the Greek, in 1964 – has made it as a labour of love, and
it’s a film that’s full of elegance and sophistication.
The look is painterly, and shows painstaking study of art at the
turn of the century. The picture is beautifully lit and a fine cast
is given every chance to explore the depths of the characters. Theatre United States: The Trojan Women 1964, (N.Y. Critics’
Award), John Whiting’s The Devils, 1966 (starring Ann Bancroft,
Jason Robards), Iphigenia in Aulis, 1968, The Bacchae, 1981, Zorba,
(a musical starring Antony Quinn) 1983 – 1986 Publications
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