There’s more Oscar buzz for Emma Stone, but this time it involves a lot of nudity — and oddity.
The Oscar-winning star of films such as “La La Land” and “Birdman” headlines the forthcoming “Poor Things,” which features sex scenes, masturbation and full-frontal nudity. The script, adapted by Tony McNamara, was based on the 1992 Alasdair Gray novel of the same name.
Following its premiere, the Yorgos Lanthimos-helmed drama received a 10-minute-and-37-second standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival on Friday.
According to Variety, the rapturous audience chanted “Genius! We love you! Yorgos!” to the Greek film director, whose previous credits include “The Favourite,” also starring Emma Stone, and “The Lobster.” Critics have already hailed the movie as the “best of the year.”
While Lanthimos was present to bask in the glory surrounding the world premiere of “Poor Things,” the actors — including Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe and Jerrod Carmichael — sat out the glitzy affair due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike.
“It’s a shame that Emma could not be here to speak more about it, because it will be coming all from me,” the auteur said at a press conference, while discussing the sex scenes in the film.
“First of all, sex is an intrinsic part of the novel itself; [the main character’s] freedom about everything including sexuality,” he said. “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.”
Described as a feminist version of Frankenstein, the film follows a childlike yet adult-bodied young woman — characterized by some as a “bizarro Barbie” — brought back to life by an unorthodox scientist. “Poor Things” was given an R-rating for sexual content, graphic nudity and disturbing material.
The film is currently scheduled to be released in the U.S. theaters on Dec. 8.