In his latest effort, Yorgos Lanthimos takes on 18th-century royalty with “The Favourite,” a dark comedy loosely based on the story of Queen Anne of England and her closest confidants: the Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) and newcomer Abigail (Emma Stone) who battle for the monarch’s love. In what could be considered one of the best roles of Stone’s career to date, Olivia Colman and Rachel Weisz stun in this unique period drama with contemporary flair. The entire cast came to the New York Film Festival this week to unveil the hotly anticipated film and following the screening the cast sat down to discuss the film as well as working with Yorgos Lanthimos. Suffice it to say Lanthimos, already boasting a spellbinding career, with past films like “The Lobster” and the “The Killing of a Sacred Deer,” continues to prove himself to be one of the world’s greatest directors. Following the roar of applause after the screening, the cast sat down to discuss what it was like making “The Favourite,” the strange acting exercises Lanthimos asked cast members to do and an exclusive look into how they got involved in this unique project.
Asked about what drew him to the film Lanthimos replied, “I guess when I immediately came across it, the fact that it was a story about three women who in this point in time [historically] had this kind of power, and how that affected a whole country – the fate of thousands or millions of people – it just felt like an interesting thing to explore.” The story of Queen Anne of England is a tragic one and yet Lanthimos, scriptwriter Tony McNamara, and the cast effortlessly and effectively inject this story with a darkly sharp sense of humor. On the comedic elements in the film, Lanthimos remarked that in part, it was an interesting way to approach the subject matter and humor is something that he “can’t get away from, no matter what.”
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Development of the story also consisted of a great deal of research (and working lunches according to McNamara), some of which proved challenging when you consider what little information is available about the Queen’s newest chambermaid, Abigail. Emma Stone relied mostly on the cast to help her with the history, “I was the only American on set, so I wasn’t really familiar with this side of English history.”
The film was never to be considered a straight biography though, as Lanthimos jokingly teased the audience, “Trust us it’s all true.” “The reality was,” Lanthimos said, “that the historical aspect and whatever facts we knew or assumed about the period we took as a starting point, and then veered off in many different directions from there.”
In terms of preparing for her role as Queen Anne Colman joked, “Not much strategy with playing an overgrown teen.” With the audience amused she continued, “It was just enormously fun, so there was no process getting into character I’m afraid …” Lanthimos interjected, “We did have a rehearsal period.”
“Oh yes we did,” Colman embarrassingly replied, “I am so sorry.”
The director responded, “It was very silly but we did do that!”
Colman then sighed, “Oh no, yes that’s true. I’m sorry. You should always ask Yorgos don’t ask me!”
Nicholas Hoult called the audition process and rehearsals somewhat “bizarre” with Lanthimos asking him to sculpt imaginary force fields while reciting his lines, or humming while his costars recited theirs. “I wasn’t quite sure how this would help my performance, to be honest, I did wonder if they were just laughing at me,” he said as Emma Stone let out a giggle of her own. Stone then added, “I wondering the same thing!” At one point she recalled Lanthimos asked her to pant while delivering her lines as if she was giving birth. “Honestly I think he just does that to everyone,” she with a smirk as the cast laughed.
The rebellious spirit of the film is spearheaded by its contemporary elements. “We tried to add a few contemporary pieces to the film … some of it was the physicality of the characters and actors,” noted Lanthimos. “Sometimes we did it in subtle ways and in others not so much.”
During the script-drafting stag,e he said, “We didn’t try and make the people sound the way we thought they should, we used more contemporary language, even the costumes.” Lanthimos clarified, “We stayed loyal to the shapes of the period but used contemporary fabrics and textures against music that is sometimes true to the period and sometimes not.” That juxtaposition of the modern and the 18th-century, needless to say, makes for a starkly unique and and unpredictable film.
