‘Poor Things’ Trailer: Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone Are Reborn in a Frankenstein Fantasy
Yorgos Lanthimos lovers are no longer poor, as he debuted the full trailer for his first feature film in five years.
“Poor Things” is released on September 8 from Searchlight Pictures and stars Emma Stone, who earned an Academy Award nomination for 2018’s “The Favourite,” Lanthimos’ dark period piece written by Tony McNamara, which returns again to write this visually sumptuous twist on the Frankenstein story.
The film centers on the incredible story and fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Under Baxter’s protection, Bella is eager to learn. Hungry for the worldliness she lacks in her, she Bella runs off with Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a shrewd and debauched lawyer, on a whirlwind adventure across continents. Freed from the prejudices of her time, Bella becomes steadfast in her resolve to stand up for equality and liberation.
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The cast also includes recent “Sanctuary” stars Christopher Abbott and Margaret Qualley, “The Tragedy of Macbeth” Kathryn Hunter, as well as comedians Jerrod Carmichael and Rammy Youssef. Given the film’s September release date — and awards-friendly — expect “Poor Things” to show up at this year’s Venice Film Festival.
“Poor Things” is based on Scottish author Alasdair Gray’s 1992 postmodern novel about a woman who drowns herself to escape her abusive husband and is resurrected with her unborn child’s brain. Star Abbott recently received high praise for the film: “First of all, the production design was incredible. You can see in the teaser how wild it looks, and while it didn’t quite look like that, I was quite amazed at how magical the actual sets were and how detailed they were. When I saw the teaser as well, it was even more vivid and wild than how it felt on set. So it just doubled up and it looks amazing,” she said.
Lanthimos was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Film and Best Director for “The Favourite” and Best Original Screenplay for “The Lobster”. The Greek director was notably excluded from the 2010 Best International Film Oscar race for his dystopian drama “Dogtooth”.
Watch the trailer for “Poor Things” below.