Alasdair Gray Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Wilson Chapman editorOne month after the release of his critically-acclaimed comedy special “Rothanial,” comedian and actor Jerrod Carmichael is looking to continue his hot streak with the release of his feature directorial debut, “On the Count of Three.”Carmichael stars in the dark buddy comedy as Val, a clinically depressed slacker who botches a suicide attempt at the mulch plant he works at. After the event goes wrong, he and his childhood best friend Kevin (Christopher Abbott), who struggles with significant mental health issues of his own, make a suicide pact to kill each other by the end of the day.

Tony McNamara likes a challenge but when Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos first presented him with Alasdair Gray’s 1992 novel by Poor Things to adapt into a script, even the seasoned Australian writer admits he found the material daunting. 

If you were concerned for Emma Stone and her broken dress following her appearance onstage at tonight’s Oscars to accept the prize for Best Actress, fear not.

Emma Stone stepped up to the stage saying the back of her dress was broken. “Oh boy,” she joked, “I think it happened during ‘I’m Just Ken’, the big Ryan Reynolds number from Barbie that had unspooled previously.

Poor Things has gotten off to a strong start at tonight’s 96th Oscars. In a mini-upset, the absurdist comedy directed by Yorgas Lanthimos and starring and produced by Emma Stone has taken statuettes for Production Design, Makeup & Hairstyling and Costume Design. See the winners acceptance speeches above and below.

Jenelle Riley Deputy Awards and Features Editor Actors often talk about how freeing it is to play characters that live in the moment — a sentiment that “Poor Things” screenwriter Tony McNamara understands. In writing the character of Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a woman who has an infant’s brain implanted in her body, McNamara says he was working with a blank slate. “The fingerprints of childhood and society weren’t on her as a character,” McNamara tells Variety’s Awards Circuit podcast.

EXCLUSIVE: Ahead of Focus Features‘ February 23rd release of Drive-Away Dolls, the road-trip caper marking her first collaboration with Academy Award winner Ethan Coen, Margaret Qualley has been set to star in Honey Don’t!, the filmmaker’s latest for the same studio.

The sister of renowned Scottish author Alasdair Gray has insisted that he wouldn't be furious that every trace of Scotland was wiped from the Hollywood movie based on his book.

Poor Things.The film—which has already earned Stone a best actress statue at the , where the film also won best musical or comedy motion picture—sees Stone's character Bella Baxter brought back from the dead by a scientist who replaces her brain with the brain of a baby. Based on the 1992 Alasdair Gray novel of the same name and directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, the film follows Bella's “fantastical evolution” as she embarks on a journey of discovery.The film is raucous and unflinchingly candid, but has drawn criticism for its graphic sex and masturbation scenes, which show Bella learning her body and its power.Stone defended the scenes in an interview with BBC Radio 4, in which host Samira Ahmed described them as “quite graphic,” adding: “I think it’s fair to say [these sorts of scenes are] unusual these days in Hollywood.”Stone replied, “So much of this was about being true to Bella's experience.

Perfect magazine in a recent interview. “I’ve never done anything like [‘Poor Things’] before.” “So, like, the sex scenes,” continued Ruffalo. “Am I too old to be doing that kind of stuff? Does anyone want to see that?”In a second Instagram post, the “Spotlight” actor, who appeared nude from the waist up in the cover shoot, mused that Hollywood is currently “in this prudish time for films.” “Sexuality is so deeply connected to the psychology of a character.

