‘Poor Things’ production designers Shona Heath and James Price: Director Yorgos Lanthimos ‘wanted everything’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

“It was a very open palate,” says Shona Heath while discussing her work as a production designer on Yorgos Lanthimos‘ “Poor Things.” She and her colleague James Price used the script from Tony McNamara as “the bouncing board for everything.” Watch our exclusive video interview with Heath and Price above. 

“Yorgos was really keen that the film used all sorts of 1930s studio techniques, and also very up-to-date technology like LED screens for the sky,” Heath explains. “He was keen to have a new world created for him totally from scratch. He wanted to use all the techniques from miniatures to massive studio builds. He wanted everything.”

SEE Willem Dafoe (‘Poor Things’) reveals how his father influenced his portrayal of Dr. Godwin Baxter: ‘My worlds are coming together’ 

Price says it took a while to figure out where they could build a set with such a grand scale. “We did a bit of a European tour,” he explains. “Budapest seemed like the only place that could really house us because we were going to be a big outfit. We took over two huge film studios there and we built our biggest set, Lisbon. At one point I was informed that we had three-quarters of the construction crew that work in Hungary as a whole. We became like a self-eating snake. We would turn up on set and we would be like, ‘Where’s that painter gone?’ It really was a monumental task.”

“Poor Things” is an incredible tale about the fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Following the movie’s Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival, Searchlight Pictures set a nationwide release date for December 8.

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