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agentnico · 4 months

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Poor Things (2023) review

Yorgos Lanthimos may be the new Quentin Tarantino when it comes to feet fetishes in cinema, as there are so many Emma Stone feet shots in this movie… so many. Also, her little toe is oddly square shaped, just saying.

Plot: An incredible tale and fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Emma 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 is lacking, Bella runs off with Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a slick and debauched lawyer, on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.

At first I was very much a fan of director Yorgos Lanthimos’ directing style, with him managing to take any event or piece of dialogue and turn it into deadpan awkwardness. As such, his indie films The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer both are great examples of entertaining postmodern cinema with each one featuring a dystopian visual style. That being said, his last film The Favourite, even though it was a hit with the critics and the award ceremonies, for me did not hit the same. It felt much more reserved compared to the director’s previous efforts, and his usual weird style just came off crude and the humour for me personally did not land. Nicholas Hoult was a hoot though, but when isn’t he! Anyway, going into Poor Things I was hoping for more of the original magic which I’ve seen from Lanthimos in his earlier works, and the trailers with their vibrant visuals really sparked my interest, so I went in with high hopes.

So in terms of the visuals, Poor Things may just feature some of the best and most imaginative sets of any movie of 2023. Starting off the first part in black-and-white, very reminiscent of the old Universal monster flicks, but then 30 minutes in transforming into a technicolour dream world with colours popping Wizard of Oz-style, with every shot reminiscent of a vivid painting, with the use of the fisheye lends to create a somewhat watercolour effect to the backgrounds. The movie looks and feels artificial, which connected well with the narrative of this Frankenstein’s monster type woman learning and discovering everything with a brain that’s both her’s and not. Oh, and she happens to also wear rainbow glasses, so I can only imagine how much more stranger the world must look through her eyes.

The film’s biggest asset is its acting. Emma Stone is phenomenal as she has to play a grown woman with the brain of a baby, and then show us that woman growing into her brain (or maybe show us the baby growing into the woman?) over the course of the film. She really does throw herself into the role and it’s the type of role that awards shows will delightfully seek their teeth into. Willem Dafoe as the maker of Bella felt like a character that walked straight off a David Lynch fantasy, from the prosthetic make-up to his performance as the mad scientist that falls for his creation. But the real stand out here is Mark Ruffalo who simply is on another level. Playing the slimy player who only sees women through the male gaze, and attempts to take advantage of Bella’s naive outlook life for his own physical pleasure, it’s the kind of character you are supposed to despise, but gosh did I love everything Ruffalo was doing in this film. He was truly hilarious with every piece of his line delivery successfully painting the pathetic nature of his foolish character. Most critics will be showering Emma Stone with praise and deservingly so, however I believe Mark Ruffalo should not be overlooked and may be the actual MVP of the whole movie.

Narrative wise this is a fun feminist spin on the Frankenstein formula, that is a loud and proud shout to female autonomy for those who may have found Barbie a bit too cheesy and perky, yet I do find the movie to be overly cynical against its own good. It's like Lanthimos approached the film in the same way the mad scientist played by Willem Dafoe in the movie approaches his medical experiments -- with a cool eye and a lot of curiosity, but very little heart. And for the bubbly and big eyed Bella that is full of life and excitement, the film she’s in is the polar opposite. Look, I admired the film for what it was, but the romantic within me wanted a bit more of the, as the French would say, ‘amour’. Also there was just too much sex for my viewing pleasure. Again, I don’t mind a lil’ hanky-panky in my films, but when I’m sat in a dark theatre surrounded by many perverts with 90% of what I’m watching being humans doing the thrusting and the throbbing, it is a tad uncomfortable. You can also imagine what my fiancée thought when I told her afterward about the movie’s heavily erotic side.

Poor Things is very much a film that screams the director’s unique and distinct style and I truly respect it for that, however I personally feel like its not my cup of tea as it was a bit too cold for my liking. There wasn’t really a character I could connect or sympathise with, and even though Mark Ruffalo is funny as hell, his character is a piece of scum and a half. Again, kudos to the whole production team and cast for a great niche slice of art house cinema, but it’s too creepy for my liking.

