Overview
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein will never stop being a gothic-horror masterpiece, or inspiring stories across the page, stage and screen as well. The latest: Poor Things, the next film from acclaimed Greek Weird Wave director Yorgos Lanthimos, and his long-awaited first release since 2018's excellent The Favourite. Also back: that regal drama's Oscar-nominated supporting player Emma Stone.
The Cruella star didn't end up clutching an Academy Award for her past performance under Lanthimos' guidance, and nor did her co-star Rachel Weisz (Dead Ringers) or the filmmaker himself; instead, they watched on as Olivia Colman (Empire of Light) emerged victorious for her leading part. But Stone and Lanthimos made a winning pair anyway, in what was one of the former's very best performances of her career. It's no wonder that they're teaming up again — or that the just-dropped first Poor Things trailer looks mesmerising, eerie and stunning.
Poor Things adapts Alasdair Grey's 1992 award-winning novel, but the parallels with Shelley's mother-of-all horror greats are as obvious as a bolt of lightning. The focus: Bella Baxter, a woman resurrected by an unorthodox scientist, distinctive in her mannerisms afterwards and eager to learn about a world that isn't quite sure how to react.
Continuing the movie's top-notch casting — and Lanthimos' in general, as seen in everything from Dogtooth and Alps to The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer as well — Poor Things features Willem Dafoe (The Northman) as the tinkering Dr Godwin Baxter; Mark Ruffalo (She-Hulk: Attorney at Law) as Duncan Wedderburn, a slick lawyer that Bella runs off with; and also Ramy's Ramy Youssef, plus On the Count of Three co-stars Jerrod Carmichael and Christopher Abbott.
The film will hit cinemas in the US on September 8, but doesn't yet have a release date Down Under.
Poor Things jolts Stone's career back onto the screen a few years away, too — Cruella released in 2021, and only The Croods: A New Age, Zombieland: Double Tap and TV's Maniac sit on her resume since The Favourite.
Check out the first teaser trailer for Poor Things below:
Poor Things doesn't currently have a release date Down Under — we'll update you when one is confirmed.
Image: Yorgos Lanthimos. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2023 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved.