Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos are set to collaborate for the fourth time on a new film titled “AND.” Principal photography begins in New Orleans starting October 2022, but plot details have been tightly kept under wraps.
After landing an Oscar nomination for “The Favourite,” Stone signed on to lead Lanthimos’ upcoming female Frankenstein dramedy “Poor Things,” which is currently in post-production. Stone also starred in Lanthimos’ short film “Bleat.”
Stone’s “Poor Things” co-stars Willem Dafoe and Margaret Qualley are also set to join her in “AND” alongside “The Power of the Dog” Academy Award nominee Jesse Plemons.
“AND” is the latest collaboration between Lanthimos and Searchlight Pictures, with a script developed by Element Pictures and Film4, and penned by Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou. The film is produced by Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe of Element, along with Kasia Malipan and writer-director Lanthimos. Ollie Madden and Daniel Battsek are executive producing for Film4, which co-financed the project.
“Working with Yorgos continues to be a highlight for us at Searchlight, and this is yet another truly original project that sets his work apart,” Searchlight Presidents David Greenbaum and Matthew Greenfield said in a joint statement. “Working again with Emma, Willem, Jesse, and Margaret as well as Element and Film4 is just the icing on the cake.”
Element’s Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe added, “This is our fifth film with Yorgos and we are delighted to re-unite once again with Searchlight and Film4 on this brilliant script by Yorgos and Efthmis. Yorgos has drawn an incredible cast and crew and we are dying to get started.”
In the meantime,’ “Poor Things” stars Stone as Bella Baxter, “a volatile, oversexed, emancipated woman, and a female Frankenstein,” per an official synopsis, who is resurrected with the brain of her unborn child after drowning herself to escape her abusive husband. Mark Ruffalo, Ramy Youssef, and Jerrod Carmichael also star.
“Poor Things” is written by “The Favourite” co-screenwriter Tony McNamara, who also is the showrunner for Hulu’s “The Great.” The film will be an adaptation of Alasdair Gray’s novel of the same name.
“Bleat” was Lanthimos’ fourth short film, following 2019’s “Nimic,” about a professional cellist whose encounter with a stranger has surreal repercussions. The short starred Matt Dillon, Daphne Patakia, and Susan Elle, and was released after “The Favourite.” “Bleat” marks Lanthimos’ first return to cinema after a three-year hiatus.