Overall score: 7/10

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cheekyblinderss · 10 months

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the times are mature for Nicholas Hoult to star as the protagonist of a well-written rom-com, after watching the Peter x Catherine dynamics in The Great you need no further proof

#nicholas hoult #thegreat #movies #renfield #thegreathulu #peterthegreat #warm bodies #xmen

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xxgothchatonxx · 1 year

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Nicholas Hoult’s Renfield did remind me a lot of Harley Quinn. Obviously there are differences (and I am just talking about the film, not Stoker’s novel) but the basics are comparable. An assistant/sidekick devoted to their boss/lover who treats them pretty poorly, so finally they’d had enough and fight for their independence and reclaiming their own self-worth.

There were also some line deliveries from Cagula that made me go “huh.. Nic Cage would make a great Joker”. (No, Joker wasn’t one of his inspirations - apparently it was his father, and Anne Bancroft from The Graduate... Count Dracula, you’re trying to seduce me-)

That final confrontation with Renfield reclaiming his power, saying the affirmations, and defeating Drac was the icing on the comparison cake, to me. It reminded me a lot of Harley’s recent animated series. There was set-up, build up, then a cathartic conclusion. Also like Harley, Renfield isn’t exactly the most moral person and definitely did fucked up shit but I did still root for him. That’s a testament to the writing and Hoult’s performance. (Which can be a problem for me with Harley.. if the writing/acting isn’t that good, I don’t really root for her as much as I should..)

So basically, it was the “Harley leaving Joker” flick I wish I had seen before... yeah, I wasn’t a big fan of Birds of Prey and thought Renfield (2023) was a much better version of that flick. If you loved BOP and found it empowering etc., that’s great. It just didn’t work for me (actually i hate it but I’ll stay on-topic here). But Renfield worked very well for me.

I’ll end with this - I find it ironic that Universal Studios tried the comic book movie approach twice with their Dark Universe attempt and it failed (quite spectacularly the second time) but their “what if Renfield was like Harley Quinn?” (doubt that was intentional but a lot of us are seeing that comparison) flick was a pretty good success *shoos Rotten Tomatoes and the box office away*

#renfield

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adamwatchesmovies · 5 months

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Renfield (2023)

If those who would most enjoy Renfield go into it with low expectations, they’ll find an imperfect film that (mostly) caters to their tastes. This movie has such a great premise and such a good cast. If only the screenplay and story were better. I liked it more than I didn’t but while watching, I kept wondering “I should love this… why don’t I?”

Like in the novel by Bram Stoker, R. M. Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) is transformed into Dracula’s familiar when he meets the Count (Nicholas Cage) in the early 20th century. Unlike in the novel, Dracula and Renfield survive and defeat Van Helsing, along with every subsequent would-be vampire slayer they encounter. In modern day, Renfield has grown tired of the abuse Dracula throws his way. While searching for fresh victims for his master, Renfield crosses paths with Teddy Lobo (Ben Schwartz), the son of the notoritious Lobo crime family. The bloody aftermath catches the attention of police officer Rebecca Quincy (Awkwafina), who holds a grudge against the Lobos and is looking for an ally against them.

Even without doing any research, I could’ve told you from his performance alone, that Nicolas Cage is a massive fan of 1931’s Dracula. It’s pretty clear Robert Kirkman (who pitched the story but did not write the screenplay) and director Chris McKay are too. The film begins by showing us new versions of the most well-known scenes from the 1931 film, with the sets either recreated with immaculate attention to detail or the new actors digitally added in. For anyone who loves the Universal Monsters, it’s a delight to see new performers re-interpret the material. Remember the first time you saw the Spanish version of “Dracula”? It’s that exciting. Cage, in particular, is such a good fill-in for Bela Lugosi. Hoult doesn’t quite look like Dwight Frye and may not bring the same intensity to the role, but he turns out to be a wholly different kind of servant to this prince of darkness anyway, so it won’t bother you at all.

After the dynamite intro, we dig into the story. It’s a fun idea to show Renfield, now 90 years into his servitude, getting fed up with his situation. There are some good laughs as Dracula physically and emotionally abuses Renfield while he slowly builds the courage he needs to face this vampire he could never hope to defeat on his own. This Count doesn’t insta-die when exposed to sunlight, is super strong, immortal, able to fly, can transform into a swarm of bats, hypnotize people, turn into mist and recover from practically any injury given enough time and blood.

