After bringing down the house with his Oscar-nominated film The Favourite, Yorgo Lanthimos is reteaming with Oscar-winner Emma Stone for Poor Things, an adaptation of the Alasdair Gray novel that promises something sinister indeed. According to The Film Stage, Gray's novel reworks Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein creation myth, but not in any way that you would expect. The way we've heard it, Poor Things will follow Stone as Bella Baxter, “a volatile, oversexed, emancipated woman and a female Frankenstein.” After drowning herself to escape her abusive husband, Bella’s brain is replaced by that of her unborn child. Once she is reborn, Bella is out for vengeance, and ready to take her new life by the throat and squeeze.
Lanthimos, please, take my money! This concept sounds amazing and I'll be damned if I haven't found my first novel to read this year.
The project hails from Lanthimos and screenwriter Tony McNamara, who will adapt the story for Searchlight Pictures. Production is expected to get underway in the fall, with a 2022 launch date in mind. Talk of this project lands after it was announced last fall that Scarlett Johansson is set to lead Sebastián Lelio’s Bride for Apple and A24, which is inspired, of course, by James Whale classic Bride of Frankenstein.
The very thought of Lanthimos applying his talent to a Frankenstein-like tale of terror with Emma Stone leading the charge has me very excited. While I'm always game to see how a filmmaker will update a classic concept, it's even cooler when someone brings something fresh and creative to the slab. Let's do this!