Original title: How Chris Evans, a Semi-Active Volcano and Donkeys Came Together to Make TIFF-Bound ‘Sacrifice’
“Just to be clear,” says director Romain Gavras when discussing his new movie Sacrifice. “We didn’t actually throw anyone in a volcano.” A disclosure like this may seem unnecessary, but for a film that was partially shot on location on the rim of a semi-active volcano, it is not entirely needless. For Sacrifice, which is set to debut at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 6, Gavras and producers traversed treacherous terrain — from mines in Northern Greece to the Cannes film market — to make an independent feature that really doesn’t look like one. In Sacrifice, Gavras dissects myth-making in its many forms. The movie follows actor Mike Tyler (Chris Evans), who is attempting a comeback after a personal crisis and subsequent soul-searching. For his first public appearance, he attends a black-tie environmental charity gala thrown by a billionaire entrepreneur (Vincent Cassel). But it gets interrupted by a violent radical group led by Joan (Anya Taylor-Joy) that is searching