Tassos Karahalios is a 43-year-old contemporary dancer from Athens, Greece and has been cast as Ear Man in one of the freakiest films of the year Crimes of the Future by director David Cronenberg.
The film is set in a time when human beings have evolved to spontaneously grow new organs and pain has been eradicated. Tassos’ character is covered in spare ears from head to toe.
In an interview with GQ, Tassos described how when he first received the call that he had been cast in the film, he thought it was a prank.
Once the reality sunk in however, Tassos was thrilled at the chance to work with Cronenberg.
“I follow him as an artist,” Tassos said in the interview. “He’s one of a kind. He does something deeply personal and deeply unique. I mean, in Greece, he’s a myth.”
After being cast, the next stage was for Tassos to get into character and this involved “a body transformation” including shaving his head and being entirely covered in 40 ears.
“It was very weird,” he said.
Despite this weirdness, the final product is excellent and so far the film has received rave reviews.
