How Vasilis Marmatakis' graphics helped shape Bugonia's weirdness

Yorgos Lanthimos' latest work, Bugonia, tells the story of two conspiracy-obsessed cousins (played by Jesse Plemons and Aidan Delbis) who kidnap a high-powered CEO (Emma Stone), convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth.

The name Bugonia signifies an ancient Greek belief that explains the birth of bees from dead cows, and it is the title chosen by Lanthimos for this psychological thriller that deals with modern climate anxiety, conspiracy and paranoia.

Long-term Lanthimos collaborator, Athens-based graphic designer Vasilis Marmatakis, has worked with the director since his 2009 debut with Dogtooth, crafting memorable designs for movies including The Lobster and Poor Things, and he was once again tasked with creating the posters and graphics for this latest film.

Bugonia posters: multilayered storytelling

Before working on a poster design, Marmatakis explores a movie's universe, from the script to the costumes to the aesthetics, going on set and then retreating to develop the ideas. 'I work to visually to reflect the film,' he told Wallpaper*. 'And design different to reflect different aspects of the story.'

For Bugonia, each poster has a multilayered approach, offering glimpses into the story while reflecting on a specific element. One design focused on Plemons' character's trauma and grief, one takes a more futuristic view, another hones in on Stone's kidnap. Clues are dotted throughout the poster series, from bees' wings to an almost sci-fi vision of planet Earth.

The series' most popular poster famously features Stone's head shaved, her face covered by layers of substances dripping on the surface. 'The idea is that you don't know if she's in desperation or if she's in awe,' says Marmatakis. 'And the layers represent nature, the world, and the body: you have blood and honey, and they are falling onto her; it's as if humanity and nature are attacking her.'

The Bugonia typeface: Churchward Roundsquare

The posters and the film are anchored by a visually arresting typeface: Marmatakis worked with Samoan graphic designer Joseph Churchward's Churchward Roundsquare. A fan of Churchward's typographic work since he discovered it during a research projectin The Netherlands, he found the 2002 design in the archives of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and asked the family for permission to digitize it.

'It has this sense of being futuristic, monumental, DIY and threatening, but at the same time it feels very brutalist: it has all the elements that I wanted,' he says. In the titles, the Churchward type is exaggerated, appearing on just a few letters and contrasting with the classic, quiet elegance of the Garamond italics, which enhances its visual power, making it more unsettling.

Even though he was working with a digitized typeface, Marmatakis used a completely analogue method. Each title was first printed, then brushed with water and then scanned back: the effect is slightly smudged, removing the sharpness of the type and adding to the visually jarring effect.

This method of working also echoed some of the movie's themes. 'I just wanted to show more like that kind of DIY approach, how it connected to conspiracy theories and a "print out myself at home" element.'

Reflecting on his role of a graphic designer working on movies, he enjoys creating work that frames the experience of a film, creating elements that welcome viewers and let them go at the end. 'I think film typography is a really interesting space to work in,' he adds. To make the most of these two moments, Marmatakis used the Churchward type in different ways at the beginning and at the end of the film.

For the movie's opening titles, the font appears on a single letter in each frame, like a small singularity that adds a sense of curiosity to the intro. At the end, however, the full strangeness of its brutalist forms is revealed, as the full cast and crew credits appear as a sequence, the bold, geometric letters raining down on the screen for a truly unsettling effect.

This is one of the most exciting spaces for Marmatakis to experiment: '[As a viewer], at the beginning you arrive and you're open to a two-hour experience, and at the end, just when the experience finishes, there is this in-between time – in those few minutes you can do a lot of interesting things with typography.'