Yorgos Lanthimos enters negotiations with Willem Dafoe for Poor Things

Just over a month after development on the project was first announced, Yorgos Lanthimos’ adaptation of Poor Things is looking to expand its cast as the four-time Oscar nominee has entered talks with fellow four-Oscar nom Willem Dafoe (The Lighthouse) to co-star in the film, according to Deadline.

RELATED: Poor Things: Stone & Lanthimos to Reunite For Reimagining of Frankenstein

It’s currently unclear who Dafoe will portray in the film, but should his deal close it would add another project to the iconic actor’s already-hefty dance card, with other projects including reunions with Wes Anderson for The French Dispatch and Robert Eggers for The Northman, as well as appearing in Guillermo del Toro’s star-studded thriller Nightmare Alley and in Paul Schrader’s The Card Counter alongside Oscar Isaac.

After his Oscar nominated work in The Florida Project, Dafoe has continued to stay very busy and this year is no exception as several projects were pushed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He set to reteam with Wes Anderson on his next pic The French Dispatch and will also reunite with Robert Eggers in The Northman. Other notable credits including appearing alongside Bradley Cooper and Cate Blanchett in Guillermo del Toro’s next film Nightmare Alley, which bows this winter and is also set to appear opposite Oscar Isaac in Paul Schrader’s The Card Counter.

First published in 1992, Poor Things is a Victorian-set novel that will feature Emma Stone, should her deal close, as Bella Baxter – a beautiful young erotomaniac brought back to life with the brain of an infant. It was also inspired by Mary Shelly’s classic gothic novel Frankenstein.

Pick up a copy of the novel here!

The film’s official synopsis reads: “Ostensibly the memoirs of late-19th-century Glasgow physician Archibald McCandless, the narrative follows the bizarre life of oversexed, volatile Bella Baxter, an emancipated woman, and a female Frankenstein. Bella is not her real name; as Victorian Blessington, she drowned herself to escape her abusive husband, but a surgeon removed the brain from the fetus she was carrying and placed it in her skull, resuscitating her. The revived Bella has the mental age of a child. Engaged to marry McCandless, she chloroforms him and runs off with a shady lawyer who takes her on a whirlwind adventure, hopping from Alexandria to Odessa to a Parisian brothel. As her brain matures, Bella develops a social conscience, but her rescheduled nuptials to Archie are cut short when she is recognized as Victoria by her lawful husband, Gen. Sir Aubrey Blessington.”

The script for the film is being adapted by Lanthimos and Tony McNamara, with whom he also previously worked on Lanthimos’ Oscar-nominated period drama and shared a Best Original Screenplay nomination with Deborah Davis. Production is scheduled to begin this year in the fall.

RELATED: Bride of Frankenstein: David Koepp Confirms Project is Still in Active Development

Besides The Favourite, Stone is also best known for her acclaimed performances in Easy A, Birdman, La La Land, and Battle of the Sexes. She will next be seen in Disney’s live-action film titled Cruella which centers around the iconic 101 Dalmatian villain Cruella de Vil.

(Photo Credit: Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)