New THE BIRTHDAY PARTY Trailer Sees Willem Dafoe Host a Party That Spirals Out of Control

A birthday party on a private Mediterranean island sounds like a good time, unless Willem Dafoe’s Marcos Timoleon is the guy hosting it.

Lionsgate has released a new trailer for The Birthday Party, a thriller starring Dafoe as Marcos Timoleon, a powerful and dangerous tycoon who gathers a colorful group of guests on his private island to celebrate his daughter’s birthday. Of course, Marcos has plans of his own, and the festivities are headed somewhere much darker.

Set in the late 1970s, the film centers on Marcos and his daughter Sofia, played by Vic Carmen Sonne, as a lavish celebration turns into a collision of family conflict, personal agendas, excess, and control.

The official synopsis reads: “The story is set in the late 1970s somewhere in the Mediterranean, where Marcos Timoleon, an Aristotle Onassis-like tycoon, is throwing a lavish, extravagant birthday party for Sofia, his daughter and sole heiress, on his exclusive private island.

“The party is a perfect excuse for various people in his life to approach him with their own agendas. But Marcos, who is used to ruthlessly controlling everything and everyone around him at whatever cost, is also secretly plotting a big decision on his daughter's behalf.

“Sofia, however, has come to share some important news of her own. As guests start pouring in and night falls, the party grows rowdier and more decadent, while the inevitable clash between Marcos and Sofia reaches a heartbreaking climax.”

Dafoe playing an Aristotle Onassis-inspired tycoon with control issues sounds like a role perfectly suited to his style. The new trailer leans into the decadent atmosphere of the party while making it clear that Marcos isn’t throwing this celebration simply to give his daughter a good time.

The film had its world premiere at the 78th Locarno Film Festival last year before being picked up for distribution earlier this year.

Dafoe’s recent credits include The Northman, Asteroid City, Poor Things, Kinds of Kindness, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Nosferatu, The Phoenician Scheme, and The Man in the Basement.

The four-time Academy Award nominee isn’t slowing down, either. He’ll next appear in Tenzing later this month, followed by Robert Eggers’ Werwulf this Christmas.

Joining Dafoe and Sonne in The Birthday Party are Joe Cole (Peaky Blinders, Gangs of London), Emma Suárez (Julieta, The Red Squirrel), and Carlos Cuevas (Merlí, Smiley).

Miguel Ángel Jiménez (Window to the Sea, A God in Each Lentil) directed the film from a screenplay he co-wrote with Giorgos Karnavas and Nicos Panayotopoulos.

With Dafoe playing a ruthless billionaire patriarch, a private island packed with guests pursuing their own interests, and a father-daughter confrontation waiting to erupt, The Birthday Party looks like one seriously uncomfortable celebration.

The Birthday Party starts streaming today, October 8th, exclusively on Lionsgate+ on Prime Video.