The problem with Renfield is that we don’t explore the vampire-familiar dynamic enough. The Lobos and Officer Quincy plot, with Renfield stuck in the middle, eats up about 60% of the film. While the scenes of Quincy and Renfield teaming up against a bunch of Lobos goons means there’s plenty of comedic gore, that's not what you came to see. Then, when we finally get back to Dracula, he announces he’s going to take over the world! With Renfield gaining superhuman strength and agility whenever he eats bugs, this horror-comedy (and I use the word horror in theory here, as none of this picture is even remotely frightening) starts to feel an awful lot like a superhero film. A superhero film that isn’t taking itself seriously but come on. I came here for a vampire movie with a fun anti-romance twist. Give me that!

Since I mentioned the gore, I want to praise the special effects. There are many shots of people get their arms torn off or getting ripped apart, gutted or dispatched in other hideous ways. In any other movie, you might ask “wait, how did they even manage to stand upright if they were that easy to turn to shreds?”. Here, it’s all part of the fun. The most impressive SFX are in the scenes showing Dracula in various states of injury. Be it a scorched skeleton that can talk or a gooey blood sucker with half his skull showing and all sorts of bits barely hanging on, it’s all mega gross and well done. I’m pretty sure most actors hate having to sit in chairs while tons of makeup are applied to them, but I’d wager that after seeing the results, Cage was like “oh yeah, I’m totally willing to do with 4-5 more times.”

In the end, I’m going to rate Renfield right down the middle. More than once, I was loving it. I felt like this movie had been made specifically for me. Far too often, however, it let me down. I know it probably doesn’t make any sense, but it’s a disappointment that I’m nonetheless glad I saw and have some affection for. (September 10, 2023)

#Renfield #movies #films #movie reviews #film reviews #Chris McKay #Ryan Ridley #Robert Kirkman #Nicholas Hoult #Nicolas Cage #Awkwafina #Ben Schwartz #Shoreh Aghdashloo #Brandon Scott Jones #Adrian Martinez #2023 movies #2023 filsm #Dracula

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aceofwhump · 1 year

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For your Anon wanting some Nicholas Hoult whump, I don't think there's anything too major for him sadly, at least not to my standards anyway 😂 but here's some moments they might like. It's been a while since I saw some of these so forgive me if I remembered any wrong:

• Young Ones - falls in a pit trap and breaks his legs, begs for a little bit before getting shot in the head and killed • Collide - crashes his vehicle and wakes up to get questioned/threatened by a drug lord, a few violent encounters throughout as well, I believe he also gets strangled with rope at one point • Rebel in the Rye - scene from the war where a character finds him in the snow and wraps him in a blanket. Also, shows a little bit of his PTSD following the war (catatonia/shaking hands etc.) and he briefly gets beaten up too • Tolkien - scene where he wakes up in hospital after suffering from trench fever • The Great 1x5 - bedridden after being poisoned with arsenic (this one's kind of comical) • Skins 2x1 (his character has amnesia and motor difficulties after getting hit by a bus in the previous season and is shown still recovering from that.) Also, has a panic attack in 2x6 • Sand Castle - deliberately injures his hand by slamming it in a car door so he can get sent home from the war (this is only brief from what I remember) • Warm bodies - gets shot towards the end • Equals - bangs his head following a nightmare and a few instances of emotional whump throughout too • Also, not sure how old nonny is so they might want to skip this one because I think he might have been a minor at the time but there was some in Coming Down the Mountain too. He gets beaten up and there's some emotional whump for him. Also a graphic scene where he self harms so trigger warning for that.

Oh my god bless you nonny!!! This is perfect!! Thanks so much for putting this together and sending it in! It's much appreciated! Here ya go nonny. Lots of good Nicholas Hoult whump for you to check out :D

#whump recs #whump list #nicholas hoult #mod replies

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themosleyreview · 1 year

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The Mosley Review: The Menu

You know those famous cooking shows about a chef that runs their kitchen with a certain iron fist or the type of pretentious cooking shows that make the kind of dishes that nobody really wants to eat because it is an "art piece"? Have you ever wanted to see a chef go off the rails and do something to those people that would either embarass the critics or expose the darker side of their "high society" lifestyle? Well look no further because this was exactly that type of story and it was actually alot fun to see the truth being exposed for each character. From the moment the characters get on the island, the story begins to take off as many of them break the rules and how all of their secrets get discovered in crafty and sometimes brutal ways. Now it wasn't always as clever as the film was trying to be. You could easily tell where it was going for some characters, but it doesn't mean I wasn't invested.

