A celebrity fundraiser, armed true believers and a volcano apparently demanding human sacrifices: Romain Gavras isn’t exactly easing into his English-language debut. Netflix has unveiled the official trailer for Sacrifice, a wild-looking satire starring Chris Evans and Anya Taylor-Joy, with Vincent Cassel, Salma Hayek Pinault, John Malkovich and plenty more along for the increasingly unhinged ride. Watch the trailer above and get the details below.
A Celebrity Fundraiser Goes Completely Off the Rails
As Gavras told People: “I think each of us has a part in ourselves that fantasizes about throwing billionaires and celebrities into a volcano.”
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Evans plays Mike Tyler, an action star trying to put a very public personal crisis behind him. His attempted return to the spotlight takes him to an extravagant environmental fundraiser in Greece, where billionaire Ben Bracken (Cassel) and his wife, Gloria (Hayek Pinault), have assembled a suitably glamorous guest list.
That carefully staged evening is blown apart by the arrival of Joan (Taylor-Joy) and her fiercely committed followers. They believe catastrophe is just days away and that preventing it requires three people to be delivered to a nearby volcano. Mike, Ben and performer Katie (Ambika Mod) are soon pulled into a mission that sounds absurd to everyone except those holding the weapons.
Evans told Netflix’s Tudum: “You have these glitzy, shallow Hollywood types operating on a pretty hypocritical platform by holding this charity for nature, but none of them really care. And then you have this other group of people who care completely, who are willing to die for their cause and want nothing of ego or adoration.”
“It almost seems like an ‘eat the rich’ story in the beginning, but I think it evolves into the death of ego — the death of that want and desire that comes from a superficial place,” Evans added.
For Taylor-Joy, Sacrifice marks another plunge into darkly satirical and comic territory after The Menu. Once again, she’s surrounded by obscene wealth, social posturing and an exclusive gathering heading towards disaster, although her position in the madness couldn’t be more different.
Romain Gavras Is Back Behind the Camera
Sacrifice is the fourth feature from French filmmaker Romain Gavras, following Our Day Will Come, The World Is Yours and 2022’s Athena, and marks his first English-language feature.
If you haven’t seen Athena, check that one out. Gavras’ previous film is a ferociously staged piece of filmmaking, packed with sprawling crowd sequences, elaborate long takes and immense technical control. Whatever you make of its story, it’s difficult to come away questioning the man’s ability to mount a sequence.
That visual confidence was well established before Gavras moved deeper into features. His extensive music-video background includes M.I.A.’s “Bad Girls”, Justice’s “Stress”, Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild” and Jamie xx’s “Gosh”, among many others. Sacrifice looks to be continuing his appetite for bold imagery, now with evening wear, masked extremists, huge landscapes and a volcano added to the arsenal.
Gavras co-wrote the screenplay with playwright Will Arbery, whose TV credits include HBO series Succession. Greek mythology, Joan of Arc and even The Lord of the Rings were among the ingredients that made their way into the screenplay, while Gavras grew up hearing mythological stories from his father, acclaimed filmmaker Costa-Gavras (Z, Missing).
The Production Went to Some Serious Locations
Rather than keeping the crazier parts of the story safely contained on a soundstage, the production headed across Greece, Bulgaria and Iceland. The locations included a mine in northern Greece and an active volcano, with Gavras and his cast embracing some fairly demanding shoots to get the scale he wanted on camera.
“We had to bring 200 extras in gala dresses to a mine in Northern Greece with all the A-list cast actors,” Gavras told Tudum. “I think this is what makes it interesting. It’s more fun as a director to bring the cast on a real active volcano, when actors are down to do stuff like that. Every morning, we had to climb up for almost an hour, with all the gear on donkeys, everyone walking up. You get performances that are amazing.”
There’s a Very Eclectic Cast
Alongside Evans, Taylor-Joy, Cassel, Hayek Pinault and Mod, the ensemble includes Sam Richardson, Yung Lean, Jade Croot, Miriam Silverman and John Malkovich. Charli xcx also has a small role as Mother Nature, because this cast apparently wasn’t eclectic enough already.
There are some existing connections behind the ensemble. Cassel starred in and produced Gavras’ 2010 feature debut, Our Day Will Come, while the director’s roots in music extend to longstanding friendships with both Yung Lean and Charli xcx.
Critics Have Already Seen Sacrifice
Unlike many Netflix releases unveiling their first full trailer shortly before audiences get to see the movie, Sacrifice already has a festival run behind it. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2025, so there’s a sizeable critical response out there already.
And it’s been a little bumpy thus far. At the time of writing, Rotten Tomatoes has Sacrifice sitting at 37% from 35 critic reviews. So, hardly universal enthusiasm. Still, with Gavras behind the camera and this much eccentricity packed into the premise, the trailer makes a convincing case that Sacrifice won’t be lacking for ambition.
When Is Sacrifice Released?
Sacrifice will be released on Netflix on October 16, 2026.
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