Emma Stone returns to life and ultimately finds freedom and purpose as a female Frankenstein in the latest trailer for Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things monster tale, which Searchlight Pictures released on Thursday.
The surreal teaser has Stone playing Bella Baxter, who is brought back to life by a brilliant and unorthodox scientist played by Willem Dafoe. In an echo of Mary Shelley’s classic horror novel Frankenstein, Baxter is hooked up for shock treatment as electrical sparks fly.
Once reborn, Stone’s character embarks on a whirlwind adventure to free herself from the prejudices of her times. “There is a world to enjoy, to circumnavigate. It is the goal of all to progress and grow,” Baxter announces at one point in the trailer as she plots her course to liberation and freedom.
The short teaser trailer touches on Bella’s whirlwind affair with Duncan Wedderburn, played by Mark Ruffalo, a slick and debauched lawyer in the Greek director’s latest movie. Poor Things also stars Ramy Youssef, Jerrod Carmichael and Christopher Abbott.
The Favourite writer Tony McNamara penned the screenplay, based on the novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray. Lanthimos also has movie credits like The Killing of a Sacred Deer and Dogtooth.
Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe’s Element Pictures and Film4, the production team behind The Favourite, will produce along with Stone, via her Fruit Tree banner, and Lanthimos.
Poor Things will be released only in theaters Sept. 8, 2023.