Anya Taylor-Joy was great as Margot and I loved how she carried the most mystery. She was the most relatable character in the film and I loved every minute. Nicholas Hoult was the excellent portrayal of a fanboy for food as Tyler. He danced between childish wonder and an unlikable elitist jerk. The back and forth between Tyler and Margot was interesting and acted as the anchor of the story. John Leguizamo is always excellent and as credited as Movie Star, he was excellent at portraying an actor that was way past his prime even when John isn't. Aimee Carrero was great as his assistant Felicity. I liked the chemistry between them and I'm glad their story didn't go down an all too familiar path. Janet McTeer was perfectly pretentious and sometimes annoying as Lillian Bloom. Her constant critiques and denials were fun to watch when things really started to take off. Paul Adelstein was perfect as essentially her lap dog editor Ted. He was the "yes man" that we all know and I knew exactly the direction he was going. Hong Chau was fairly creepy as Elsa the hostess that brings the cast together for the feast. She was the perfect introduction of the eerie tension that covered the eventful feast. Ralph Fiennes was amazing and intense as the celebrity chef Julian Slowik. The moment he's on screen he commands the frame and his subtle intensity with just a glance was unnerving. I loved his stories of how each dish has relevance to everyone or the lives of his staff. His chemistry with Margot was the best part of the film and I loved the slow peel of the onion of truth between them.

The score by Colin Stetson was fun, eerie and I liked how it enhanced the tension. There really isn't that many problems I had with the film aside from some obvious twists. The dark humor that is sprinkled throughout is well balanced and there is a sort of charm to the this straight forward storytelling. Overall, this was a fun watch featuring great performances in a very straight forward morality tale in the culinary arts. Let me know what you thought of the film or my review in the comments below. Thanks for reading!

#the menu #anya taylor joy #nicholas hoult #ralph fiennes #janet mcteer #paul adelstein #john leguizamo #aimee carrero

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actuallylorelaigilmore · 8 months

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2023 Movie Journey #8: The Menu

the menu. i’m glad i decided to watch this one. it wasn’t originally on my list, because i only knew ralph fiennes was in it and it’s about food--neither of those are specific draws for me. i had heard it involves class issues, it was being compared to glass onion in headlines i skimmed, so i wasn’t totally opposed to it, i just wasn’t sure either way. but then i saw john leguizamo talk about his role in an interview, and i hadn’t realized he was part of it; that made me reconsider. and then my favorite movie podcast put out an episode where they discussed m3gan--which i am desperate to get someone else’s opinion on since i saw it alone--BUT the episode also includes discussion of the menu. so i figured if i was ever planning on watching the menu, i had better do so soon, and then i’d be able to enjoy that podcast double-feature. (which now i can, yay!)

but my impression of this movie was definitely wrong, i’ll start by saying. i didn’t know it was really a horror movie--i knew there was some violence or gore, but i honestly thought for some reason that it was a movie about cannibalism, where the menu involved killing and cooking the customers. i have no idea where i got that idea, since it is not true. so now i’ve already watched more horror movies this year than i have in the last several combined, even if this one was by accident. and since i’m about to watch scream 5 (because i never did when it came out) in order to decide if i want to see scream 6 in the theater, i’m starting to reacclimate to horror and that’s a surprisingly nice feeling. in real life, i prefer to avoid violence always...but i’m okay with being desensitized to it in media because i don’t get to choose which stories include violence (so many!) and those stories can hold a lot of value for me otherwise.

anyhow, this movie really was good, and i’m not sure i have too much to say beyond that--the cast is great, from personal faves like judith light and nicholas hoult to reliable talents like ralph fiennes and anna taylor-joy. i didn’t realize before watching this that ralph fiennes is a jkr defender, so obviously that sucks, but he was hitting all the necessary levels in this--terrifying, sad, obsessive. and anna taylor-joy was another actor i didn’t even know was in this, which is pretty funny since she’s the real star. she makes an excellent final girl and as somebody who couldn’t get through the queen’s gambit i am thrilled to now know more of her work. i adore her thanks to this movie alone.