Poor Things looks set to be one of the major films of the 2024 award season.Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite, The Lobster), the sci-fi black comedy follows young woman Bella Baxter (Emma Stone) who, after dying by suicide, is resurrected by a scientist and runs off with a debauched lawyer on a journey of self-discovery.The film is based on a novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray. Alongside Stone, the cast includes Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbott, Kathryn Hunter, Jerrod Carmichael, Hanna Schygulla and Margaret Qualley.At the wedding ceremony between Bella Baxter and Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef), Alfie Blessington (Christopher Abbott), the ex-husband of Bella’s mother, interrupts and implores Bella, who he believes is her mother Victoria Blessington, to return with him.Bella abandons Max at the altar, keen to learn of her mother’s past life with Alfie.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Emma Stone has a dream, and not one you’d expect. The “Poor Things” star, coming off a Golden Globe win this week, tells Variety‘s Awards Circuit Podcast that she wants to be a contestant on the classic game show “Jeopardy” — and no, not the “Celebrity” edition. “I apply every June,” she says.

It was only a matter of time before Willem Dafoe worked with Yorgos Lanthimos, and the result is everything you might expect and more. In Poor Things, the actor plays Dr. Godwin Baxter, a Scottish scientist given to sewing dog’s heads onto chickens, and we meet him after completing the most important experiment of his life: by transplanting an infant’s brain into the skull of its dead mother, he creates the anarchic and wholly unpredictable Bella (Emma Stone). It may sound creepy, most likely because it really is, but Dafoe brings a surprising sadness to the role. Here, he reflects on the film’s strange, unique world, raises the curtain on 2024, and talks a little about his recent festival hit Inside, in which he plays a clueless thief who becomes trapped in the apartment of a wealthy art collector.

Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series spotlighting the year’s most talked-about scripts continues with Yorgos Lanthimos‘ Poor Things, the darkly comedic genre-bender penned by Tony McNamara that marks a reunion of the Greek filmmaker with McNamara and star Emma Stone after 2018’s Oscar-nominated The Favourite.

Scots have slammed Hollywood’s deletion of Glasgow from one of the year’s hottest movies. The movie rights for cult novel Poor Things were snapped up by director Yorgos Lanthimos after he was given a tour of Scotland’s biggest city by author Alasdair Gray.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor “She is the most literal character. ‘It’s sunny, you wear glasses. I put on shoes because it hurts when I walk outside without shoes on,’” says producer and actress Emma Stone of her latest role as Bella Baxter in “Poor Things.” Based on Alasdair Gray’s novel of the same name, Bella is a creation of Willem Dafoe’s mad scientist Godwin Baxter.

Brent Simon In any year, some successful directors carve out artistic identities through a distinctive visual vocabulary, or by repeatedly mining particular themes. But it’s rare, even among highly acclaimed filmmakers, for a director to establish a new cinematic language. Yorgos Lanthimos is on his way to doing just that.

Ari Aster and Yorgos Lanthimos, who helmed “The Favourite,” have each developed an unmistakable filmmaking voice. But this year, both stretched into brand-new cinematic territory. With “Beau Is Afraid,” Aster crafted a nearly three-hour fever dream chronicling the mental unraveling of its profoundly neurotic title character, played to the hilt by Joaquin Phoenix.

Emma Stone is opening up about her fears surrounding her new movie Poor Things!

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor The biggest challenge for “Poor Things” costume designer Holly Waddington was trying to establish a costume arc for Emma Stone’s Bella Baxter. In the Searchlight film based on Alasdair Gray’s novel of the same name, Bella is a creation of Willem Dafoe’s mad scientist Godwin. He brings Bella back to life after she tries to kill herself, using the brain of an unborn fetus, and Bella ends up a young child trapped in a woman’s body.

Poor Things, which promises to be one of the weirdest (and most fun) of the year is almost here! is sure to nab at least a nomination for the , and we are fully drooling over the sets and costumes.Based on the novel by the late Alasdair Gray, Poor Things follows Bella Baxter (Stone), a Victorian woman that was resurrected by the “brilliant and unorthodox scientist” Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe).

With SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP reaching a tentative agreement on a new contract, our industry’s biggest stars, previously forbidden from participating in the promotion of movies distributed and made by struck studios and streamers, are finally joining the party. 

