Atropia

For the fictional country of Atropia, see Atropia (fictional country).

Atropia is a 2025 American war satire film written and directed by Hailey Gates in her feature length debut, and starring Alia Shawkat and Callum Turner. It is produced by Luca Guadagnino.

Atropia
Directed by	Hailey Gates
Written by	Hailey Gates
Produced by	Luca Guadagnino Naima Abed Émilie Georges Lana Kim Jett Steiger
Starring	Alia Shawkat Callum Turner Chloë Sevigny Tim Heidecker
Cinematography	Eric Yue
Edited by	Madeleine Gavin Sophie Corra
Music by	Robert Ames Ari Balouzian Max Whipple
Production companies	Frenesy Film Company Paradise City Ways & Means Big Creek Projects
Release date	January 25, 2025 (2025-01-25) (Sundance)
Running time	104 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

It had its world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2025, where it received mixed reviews from critics. Despite this, it won the Grand Jury Prize in the festival's U.S. Dramatic Competition.

Premise

An actress works in Atropia, a city constructed for War Games.^[1]

The movie is named after Atropia, a complex of 12 mock villages built at the Fort Irwin National Training Center in California’s Mojave Desert.^[2]

Cast

• Alia Shawkat as Fayruz
• Callum Turner as Abu Dice
• Chloë Sevigny as Pina
• Tim Heidecker as Hayden
• Phil Burgers as Lackey
• Chloe East as Medic Grimes
• Jane Levy as Nancy
• Gilberto Ortiz as Private IPod
• Sal Lopez as Jerry
• Shaholly Ayers as Maria
• Gil Perez-Abraham as Private Wyatt
• Tony Shawkat as Mayor
• Channing Tatum as The Actor (uncredited cameo)
• Tim Blake Nelson as Mr. Speaker
• Lola Kirke as Candy

Production

Produced by Frenesy Film Company with Luca Guadagnino as producer, the film is directed by Hailey Gates in her feature length debut that was shot in July 2023.^[3] That year, the film had received Californian tax credits for production.^[4] The film is based on Gates' 2019 short film, Shako Mako, which was produced as part of Miu Miu's Women's Tales series of shorts directed by women and featured Alia Shawkat.^[5] That short followed an actress on the set of a replica foreign village on Fort Irwin National Training Center, used by the American military to train soldiers prior to combat. The cast on Atropia again includes Shawkat, with Callum Turner and Chloë Sevigny confirmed in the cast in February 2024.^[6][7] Tim Heidecker was announced to be part of the cast in November 2024.^[8] In January 2025, it was revealed that Channing Tatum made a cameo appearance in the film.^[9]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 41% of 34 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.9/10.^[10] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 51 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.^[11]