Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone’s ‘Poor Things’ wins top award at Venice Film Festival
Emma Stone's new film "Poor Things," directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, won the top prize at the 80th annual Venice Film Festival on Saturday .
The gothic, feminist black comedy, which follows Stone as a woman brought back to life by a Frankenstein-style scientist, took home the prestigious Golden Lion award , reports Reuters.
It marks the beginning of the awards-buzz season for the movie industry, as the festival often premieres future Oscar-winners. The Academy has given eight of its last 11 best director awards to films which debuted at Venice.
Lanthimos' "Poor Things" is based on the 1992 novel of the same name, and also stars Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbott, and Jerrod Carmichael.
During the ceremony, Lanthimos went out of his way to praise Stone individually.
"The central character is Bella Baxter, an incredible creature, and she would not exist without Emma Stone, another incredible creature," said Lanthimos, who worked with Stone previously on his Oscar-winning film "The Favourite."
In "Poor Things," Stone reportedly portrays a woman who had committed suicide, but is then reanimated by Willem Dafoe's character, who replaces her brain with that of her unborn child.
The plot follows her adventures across an absurdist version of 19th century Europe, as she reportedly undergoes a period of self-discovery and sexual escapades.
Two U.S. stars took home the event's acting awards: Cailee Spaeny for her role in the biopic "Priscilla," and Peter Sarsgaard for his role in the family drama "Memory."
When Sarsgaard received his award, he took a moment to address the industry's growing concerns over artificial intelligence.
"The issue that really struck a chord with me is AI. I think we can all really agree that an actor is a person and that a writer is a person but apparently we can't," Sarsgaard said.
"This holy experience of being a human will be handed over to the machines and the eight billionaires who own them. So if we lose that battle in the strike, our industry will be the first of many to fall," he added.
Many actors chose not to attend the Venice festival to promote their work, as the continuing Hollywood actors' strike drags on . Several of their demands in contract negotiations revolve around the use of AI and efforts to restrict it.
