Antetokounmpo: New cinematic venture with Clelia Andriolatou and Julia Fox
The NBA ace enters the film industry, collaborating with Greek-American producer Christopher Andre Marks and their first fiction film, titled "Mykonos"
Their deep love for Greece and sports, combined with their sharp entrepreneurial spirit, led two young people with different backgrounds, a well-known athlete and a talented director-producer, to join forces and claim a strong position in the film industry with a Greek taste.
One of these is the NBA's “Greek Freak”, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Greek-American Christopher Andre Marks, who are dynamically invading the global cinema scene with an international film shot in Greece, with the participation of well-known foreign and Greek actors. And its name: “Mykonos”. As its title suggests, its filming, which was recently completed, took place on the Windward Island under extreme secrecy
The cast includes Greek stars Clelia Andriolatou, Maria Kavogianni, Panos Koronis, Makis Papadimitriou, George Pyrpasopoulos, Hieroklis Michaelides, Yiannis Dracopoulos and Christos Pasalis, as well as the popular foreign film actorsRicardo Scamarcio, Andrew Georgiadis, Vito Schnabel and Julia Fox.
All of them are collaborating, according to the script written by director Christopher Andre Marks, in a comedy of fiction that records the adventures of an eccentric group of noble thieves, who rob arrogant wealthy tourists who destroy their island every summer.
Studio Galazio
And all of this happens against the backdrop of the vast blue of the Aegean Sea, from which the newly founded production company Studio Galazio took its name, which focuses on the creation and development of films and television series with a strong Greek element and aims for international distribution through a large -global- network of partnerships.
“Our vision is to support Greek themes and create projects that we believe can work well both in Greece and abroad,” explains to “THEMA” the inspirer, creator and CEO of this ambitious new company, Christopher Andre Marks, who also directs and writes the film’s screenplay.
Raised in California as a Greek, Marks is known to the international and Greek public mainly from the documentary film “King Otto”, which records the incredible journey of the National Football Team to the top of Europe in 2004, led by German coach Otto Rehhagel, of which he was the director and co-producer: “After the release of this film in more than 70 countries we felt that it was a unique opportunity to build a new production company on this foundation”, he notes.
In the recent past, Christopher Andre Marks has put his directorial signature on two more Emmy-winning documentaries on sports, “Tiger Hood” for ESPN Films’ “30 for 30” and “24/7: Road to the NHL Winter Classic” for the American television network HBO, which follows athletes and sports organizations for weeks in advance of a major sporting event.
The film “Mykonos”, with which he inaugurates his new production company, is the first feature film utilizing his own script and direction. But why did he choose this particular island? “Because I felt it was the ideal place to get the message of the film across. That is, obviously Mykonos is a beautiful summer destination, but at the same time a place very rich in History and tradition, a fact that is often overlooked by those who see it only as an island for endless parties,” he answers meaningfully.
He himself, however, has developed a very strong bond with the beautiful and bustling island of the Cyclades, as he has spent most of his summer vacations there, exploring it inch by inch and discovering its authentic aspects unknown to many.
Particularly important, however, is the fact that in this maiden step he invested not only in foreign but also in Greek actors, people who have come into contact with the international audience as protagonists of Greek series.
but also international films that have been released on Netflix, such as Klelia Andriolatou and Maria Kavoyanni from Christopher Papakaliatis' "Maestro" and Panos Koronis from Maggie Gyllenhaal's "Lost Daughter" which was filmed in Spetses.
"We chose actors who we thought were suitable for the respective roles. We were lucky to work with such a wonderful cast and the fact that the Greek actors who have been protagonists in their previous works accepted to play smaller roles in the film shows their quality and professionalism", underlines Christopher Andre Marks.
The truth, of course, is that one cannot easily say “no” to such an ambitious project supported by international production companies that have achieved great successes and experienced professionals such as Ginevra Tamperi (Amazon MGM Studios), Donna Blum (“Julia” for HBO Max) and Raphael Benoliel (“Emily in Paris” for Netflix) - the Greek Blonde S.A. (“Tehran”) is also participating. Participations that betray that Greece is now a strong new player in the field of international cinema. “Greek cinema has a long and important tradition that I am not competent to speak about.
From my perspective, however, I feel that cinema in Greece has great prospects and we are very happy to participate in the momentum that Greece has developed in the last -several- years, not only as a filming destination for foreign productions, which we see very often, but also as fertile ground for extremely original domestic productions”, points out the Greek-American director and producer.
That is why he himself revealed to us that Studio Galazio already has two new projects in the works that follow the same Greek-centric logic.
Film Business
It may not have been widely known, but film and television productions are a sector in which Giannis Antetokounmpo recently decided to invest through the company Improbable Media, which he founded in early 2024, together with members of his family and former American NBA basketball player and later ESPN sports channel television presenter-analyst Jay Williams.
The vision and goal of this company is to create films and series that will bring new life to the growing field of productions that concern the lives and careers of athletes, artists and other popular personalities, with the individuals themselves actively participating in them, thus maintaining control over the information that sees the light of day. In other words, to become the narrators of their own life stories. All of this, of course, passed through the creative filter and values of Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The company may have been officially launched last January, when its website was activated on the Internet, but its human resources have been working intensively for a year, searching for attractive ideas and setting up projects that were considered interesting in order to dynamically invade this competitive space.
The Marvelous Giannis
It began with the documentary “Giannis: The Marvelous Journey”, which was released last February on Amazon’s Prime Video platform and records, in about two hours, the magical journey of Giannis Antetokounmpo from the neighborhoods of Athens where he grew up to the top of world basketball.
In addition, Improbable Media has released a short documentary for Nike and a commercial for Protergia in Greece, featuring Giannis himself, while the company collaborated with NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC to produce the documentary “Flagmakers,” which even won an Emmy television award.
The documentary “Giannis: The Marvelous Journey” is the first project of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s newly established production company
“Mykonos” is the first fiction film in which the company of the top Greek athlete participates as a producer. In fact, he does not hide his joy for this new project: “Guys, you know how much I love Mykonos. "I am very excited to officially announce that my production company, Improbable Media, has partnered with Studio Galazio to produce my first feature film as a producer... MYKONOS, the Movie, written and directed by Christopher André Marks, coming soon..." he wrote in a story he posted a few days ago on his personal Instagram page.
