The last time Emma Stone and director Yorgos Lanthimos collaborated, the result was the outstanding, Oscar-winning The Favourite – a royal period drama unlike any other, as you’d expect from the uncompromising Greek auteur. Now, they’ve teamed up again for Poor Things – a wildly different swing, a fantastical Frankenstein-ian tale of a woman resurrected with someone else’s brain in her body. This time, Stone stars as Bella, who becomes acclimatised to her new reality and has to navigate the unusual world around her.
According to Lanthimos, Stone’s out-there performance came from a process of feeling out the character and her wild impulses. “It’s all instinct in creating this creature, which is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before,” he tells Empire. “Sometimes Emma would go, ‘I don’t know what the hell I’m doing – is this any good?’ And sometimes I don’t even know, so we try different things.” Those experiments sound like they paid off. “To be honest, I’m amazed with her,” Lanthimos enthuses. “Later on, when I was editing the movie, I would sometimes text her and go, ‘I don’t know how you do this. This is incredible.’ There’s a bit of magic going on.”
For Stone, it was a deeply collaborative effort with her director. “Imagine being left to my own devices on Bella! That would have been a disaster,” she says. “It was very, very much both of us in tandem all the time. And I was able to always rely on him to be a barometer.” And the pair’s bond continues, having already shot Lanthimos’ next film And together too. “I was with people that I love and trust, and I felt that I could make mistakes and play around,” says Stone of Poor Things. “The freedom in that felt comfortable, even though it was very vulnerable and exposing in obvious ways. I think that’s what I love about getting to work with Yorgos over and over.” You could say, they’re each other’s favourite.
Read Empire’s full interview with Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos on the creation of Poor Things in the Rebel Moon issue – on newsstands now. Become an Empire member to access the digital edition in full now, or order a print copy online now here. Poor Things is out in UK cinemas from 8 September.