Making of POOR THINGS | Behind-the-Scenes | Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe

[Music] Mr mandles this is Bella hello Bella oh Bud blood Bud blood I was blown away by Bella by the character I don't think I've ever seen or read anyone like that and this story of a woman who's free of any preconceived notions taking a journey that leads her to discover for herself where did she come from She's an experiment her brain and her body are not quite synchronized but she's progressing at an accelerated Pace it's an incredibly challenging part it's probably the hardest part I've ever played yes outou Bella no that you could have the kind of mind that isn't taught to be a certain way I think that's very inspiring do you wish to marry her it would be my honor one condition you must live here here with me always my character the doctor sees her as an experiment which at some point reaches a crisis you hold bellet you tight I must set forth into Waters a woman plotting her cost to Freedom have a lot for all of these things that women are conditioned a whole lifetime through do not apply to her as she's exploring her sexuality as she's exploring Society without any understanding what the Norms are or the rules why I keep it in my mouth if it is revolting you conf find yourself to three phrases how marvelous delighted and how do they make the pastry so crisp yes you get some very funny situation [Music] ow [Music] I read the novel around 2010 I think and I immediately got very excited yes it is exciting Bella it's an extraordinary novel written by Alistar gray highly original but I wasn't at all surprised that yorgos long nurtured a desire to make this film yuros told me that there's been one movie he's been wanting to make that everyone's like do not make that movie and then he said to me so we're going to make that movie I was actually surprised that it wasn't already done we contacted Alistair gray we went to his house I didn't have to say much to him he said I watched your film dog tooth and I'd be happy to give you my novel and you can make it into a film the year that we made the favorite which was 2017 Yus and I started talking about poor things the idea of having a brain that is brand new what what would that be what would a woman be what would a man be what would anyone be yogos just sent it to me and and said it's kind of a wild book but it's amazing and I really want to make it in old movie and how would we do that how would you adapt it tell me what all this means or I'll go to the police I shall for it is a happy [Music] day it works off a sort of Frankenstein genre he was drawn to that idea of what sort of movie we could make around that genre that was something else the inversion of the monster being this very beautiful young woman was interesting all my research had come to this moment it was obvious it was uh I suppose it's a version of the Frankenstein story but then you leave that behind it becomes something else primarily because of the relationship between my character the doctor and Emma Stones Bella is quite different they were so happy to be back together the story was just inspiring as a woman in the world to imagine that she could operate a completely non-socially conditioned way how men react to that how other women react to that and how she expands and who she discovers she is was fascinating to me Emma's been really so much part of us she's a producer on the film she's been very important in how we've developed the story and how we're talking about putting it out into the world and very much guiding that especially now I don't know how this could have been you know made without her everything that we considered that had to do with the film I would just discuss it with her researching and designing the world I would share all the visuals with her the process of making the film has been it's incredibly complicated thinking about what the scale of it would be and what the world would look like and I was so excited good evening she's unbelievable she's really tracking the progress ex of this character because it's such a fine line how to thread the development of the brain and especially as we shoot things out of order sometimes the way that she is able to track where she's at step into it not just with her voice but also with her body and still have the timing of the scene she's really balancing a lot and it's aurec it's exciting you're drawn to that innocence and you're drawn to the Curiosity that she has and the absorb of the world that she has I wanted to play Bella because it felt like acceptance of what it is to be a woman what it is to be free what it is to be confident and just a little [Music] bit we will need less of your tongue in the future but overall most agreeable good good H William has this playful quality that's just constantly there the wheels are always turning I can't let you go if you do not Bell insides shall turn rotten with hate hate hate he's a genius and there's nothing put on or funny business just for funny business it's all like incredibly genuine and rooted inside of him William never wants to leave set he's sleeps on set if he's too tired you know lies somewhere on a couch or something until it's time for him to work and that's great for all of us Willam is such a generous performer and scene partner and he's somebody that owns the energy of the character and does his own thing but he also makes room for everyone that's there we would play around and do exercises and physical stuff to create this Ensemble and Mark was so funny I was always in the danger of pissing my pants okay are you 5 years old that you can't hold your water weak BL s like my father before me and his before him I never really do rehearsals in terms of how the film is going to be but Mark came in and he had this idea we started having so much fun with him and the character and I was laughing so hard throughout the rehearsals we couldn't see him any other way you really get to know people and you really get to love them we had a trust which was very free and very safe which is a dream that's what you want actress to feel I had to meet this woman