How ‘Poor Things’ Crafted Emma Stone’s Bella From a Condom Coat, a Wobbling Score and Psychedelic Sets
variety.comJazz Tangcay Artisans Editor “She is the most literal character. ‘It’s sunny, you wear glasses. I put on shoes because it hurts when I walk outside without shoes on,’” says producer and actress Emma Stone of her latest role as Bella Baxter in “Poor Things.” Based on Alasdair Gray’s novel of the same name, Bella is a creation of Willem Dafoe’s mad scientist Godwin Baxter.
He brings Bella back to life after she tries to kill herself, using the brain of an unborn fetus, and Bella ends up a young child trapped in a woman’s body.
Director Yorgos Lanthimos used different chapters to punctuate Bella’s discovery of the world and learning what it means to be a woman in a man’s world.
Together, the film’s group of artisans reflected that evolution through their respective crafts. Holly Waddington’s costume designs needed to reflect Bella’s arc and her development, starting with ones at the beginning of the film that are very childlike. “I was very much playing with the idea of undress,” says Waddington. “In my mind,” Vicki Pepperdine, playing Bella’s governess Miss Prim, “would dress her in a big grownup outfit, a blouse with a skirt, and by late morning, she’d be wearing the blouse and nothing on the bottom half, just a pair of knickers.” Once Bella meets Duncan (Mark Ruffalo) and he whisks her away to Lisbon, she is very much on her own without Miss Prim to guide and dress her. “So she goes out wearing her knickers and a big jacket.
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