i did engage my newly-implemented horror rule of looking away when i need to--there are multiple suicides in this, for example, but most of the deaths were telegraphed well in advance so i didn’t have to see them. and because of my relationship to food, tbh there were some times when i looked away that didn’t involve any violence at all. this movie is simultaneously a love letter to food and a takedown of foodie culture, as much as it’s a takedown of wealthy restaurant customers and the way that restaurant culture destroys the workers that pour their lives into crafting food. because i’m so detached from food, i mostly enjoyed it as a well-told story rather than relating to any of it.

i will add though that this is a fucking weird movie. that was my first immediate impression as i was watching it, so i shouldn’t just say i liked it without adding that. it is incredibly dark and twisted. but it so clearly knows what it wants to be doing that i was happily along for the ride. there’s something really enjoyable--at least for me--about a movie that’s completely committed to its premise, no matter how intense or specific (or bizarre) it may be.

oh, also i liked the soundtrack to this one a lot. it wasn’t exactly all that special, more of the ‘classical with a modern twist’ that i love whenever i encounter it...but it made it fun for me to let the credits play to the end, because i enjoy that style of music all the time.

in conclusion, i would recommend this one if you like the cast, are interested in commentary on fine dining and the people that create it, or enjoy modern horror movies (especially ones that justify murdering the wealthy). i liked it a lot more than i thought i would.

#the menu #2023 movie journey #anna taylor joy #nicholas hoult #ralph fiennes #john leguizamo #judith light

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bestofsophieturner · 8 months

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Taylor Swift & Sophie Turner are queens! It's so great to see them together and the reaction from the audience is just huge. Are Sophie and Taylor friends or what?

Well... Sophie has been a fan of Taylor Swift for many years now, even before Joe and her started dating. There was a huge rumor back in 2015/2016 that Taylor would have a cameo in X-men : Apocalypse. The rumour was saying she'd play Dazzler. But the truth is that James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult & Sophie went to one of her concerts in the city they were filming the movie. There is even a picture of them together, you can find it easily on google if you search Taylor Swift & Sophie Turner. It seems Taylor has been a fan of GoT, Sansa & Arya inspired apparently of of her songs (I'm not sure of this one). They were friendly toward each other in that interview they did together in 2019, or on social medias. Then Taylor sent a gift to them for Willa. So I don't know if they're friends, but they act friendly in the public eye. I suppose they like each other.

#sophie turner #taylor swift #anon #anon ask #send me anons

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popentertainment-interviews · 2 months

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Tony McNamara

The Provocative Poor Things Starring Emma Stone has Racked up Multiple Award wins and Noms Due to a Great Script

by Brad Balfour

It may have taken a while, but director Yorgos Lanthimos' Poor Things ultimately rose to the Awards season challenge, winning several Golden Globes and garnering 11 Oscar nominations: Best Actress, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Cinematography. In this fractured tale inspired by the Frankenstein creation story, actress/producer Emma Stone plays a re-animated Bella Baxter as a fully grown body woman with the brain of a rapidly maturing child.

Bella doesn't hold back as she discovers the joys of masturbation and, further on, energetic sex – which she calls "furious jumping" – with Mark Ruffalo's domineering, and equally unclothed, paramour. Then she explores the inner-workings of a Paris whorehouse engaging with many men in many ways – but on her terms.

The movie's sexual candor is only some of the trappings to this extraordinary story of a woman – though born of men – comes into her own. In exposing herself aesthetically and physically, the seemingly fearless Stone is one of the rare A-list actresses willing to risk such exposure for her art.

Poor Things is a no-holds-barred re-imagining of female empowerment displayed in a thoroughly fantastical environment of striking colors, costumes and landscapes. As a result, the movie is rated R for strong and pervasive sexual content, graphic nudity, disturbing material, gore and language.

Though the cinematic vision is Lanthimos, the essential story comes from veteran scriptwriter Tony McNamara, an Australian playwright, screenwriter, and television producer. Born in 1967, he worked on the script for The Favourite in 2018, the historical comedy-drama film directed by Lanthimos, also starring Stone. Originally a screenplay by Deborah Davis, written 20 years prior to the film's release, Lanthimos and McNamara worked together to refashion it into a final script resulting in it winning, or being nominated for, many various awards at the time.