Peter Caranicas Deputy Editor Awards contender “Poor Things” will open EnergaCamerimage, the cinematography-focused film festival that will take place in Torun, Poland, on Nov. 11-18. The film, starring Emma Stone and directed by Greek helmer Yorgos Lanthimos (“Dogtooth,” “The Lobster”), won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

Peter Caranicas Deputy Editor Awards contender “Poor Things” will open EnergaCamerimage, the cinematography-focused film festival that will take place in Torun, Poland, on November 11-18. The film, starring Emma Stone and directed by Greek helmer Yorgos Lanthimos (“Dogtooth,” “The Lobster”), won the Golden Lion at Venice. Robbie Ryan, the film’s cinematographer, will introduce “Poor Things” at Camerimage.

Exploring the sexuality of Emma Stone’s “Poor Things” character was an important part of the storyline, says director Yorgos Lanthimos.

Speaking at the Venice Film Film Festival winners’ press conference, Poor Things director Yorgos Lanthimos said he was “personally very disappointed” that his lead actress Emma Stone couldn’t be with him to enjoy the film’s Golden Lion win, but that he also “understands the cause”, referring to the SAG-AFTRA strike which has kept the actress away.

Total admissions to theatres at this year’s Venice Film Festival have hit 114,851, up 18% on last year, according to figures published by the Biennale this week, as the film event passes the midway point. 

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor “Sex is back,” said Julie Hintsinger, executive director of the Telluride Film Festival, to a packed house of festival-goers as they took in the newest effort from Yorgos Lanthimos at this year’s 50th anniversary. One of the festivals tributes this year, a pre-screening convo was moderated by director Karyn Kusama, as the two discussed his filmography which included his early works “Kinnetic” and “Alps.” In the audience were Oscar winners like director Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”) and actor Casey Affleck (“Manchester by the Sea”), and they, along with the crowd, devoured it.

Dynamic Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos’ anticipated latest, Poor Things, got a rapturous reception at after it world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on Friday, with a standing ovation timed at 10 minutes and 37 seconds.

Guy Lodge Film Critic It’s a failing of our society that we’ve allowed “interesting” to become a euphemism, a blandly veiled insult, something to say when no other praise comes to mind. Little in life is more important than interest: having it, attracting it, identifying it in any crevice of the everyday, making it strange and fresh in the process.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent At the Venice Film Festival press conference for his hotly anticipated “Poor Things,” director Yorgos Lanthimos said he really wished Emma Stone could be on the Lido to talk about, among other things, the fact that Bella Baxter, the character she plays, has plenty of sex scenes in the film. “It’s a shame that Emma could not be here to speak more about it, because it will be coming all from me,” the director said.

Yorgos Lanthimos passed through the Lido this morning with Poor Things, starring Emma Stone, his first feature film since 2017’s The Favourite. 

Even though the film is set to make its world premiere at this year’s Venice Film Festival, Searchlight Pictures’ Poor Things from director Yorgos Lanthimos is delaying its release and will now open in theaters on Dec. 8. The film, which was originally set to open on Sept. 8, stars Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo and Willem Dafoe with Lanthimos directing.

Poor Things.” Though the first teaser dropped a little over a month ago, audiences are getting another glimpse into the kooky mind of the director behind “The Favourite” and “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” and things are about to get bright, colorful and really weird.Stone plays Bella Baxter, a woman who has seemingly died and been reanimated by a facially deformed scientist, played by Willem Dafoe. The problem is Bella’s mind and body “aren’t synchronized,” leaving her to be a bit off in how she acts.

The latest hauntingly enchanting trailer for Yorgos Lathimos’ “Poor Things” has been unveiled.

since 2021’s “Cruella” and Lanthimos’ first feature since his Oscar-winning 2018 film “The Favourite,” which also happened to star Stone.In “Poor Things,” Stone plays a young woman named Bella Baxter who is brought back to life by the “brilliant and unorthodox scientist” Dr. Goodwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe).