‘Poor Things’ And The Oscars - Awards Outlook
Awards analysis is provided by Sean from @MathTeacherMovies.
‘Poor Things’ And The Oscars
The last time a Yorgos Lanthimos film was released it was a huge Oscar play with The Favourite receiving ten nominations including Best Picture, Best Director and a win for Olivia Colman in the Best Actress category.
Before The Favourite, Lanthimos was nominated for Best Original Screenplay for his film The Lobster but other than those accolades, Lanthimos films are often a bit too disturbing and strange to be nominated. Poor Things looks more like the type of film that will be too weird for the Oscars, but with Lanthomos now being on the radar of the Academy and the trend of the Oscars going toward more strange films like Everything Everywhere All at Once, there is a chance that Poor Things could sneak some nominations.
This film's trailer shows this will be more like wild Lanthimos like in The Lobster and not tame Lanthimos like The Favourite. Therefore it seems unlikely that this will hit the one two punch of nominations for Best Picture and Best Director. However, it is wild enough to get a nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
This film is definitely a visual feast in the trailers that have been released and so this has the chance of grabbing technicals like Production Design, Costume Design, and Cinematography as this entire film takes place in a fanciful nature. Also, the brief shot of Willem Dafoe shows that this will definitely be a candidate for Best Makeup.
Emma Stone received one of her Oscar nominations for a Lanthimos film in The Favourite and so there is no doubt that she can do it again. What is working for or against her is the fact that she is playing an absolutely wild character in this film which could be a showcase for a very loud performance, but also could be so strange that it turns voters away.
Of course the greatest elephant in the room is whether or not this film will even be released this year, due to the writers and actors strike. It was just moved to December and while that is a typically Oscar friendly month, there is a chance that it will be delayed further if the strikes continue.
Odds are this will be a film beloved by the cinephiles but passed up by the Academy with the exception of possibly a couple of technical nominations. Poor Things is not the type of movie that is going for awards, but these days that doesn't necessarily mean that it won't be nominated.