Poor Things is a comedy fantasy film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. It premiered in Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Golden Lion.
Let’s find out more about the movie!
- Poor Things is a 2023 steampunk black comedy fantasy film.
- It is based on the 1992 novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray.
- It focuses on a young Victorian woman who, after being crudely resurrected by a scientist following her suicide, runs off with a debauched lawyer to embark on an odyssey of self-discovery and sexual liberation.
- Produced by Film4 Productions, Element Pictures, TSG Entertainment, and Searchlight Pictures.
- Development on the film began as early as 2009, when Lanthimos visited Gray in Scotland to acquire the rights to the novel.
- Following a period in development hell, the director revisited Poor Things while filming The Favourite (2018), which starred Stone, and approached her with the lead role.
- The remaining cast joined the project in 2021.\
- Principal photography occurred in Hungary from August to December of that year.
- Poor Things premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on September 1, 2023, where it won the Golden Lion.
- The film is scheduled to be theatrically released by Searchlight Pictures in the United States on December 8, 2023.
- Later on it is going to premiere in the United Kingdom on January 12, 2024.
- As revealed in the September 2023 issue of Empire magazine, Yorgos Lanthimos gave screenwriter Tony McNamara three films as references for the tone and feel of the film : E la nave va(1983), Belle De Jour (1967) and Frankenstein Junior (1974).
- Director Yorgos Lanthimos received an eight-minute standing ovation at the world premiere during the 2023 Venice Film Festival.
- None of the stars could attend due to the SAG-AFTRA strike.
- Yorgos Lanthimos’ first adaptation of a novel.
- During a press conference at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, director Yorgos Lanthimos commended star Emma Stone on fully committing to filming her very graphic sex scenes in the movie.
- Poor Things is Yorgos Lanthimos’ longest film to date.
- Emma Stone’s third collaboration with Yorgos Lanthimos after The Favourite (2018) and short film, Vlihi (Bleat), with the Greek National Opera (2022).
- Reportedly, a stream of theatergoers bolted for the exit during the premiere at the 2023 Venice Film Festival due to the graphic and sometimes violent sex scenes involving Emma Stone’s character.
- The cast includes one Oscar winner: Emma Stone; and two Oscar nominees: Willem Dafoe and Mark Ruffalo.
- Christopher Abbott and Margaret Qualley have worked together before in the film Sanctuary (2022).
- Emma Stone,Mark Ruffalo and Willem Defoe all worked with Marvel Studios. Ruffalo in The Avengers (2012), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019) as Dr Bruce Banner/Hulk. Emma Stone played Gwen Stacey in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), and it’s sequel The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014). Willem Defoe played Dr Norman Osbourne/Green Goblin Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Spider-Man 3 (2007), and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021).
- Lanthimos worked closely with costume designer Holly Waddington in order to reflect Bella’s growth and development through her wardrobe, from the more puffy silhouettes of her childlike era to the nearly corseted gown she wears at the film’s climax.
- Stone further elaborated on Bella’s growth reflected through her costumes, detailing how in the beginning of the story, Bella dresses in more traditional clothing of the era, and, following her transformation, begins to dress herself in more bizarre clothes.
- On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 98% of 49 critics’ reviews are positive, with an average rating of 9.3/10.