McNamara also created The Great, a series revolving around the life of Catherine the Great, starring Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult, which premiered on Hulu in May 2020. It's based on his period play about Catherine, which premiered at the Sydney Theatre Company in 2008. McNamara also wrote a film adaptation of it as well.

This Q&A is based on an appearance by McNamara shortly before Poor Things began its run as an award nominee and cinematic phenomenon.

Talk about the process of adapting this from the book by Alasdair Gray. That Poor Things is very much written from the male perspective in terms of people discussing and describing their experiences with Bella. The film switched that into [a story] from a female view of the world. What did it take to adapt and shift the perspective?

The book is a big Scottish classic – it's wild and has hundreds of pages about Scottish nationalism which, you might notice, is not in the movie. Bella's story was told by the men like Duncan and Max; they all tell you what happened to her. You never get her experience of it. Yorgos read it and we both felt the same – she was the character he was interested in. That's an interesting story and it seemed like a great thing to do. The point of the novel was that the men controlled her narrative. While keeping that idea, I wanted to flip it so that film-wise, it was her story.

This is the first time that you've done an adaptation from a book. What were the unique aspects of doing that?

Yes, it was the first time. When I read it, I thought the first one should be the baby's brain in the woman's head [chuckles]. But Yorgos is amazing, and we had such a good time on The Favourite that the biggest thing was to work out what to tell from the book. We could just depart from the book because I adapted material from history and stuff. I'm always a bit like, "Well, a book, that's one thing and a movie is a whole other thing. How do we make a movie that has a relationship to the book but isn't really about the book."

That started with the Bella thing, which let me invent a lot because the men told her story [in the novel]. I could invent her story because we didn't really know... There was nothing there when she went to Portugal, we knew she went, but we didn't know what happened there. I was creating this sort of internal story when she went on her journey, Yorgos kept saying it was a fantasy. We're both Fellini fans so we thought it should be a big European style, old school stage movie.

How do I create a language that's going to be big enough for what he's going to do? I had to create this sort of dialogue that felt baroque but was also contemporary enough that you could feel it emotionally. That was my main thing. You've got to feel her journey.

You adapted from history before. What you do with language is take elements of period language, but then you really look at it from the perspective of a modern audience's lens into it. You created this unique amalgamation. So for this one, in particular, how did you find the way to make the language work in that regard?

I knew the scale of this story and also, I love language. Half the time, I'm not serving the audience, I'm serving myself [chuckles]. I think it's fun to create a particular language for a movie, which is why I was really drawn to doing this. Bella had a particular language, and it was a character where you had to evolve her language, which you never get to do. Usually the person just talks the way they talk. But with her, part of telling the story was changing the language throughout the narrative. So it's how to do that and make it fun.

It's interesting how her language changed, even [if it's] just with the grammar. It's the same way when you learn another language, you learn the present tense first. She's speaking specifically in the present tense in the beginning of the movie but that evolves. How did you find those different layers and textures of grammar and language for her?

It was like knowing where to start. We had this geographic journey, so I used the geography to change her language through each geographic point. She would change a little bit through it, and I knew where I wanted to start. She talked like my four-year-old. He was a real inspiration. He's very proud now. When Yorgos and I were developing it, we were having lunch one day and I was telling Yorgos about my son and I said, "He's kind of a sociopath and he's only four years old.” We were in a restaurant, and it was really loud. This baby was crying, and my son looked at me and went “punch that baby." I went to Yorgos, and he said that we should put that in! So when she's in the restaurant, she goes, "I'm just going to punch that baby." My son feels like he should get a credit now.

We should see if – in the DVD version – he's given credit. Bella changes so much throughout the script. You talked about thinking from different specifications. At the beginning, she started out pretty much a toddler and then we reached a point where this is when she's 16. When she's leaving home for the first time, she's like in her early '20s at first, then her mid '20s. How did you set about creating those different stages?

In my head it was just to create. Basically at its core. In a way, this is a coming-of-age story. It was as simple as that. It's like watching someone grow up and discover their sexuality and then their intellectual life and they come to terms with being mature and emotional. There's a point – on the boat – where she's so self-regarding and then realizes there's a world out there and she has to be part of it. I felt like there were certain points where… I think the contemporary thing for me was things like, "Oh, you go to college and discover books” and you're like "Oh books and ideas!" There were all these steps where you get a boyfriend and you think he's great and then you realize at some point, "Oh my God, he's the worst." There were simple things I was always thinking of but not to take it away from the bigness of it. I had to ask, what are the basics of it in terms of us, in terms of just a human experience?

That idea for Bella was to be like, "Oh, I've got a boyfriend but he's the worst." That's the arc of Duncan [Mark Ruffalo], where it's so great because he's such an audacious character. We understand that he's full of shit from the get-go. But she takes everything quite literally. So when he says, "I bedded over 100 women," she believes that to be true. What was it like writing the dynamic between those two characters with that in mind?

It was really fun to write because he is such a classic trope and yet I felt sorry for him because she doesn't have any of society's ideas which he owns. He has them all in his head and it's like a paradigm he lives through. She doesn't have any of that. So he can't even get the traction that he would normally get from a person. He sort of dissolves. I enjoyed writing it, but I didn't have as much fun as I did watching those two do it. They were so freakin' right.

How did you shape the tension that starts to fester in Duncan because the less that he succeeds with her, the more frustrated he becomes. He's also watching her with the idea of who he wants to be in a world with no care.

I think that was what the irony was. He sees himself as a free spirit and he's outside society like all the men who have their view of themselves. Everyone in the movie had a view of society that she doesn't ascribe to. Even when they try hard, she either resists it or is oblivious to it. It was constructing that, and some people understood that ... like Max [Ramy Youssef] who went on a sort of positive journey in that respect. Duncan just dissolved more and more because he didn't know what to do. I liked the idea of that.

It's great the way that you have other characters start to use elements of her language. Suddenly another character uses the phrase "serious jumping." How did you find those moments when you wanted other characters to step into her world like that?

She's such a powerful character as she goes through life and gathers agency, I think she's so charismatic because she doesn't [back down]. Beat to beat [it's] just a pure response that isn't shaded by anything. How she feels in that moment without judgment of herself, I think that's attractive. I felt like [with the] other characters, [it] starts to rub off on them a little bit.

What's the difference in writing a character who is so innately reactionary but in such a positive way?

I was talking to Emma about it. It's great for you as a person. I think she felt the same, playing Bella. I think for her and me, and I'm sure for Yorgos, writing that character and her playing that character, you're aware of how much you're shaped by everything. For her, playing a character who is just shaped by a really pure response, and we don't get that. I think that's why she's a character people can respond to because it's a bit of a wish fulfillment of like, "that would be good if you could just live life like that."

We get an opportunity to watch her learning in real time and developing her back story as a character. How did you set about making sure that you are always cognizant of what she has already learned in the space of a scene to make sure that it comes into play here?

I have a really strong process. I guess I've always thought about what she learns. Yorgos and I were very meticulous as it goes. We didn't do that many drafts. But what we did at the end is, we just went line by line over three or four days separately. There's always time between it and as there's a three-week rehearsal. Then we tweak that a little bit if we hear things that aren't quite right or Emma would say, "Oh, that word seems too sophisticated for her at that point." We're very meticulous about her verbal journey as well as Emma and Yorgos creating the physicality of that.

It sounds like with that process as well in the way that you talk about the film previously that you really aren't doing rewrites during production and that even during rehearsal, it's right mental.

It's joyful. I'd just hang out and drink coffee and watch them do their thing. No one sees the script for a long time. The first person to see the script was Emma. I think the producers didn't see it for years and then when they see it, he's ready to make it. I think his view of it is that we spent four years on this by making it because I think it's right. He is a very strong individual about how he feels artistically. He's like, "That's what we decided; it is what it is!" He never really made changes on The Favourite. He rang me once [to make a change] because they literally couldn't do something physically. Through the couple of films we worked together, he's never changed anything.

This was a project that Yorgos had been trying to make since before The Favourite. What was the chronology of when you two started working on the script?

He'd moved to London and started on The Favourite and knew he wasn't... He'd only made Dogtooth and Alps, so he was like, no one's going to give me the money to make The Favourite. It's going to cost a little bit because of the period. So he went off with his Greek co-writer, Efthimis Filippouand they wrote The Lobster so they could try and make something cheap. While he was doing it, he rang me and said he'd read this book [Poor Things]. Even when he was making The Lobster no one would give him any money to develop Poor Things. Everyone was saying, "We like you but we're not doing the baby brain!” Once he made The Lobster and there was some buzz, Film4 came in with some money and he was like, "Do you want to do it?" So we started it. We were in pre-production for The Favourite, and I started writing Poor Things.