who would Inspire such a contract of marriage that imprisons her he sells himself as as an anarchist kind of but of course Duncan this raging narcissist you're a prisoner I aim to free you I think it's just brilliant cast in on yog's part because I I don't think you would expect to see someone as Soulful and sensitive as Mark play this type of person and he does it so [Music] brilliantly from H Max is this kind of poor disheveled student who clearly is in awe of his Professor he's an extraordinary surgeon his research is groundbreaking Mr Max mandles walk with me at the end of the lesson yogos was really struck by Ramy and what a skilled actor he is he brings such intelligence such Sensitivity I always did he shot last when we didn't have time because I knew he would get it immediately he was so into the tone and the humor it is your body Bella Baxter yours to give freedom I generally charged 30 Franks well that seems low and manages to create this character who is a little bit of an outsider who finds a community of other Outsiders has she ever been outside I just want to work with people that I like their work and if I think that they also bring something extra to the character then I just want to have them around because you know they're brilliant people and I just want them to be part of of what we're making I am a man of science I just need to engage in continue the project Yos is searching for the humanity in extremist if that makes sense maybe people wouldn't describe his films as comedies I must go punch that baby they're all incredibly funny and I think he's one of the few filmmakers who can pivot from the most outrageous violence to high comedy Bella where were you you disappeared I did not nobody can just disappear what can they disappear no of course the one thing about his work that's interesting is how easily he moves through style I mean when you look at like killing of a sacred deer the favorite and the lobster you wouldn't necessarily know those were all made by the same filmmaker he and I are opposite in almost every way but the combination has been one of the greatest Gifts of my life I trust him implicitly and I think he's hilarious and it has been an honor to get to work with him the amount of times I have and I I hope we can continue to for a very long time thank you you have the best notes he's very precise about Rhythm certain shifts in the scene he gives you excellent challenges and I love that kind of call and response because he's just helping to orchestrate something that's very rich and you're one of the players there are definitely unconventional things that we do I mean the the rehearsal itself was really fun because we're not trying to get the script right we're just going through the script and trying a bunch of different things he doesn't have to say a lot mostly what he's asking you to do is to be present and not to be performative and when you get in these kind of Victorian dialects and big language it tends to want to get his drawn and he just is like stop stop acting ah Bella I am Bella Baxter there is a world to enjoy Traverse circumnavigate let us do this I always thought that we should build a world according in to Bella and to her understanding and perception of it we're in Budapest in Hungary shooting on many sound stages our world has been built it's been unbelievable I was looking for someone to do you know the production design for this film and I could never figure out someone specific I thought that maybe if I put two people that have you know very different Minds together and if it worked out and if they got along it would become something very interesting we all share as collaborators is a admiration for yogos his work and absolute love of the script I have adventured it and found nothing but sugar and violence it is most Charming it felt sort of Timeless your mind just starts racing of where it could go London Lisbon Paris we've built a composite set epic in scale yust wanted a 1930s film but with today's technology they worked very closely in Tandem and I remember seeing the early lookbooks of what they were working on because they have two very different sensibilities that seem to have met up so beautifully it really defines the story we're telling it's got a refined aesthetic but it's also got a sense of humor sometimes I just wander around I got scared for a second I thought we trapped in here this house is fantastic in every sense of the word it is a thing unto [Music] itself it shapes how you act it shapes how you feel this is the dining room this is where we have dinner this is a piano that Bella plays around with this is an interesting floor this idea of sort of cutting and splicing and opening up which is his job I imagined he would do that within his home so he just cut into walls and open things up knock things through that was what I imagine Baxter would do with his own home because he wants Bella to be happy here and to not need anything more than here this is Bella's room dressing and the detail is quite extraordinary there's nothing really normal or familiar there's so much originality there are fish on Bella's ceiling and there's seaweed and a mirror that has ears and these padded silk walls with cityscapes sewn in and I want to copy it I I want to live in that bedroom Bella's an adult but she needed sort of soft corners and things that she couldn't hurt herself on so her room is incredibly soft and very beautiful I mean you could see they have created a world it's Victorian it's a dream it's gorgeous and it really does serve kind of the vision of your G Lanos who above everything else wants creative license you don't have to make anything up everything's there everything that you need is there and then there's more it feels like something of the era but also it has so many nods to the future we use the latest technology but also tapped into some old school techniques like Miniatures or painted backdrops and I think it was an interesting combination of techniques I've never seen anything like it and it is as big as it looks even in a 4mm lens which is the widest possible angle it's bigger than that y orus loves