Shortly after shooting his 2015 film “The Lobster,” director Yorgos Lanthimos approached his producing partners Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe about another project he was interested in — “Poor Things,” based on the novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray. “Having made a film with him and having seen all of his previous work, we were very committed to him as a filmmaker,” Guiney tells Gold Derby. “The book ‘Poor Things’ sounded extraordinary. Without really knowing how we would pull it off, we signed up to think about getting it made.” Watch our exclusive video interview with Guiney and Lowe above.
Oscar winner Emma Stone stars as Bella Baxter in the film, a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). The actress also signed up as a producer early on, after discussing the project with Lanthimos on the set of “The Favourite.” “I don’t know whether he was pitching it to her or just telling her what he was up to, but either way she completely responded to the idea,” says Guiney. “Emma is all-in in every possible way. It’s certainly the most complicated film we’ve all made together with Yorgos. It just made sense to include her as a producer. It was a film that really benefited from her input.”
The film set was constructed across massive sound stages in Budapest, Hungary, with careful consideration given to every element of the production. “Producing films is a bit like childbirth, you tend to forget the painful bits once your baby is born,” explains Lowe. “One of the really stressful things was managing COVID. This was far and away the most ambitious film we’d ever been involved in. For all of us it was a new experience. When you look at the crafts work, they all did that during COVID. Everyone was wearing masks, we were dealing with lockdowns when we arrived in Budapest and it was really challenging. It’s such a joyful film, but the environment was tough.”
Guiney is a two-time Oscar nominated producer for “Room” (2016) and “The Favourite” (2019). Lowe is a two-time BAFTA nominee for producing the 2021 mini-series “Normal People” and the 2023 film “The Wonder.”
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