Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1512899
www.postmagazine.com 22 POST NOV/DEC 2023 Poor Things Director Yorgos Lanthimos brings Alasdair Gray's novel to the big screen BY MARC LOFTUS P oor Things, from filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite, The Lobster), is based on the novel by Alasdair Gray. Presented by Searchlight Pictures, the film stars Emma Stone as Bella Baxter, a young woman brought back to life by daring and un- conventional scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter, played by Willem Dafoe. Ramy Youssef plays Max McCandless, Dr. Baxter's eager-to-learn student, whom he welcomes into his home to observe and record Bella's progress. The film also stars Mark Ruˆalo as Duncan Wedderburn, a manipulative gentleman who is both infatuated with Bella, as well as frustrated by his inability to control her. Lanthimos once again partnered with cinema- tographer Robbie Ryan (The Favourite) to shoot the project, which was captured on three diˆerent film stocks. Yorgos Mavropsaridis, ACE, handled editing duties, continuing his collaborative relation- ship with the director as well. The world of Poor Things is highly stylized, though ambiguous in its time period — suggesting perhaps the 1930s — and moves back and forth between black & white and color. Here, the director and his DP share with Post their experience shooting the feature, its challeng- es and their favorite sequences. Yorgos, it looks like you assembled a team of collaborators that you've worked with in the past for this project? Yorgos Lanthimos: "Some of them I've worked with before, [and] some of them not. Actually, produc- tion design (James Price) and costume design (Holly Waddington) we hadn't worked with before… Some of them I have. One aspect of it is, the people that you've worked with before, it's great because you have a short-hand. You know each other and you are more comfortable. You are able to build on the relationship and go further. There's trust. And then for certain aspects of film, you might want Emma Stone as Poor Things' Bella Baxter Poor Things' Bella Baxter Poor Things'