black and white sure why wouldn't you it's a beautiful beautiful Celluloid I remember when we were in prep that he's thinking the first bit of the film should be in black and white and then when she goes on her journey that this Kaleidoscope of color comes out in the beginning we're supposed to shoot less black and white but we did the tests and it looked so incredible that I wanted to shoot some more so we decided to do the first part but also it would be interesting for us as well to not have seen her world clearly until she starts her journey there's this film stock called ector Chrome it has this very colorful texture it's like a huge leap for her forward actor Chrome was something Yus is Keen on trying it's a reversal film so it's a very very colorful and contrasty stock it pushes reality a bit and that's what poor things is about it's got stop manufactured for a while and then they brought it out again as a 16 mil stock jorus was Keen to trying to get Kodak to make it as a 35 mil stock and it really does come from the director to kind of push for these not necessarily economical ways of filming but are very bespoke and very unique Holly our costume designer came in with so many boards and so many ideas that were just brilliant I flew to Athens before our rehearsal process to do a long early fitting with Holly and yorgos I was quite fascinated by this discordancy between these period costumes and how would you wear them if you were actually a child a baby or a toddler in these very eleg an grown woman's clothes I I found that really fascinating we had a very good starting point with Bella because is so unique it gives you the freedom to you know think outside the box basically we're free to experience the film you know through our contemporary status we very quickly decided that she should always have bare feet like a lot of young children she may have been dressed in the morning by Mrs Prim but has lost most of it by lunchtime time so they're always one with a pair of knickers or with a pair of bloomers or with little playsuits or a weird bustle she really had these ideas for textures and intestinal or body parts like everything symbolizes something in our bodies how marvelous yogos is really drawn to strange material qualities he likes things that have a hardto place texture everybody's costume is gorgeous I could walk down Fifth Avenue with this today then look cool men were very peacock is in the Victorian age I mean Sumptuous like wild they were into their clothes and their look and we took that to the extreme I mean I probably had like 15 fittings everything was tailor made stop talking as your sounds make Bella angry not stop talking if I have something to say ouch [Music] when I listen to Jerkins music there's something about the sound the instrumentation that doesn't necessarily follow known structures and in a way he can create almost abstract playful stuff on an emotional level in terms of the music Yos he really likes to use music in a way that either totally subverts the emotion of the scene or like amplifies it I started thinking about instrumentation and textures quite early I was very affected by seeing the designs I was sent the set designs costumes and the props and everything they were so vivid very beautiful and tactile but also kind of garish and poisonous and toxic I wanted to have a lot of instruments that involved air and mechanics match this kind of bizarre Victorian cyborg thing going on things which are very beautiful but also very uneasy I think there were things like Glock and spiels and harps which were traditionally very kind of [Music] pretty we ended up bending and manipulating and have something that almost felt familiar I was so struck by how childish all of the characters were and how how not just Bella who literally is a child but like everyone else Godwin Max Duncan that they're all in their own ways very immature and very naive when you're younger when you know you see kids not being able to control their emotions at all that're like unrealistically happy or completely you know burst into tears at nothing and I wanted that kind of real volatility and childishness in the music for now it's not the kind of film that gets made uh in the world at the moment and people really want to get behind that Vision basically all these things as a student or you know film cine file you go I'd love to shoot on that you're like and Yus was able to achieve that you can just immerse yourself into that world and they can just be they don't have to think or imagine it's there I was thinking about that on set like I want to see this like day one you know in a dream world at the ark light on a Friday it's just a fun thing after six years to suddenly see it all come to life it's better than you could have imagined you know as we perform it I'm even more surprised even though I know it's going to happen I'm still surprised it's was kind of everything I needed at that moment you'll rarely find a director who's always with you by the camera and he's there I feel like his bizarreness is coming from from his heart he's Breaking All the Rules too they're just all a bunch of weirdos in the greatest way that creates a relationship it's not just a said it's a place that I will always remember I loved the script from the beginning what I really love about the stories that yorgos tells they tend to be challenging and morally ambiguous and leave you with more questions sometimes than answers it just felt like the perfect combination of all of that it took a while but I think both I progressed and made things and the world also progressed a little bit and was ready maybe to accept this [Music] story [Music]

Channel: FilmIsNow Movie Bloopers & Extras

Views: 138,345

Keywords: Poor Things, Making of, Poor Things Featurette, Poor Things Making of, making of Documentary, making of featurette, Poor Things 2023, sci-fi movie, fantasy movie, Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Vicki Pepperdine, Ramy Youssef, Jack Barton, Mark Ruffalo, FilmIsNow Extra

Id: W5vFeKApYeU

Length: 23min 17sec (1397 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 11 2024