Going back to Bella as well, one of the things that's so refreshing about her as a character is she's not necessarily carrying this internal dialogue. Everything that she thinks and feels throughout the movie is said out loud. How is that a totally different approach to writing a character for you?

When I write, I'm just asking myself, "Where is she coming from? What does she want and what's in her way?" I knew she didn't question herself much and that was the joy of her as a character because she wasn't super conflicted about anything. Except towards the end, when she has to confront her feelings for Godwin [Willem Dafoe], but even then, she has clarity in the two different feelings she has. I think that was why she was a really refreshing character to write. She manages to be very simple and very complex at the same time.

How did you find what you wanted to be the essence of the relationship between her and Godwin? It's such a fascinating dynamic. He's had the experience of her being an experiment and now he's kind of carrying it out with a lot of love and heart.

Yeah, I think for us it was one of the most interesting relationships we explored in a way because he was an experiment as well. In the book, he's not an experiment. I made that up so that we could understand him a bit better. His father made him an experiment, so it makes sense. He thinks everything is science and everything's an experiment. But deep down, he's a guy who wants someone to see him and not think he's ugly – someone to "get" him. He's someone that's never had that and he doesn't quite know how to deal with feelings.

That's why he rebels, but it's not in the book. There's the Margaret Qualley character where they just make another one [like Bella] but not quite. That was our idea of how we can show him go through a journey. I was like, "Oh, he makes another one." He'd go with his feelings; by the end of the movie, he realizes his feelings matter.

What was the difference that you wanted to show with Godwin and Margaret Qualley's character when that comes up? It's such a different experience for him.

I think because rather than replace [Bella], it was supposed to show the idiocy of what he did by trying to do that to himself. Then he understood it wasn't the experiment he loved, but it was her.

With the narrative up to where Bella goes back to her ex-husband to learn to visit her old life and learn about that. Initially the idea was that it was sort of a kidnapping, and it was against her will. But then you realize that it was important for it to be her choice to go there. How did that change for you?

Yeah, I think we've done it. We've done a couple of years, and we were having lunch, and everyone really liked the script at that point. We had long periods of silence. That's our process. We just sit there not talking for long periods. We all thought there was something wrong with the third act, so I said I'll go think of something and then I'll text Yorgos. What if she chooses it because she's choosing everything else? So why wouldn't she? She's fearless and that broke it open for us because the other way – when she was kidnapped, and then there was a shooting and that's how it ended – he was kind of like, I think they shot him or something and he died. It didn't feel totally right because it wasn't weird enough for the rest of it. So we brought in Christopher Abbott's character. I was always nervous about that because it's hard to bring in a character in two hours and have them hold their own in a big crazy movie like this. But Chris was terrific [as a bad guy].

How did you deal with the sexuality of the whole film? Decisions you made and didn't make, where it would and wouldn't be?

It was always part of that coming-of-age thing. She's at a certain age and starts to discover it. A man comes into her life and she's like, "What adventure do I want to go on?" For me, it was all like, every beat wasn't so much a sex scene. It was the evolution of the character and of the general story. How it's shot and how it's managed was really Yorgos and Emma working together. For us, it was always going to be a movie that was like those '70s European films where it's very... Emma Stone was very unapologetic. It made no sense for it not to be very unapologetic. Yorgos was really devoted to that '70s European aesthetic.

The way you write with layers of comedy which stem from a place of truthfulness. There's so much comedy and attention that's created from Bella's perspective in the world. The way that she refuses to be tied down to other people's ideas of her – how did you write that in a way that feels so grounded – and then find the layers of comedy that can stem from that?

I always go for whatever's real, I think I read that someone famous once said, "To make it real, make it funny." I always try to go from the emotional place of what they want, so I never just go for the joke.

Yorgos and I love comedy, but I think it's all built from the ground up and it's built into the structure – it's a satire. She's a fish out of water. Here's the basics. They're all trying to control her and can't, the poor things. They're idiots. There's a certain element of comedy that I built into the whole structure. I love funny dialogue.

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