‘Sacrifice’ Trailer: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Evans, John Malkovich, and Charli XCX Take Aim at Celebrity Vapidity

In Romain Gavras' English-language debut, a Ruben Östlund-ish set-up gets a fiery edge.

Imagine this: You’re a fancy movie star trying to stage a personal and professional resurrection after an ill-timed public meltdown. You’re inching your way back into the vapid world of celebrity, the only one you really know, by attending an extremely fancy black-tie gala that is ostensibly being held to help the environment, but really just seems like a great way for people to take selfies. Suddenly, a group of masked radicals breaks into the event, wielding guns, and demanding hostages. Surely, this is all just a big joke? Right?

Such is the set-up of Romain Gavras’ English-language debut, “Sacrifice,” which stars Chris Evans in the comeback-seeking celeb role, Anya Taylor-Joy as the leader of those very real radicals, and rounds out the rest of the cast with Vincent Cassel, Salma Hayek Pinault, Ambika Mod, John Malkovich, Yung Lean, and Charli XCX. Now that’s a party.

Per distributor Netflix, the film blends “dark comedy, high-stakes suspense, and psychological drama … [and] takes aim at celebrity culture, media spectacle, performative activism, and elite hypocrisy while exploring larger questions of faith, conviction, redemption, and the search for meaning in a world built on appearances. As tensions rise and the line between belief and delusion begins to blur, the film transforms from a razor-sharp social satire into a suspenseful race against time.”

The film premiered at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, where our David Ehrlich wrote, that it’s “a propulsive (and hilarious) comedy that gradually melts into a dreamlike (and not so hilarious) modern fable, this hyper-stylized whatsit might be at its best when shooting fish in a barrel, but Gavras’ film is much less interested in poking fun at easy targets than it is in leveraging its characters — terrorist and hostage alike — towards unformed ideas about truth, performance, and the cleansing power of death in the face of a society so ego-driven that it’s impossible to tell the difference between heroes and clowns.”

Gavras also co-wrote the film’s screenplay with Will Arbery (“Succession,” so that checks out) and filmed in various locations across Greece, including a volcano in Santorini and a marble quarry in the city of Volakas.

“Sacrifice” will be available to stream on Netflix in the U.S. and France on Thursday, October 16. Check out the film’s first trailer below.