Poor Things Release Date, Cast, Trailer, Plot And More Details

Yorgos Lanthimos is back with another twisted and hilarious tall tale. After directing 2018's "The Favourite," the creative has mostly laid low, with his only project in the last few years being the short film "Bleat." Now, after five years, the director is set to return to the big screen with "Poor Things." With his latest, Lanthimos is diving straight into the world of sci-fi, with a Victorian twist. As one of the film industry's most sought-after directors, Lanthimos has assembled a world-class cast for his latest.

Describing Lanthimos' work is difficult, though it's fair to classify a decent amount of it as absurd. While speaking with the official Cannes Film Festival website, Lanthimos opened up about how his genre-bending films are treated as experiments. "I take a situation where I explore extreme conditions and see how people react," the director said. He continued by pointing out how this allows the intrinsic nature of humans to unravel, which in turn leads to different responses. "That's why I like creating ambiguous films," Lanthimos continued. "It allows the viewers to be directly involved and to form their own opinion, without deciding for them."

With "Poor Things," Lanthimos is definitely gunning for experimental and ambitious, blending together Victorian-era politics, sci-fi aesthetics, and complex narrative beats that should leave audiences stunned.

Originally, Yorgos Lanthimos' "Poor Things" was scheduled to release stateside on September 8, 2023, but due to the recently concluded actors' strike, the film was shuffled over to the holidays, with the film now receiving a limited release on December 8. That's a pretty packed day for movie fans, as it will see the arrival of titles such as "The Boy and the Heron," "The Zone of Interest," and "Origin." That also means the "Frankenstein"-like riff will be able to compete during the 2024 awards season. And as the film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, we're assuming it will be a major player at next year's Academy Awards. However, if you're not able to view it on December 8, just wait a bit for the movie's wide release on December 22.

As expected, "Poor Things" is another surreal and strange project for Yorgos Lanthimos. Based on the 1992 novel by Alasdair Gray, "Poor Things" is a riff on Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," following the story of Bella Baxter. As the official plot synopsis explains, Bella is "a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter. Under Baxter's protection, Bella is eager to learn."

However, Bella won't be content sticking around her home for very long. She longs to experience the world, and as a result, the delightfully undead woman "runs off with Duncan Wedderburn, 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."

"Poor Things" boasts an impressive and diverse array of talent, making it Yorgos Lanthimos' most star-studded cast yet. At the heart of the film is Bella Baxter, played by the Oscar-winning Emma Stone. "Poor Things" marks Stone's third project with Lanthimos — they previously collaborated together on 2018's "The Favourite" and the short film "Bleat" — and they evidently have a great working relationship. 

Speaking about her performance to Empire, Lanthimos said, "To be honest, I'm amazed with her. 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." Similarly, Stone said about the filmmaker, "[The role of Bella] 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."

"Poor Things" also stars Willem Dafoe as the scientist who brings Stone's Bella back to life. The director has tapped Hulk actor Mark Ruffalo to play Duncan Wedderburn, the lawyer who joins Stone's character on her journey. Other key cast members of the star-studded affair include Ramy Youssef ("Ramy"), Jerrod Carmichael ("On the Count of Three"), Christopher Abbott ("Kraven the Hunter"), and Margaret Qualley ("Drive-Away Dolls").

The Oscar-nominated Yorgos Lanthimos is the captivating mind behind "Poor Things." There's a strong chance that you've seen some of the maverick director's previous works. The Greek creative first rose to prominence with 2009's "Dogtooth," which became the country's fifth film to receive an Oscar nomination. Following the international acclaim that came with "Dogtooth," Lanthimos found his way to English-language cinema with 2015's Oscar-nominated "The Lobster." The film is a bleak sci-fi satire about the nature of romance and relationships, featuring two all-time performances from Rachel Weisz and Colin Farrell.

Following "The Lobster," Lanthimos once again teamed up with Farrell for "The Killing of a Sacred Deer," a truly disturbing riff on Greek mythology. It wasn't until 2018's "The Favourite" that Lanthimos found himself working with Emma Stone. To date, the director has nabbed four Oscar nods as both a director and screenwriter. However, in this instance, the script for "Poor Things" is coming courtesy of Tony McNamara, who has quite a bit of experience writing for Emma Stone. McNamara co-wrote Lanthimos' "The Favourite," and he was also the scribe behind the villainous origin story "Cruella."

In the official trailer for "Poor Things," we're introduced to the strange world of Bella Baxter — the Frankenstein's Monster-like woman created by Willem Dafoe's heavily scarred scientist. The trailer opens in glorious black and white, where we see the quirky Bella doesn't really know how to interact with other people, and she hasn't really figured out how to operate her body quite right. She's joyful and well-intentioned, but her movements are wonderfully herky-jerky, and instead of a handshake, she'll just as eagerly slap a stranger.

As the trailer progresses, the black-and-white cinematography disappears, and things become strangely colorful, with Bella exploring her weirdly retro world. However, despite Bella's joyously erratic dancing, there is a feeling of deep sadness and darkness under it all. "Tell me, where did she come from?" Ramy Youssef's character asks. "I shall," Dafoe replies, "for it is a happy tale." But the images we're seeing are clearly anything but, as Bella throws herself from a bridge before being resurrected.

From there, we see Bella fall in love with Mark Ruffalo's mustachioed character, who, in a fit of passion, stands under her balcony and screams "Bella" like a comical Stanley Kowalski. As the trailer expands, we witness a world of bizarre architecture, we see creatures that are half duck and half dog and luxurious ships with matte painting skylines. Most importantly, we watch as Bella discovers what it means to be alive, with all the happiness and heartache that brings. The resulting film looks like George Miller, Michel Gondry, Béla Tarr, and Terry Gilliam all joined forces to make the most visually stunning movie ever, and we can't wait to see how the film plays out in theaters.

Hoping to take your family to see "Poor Things?" Well, unless everyone in your family is 18 and over, perhaps you should keep them at home. "Poor Things" is rated R for "strong and pervasive sexual content, graphic nudity, disturbing material, gore, and language." Yep, the film seems to be ticking off all the boxes when it comes to controversial content, and the plot will involve Emma Stone's character exploring her sexuality to the fullest.

Speaking about Stone's willingness to go all the way with the movie's edgy material, director Yorgos Lanthimos said at a September 2023 press conference, "It was very important for me to not make a film that would be prudish, because that would be like completely betraying the main character. We had to be confident Emma had to have no shame about her body, nudity, engaging in those scenes, and she understood that right away."