The Favourite director Yorgos Lanthimos is getting ready to make the follow-up to his royal comedy drama. He has star Emma Stone and writer Tony McNamara back, and he's adding Mark Ruffalo to the cast for Poor Things.
The story, which adapts Alasdair Gray's novel is certainly something that sounds like a subject Lanthimos (and McNamara) would relish. Short description: a woman called Bella Baxter (Stone) is brought back to life by a scientist who implants the brain of her unborn child into her skull.
Slightly longer take, it's a riff on Frankenstein following Victoria Blessington, who drowns herself in an attempt to escape her abusive husband. A surgeon resuscitates her using the brain of her baby, and the revived woman – now called Bella – has the mental faculties of a child. She grows up to become engaged to a Glasgow doctor, but leaves him for a shady lawyer, taking off for adventures around Europe. As her brain matures, she develops more of a conscience, but her progress is threatened when her original spouse recognizes her. There's no word yet on who Ruffalo would be playing.
Lanthimos should have the cameras rolling later this year for a presumed 2022 release.