Write On: 'Poor Things' Writer Tony McNamara

“I don’t write sex scenes. I write character scenes and sometimes
they’re having sex during their character scenes. It’s a beat
about character,” says Tony McNamara.


Known for the TV show The Great on Hulu and 2018’s The Favourite,
screenwriter Tony McNamara’s new film is Poor Things, staring
Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe with a genius performance from Mark
Ruffalo who’s already getting Best Supporting Actor buzz.


Adapted from the book Poor Things by Alasdair Gray, this film is
part Frankenstein story, part fairytale and part coming-of-age
story full of female sexual liberation! I chat with Tony about
his ability to create fascinating female characters, sex without
shame and the ways Poor Things is similar to this year’s
blockbuster Barbie ­– both are wildly different takes on the
theme of feminine identity.


“This is a great Frankenstein premise to wrap a story of a young
woman entering the world completely naïve and also be a satire
about the seeming need for human beings, men in particular, to
control. It was about this woman having this adventure and
creating herself while everyone around her is trying to control
what that creation is,” says McNamara about his vision of the
protagonist, Bella Baxter, played by an electric Emma Stone.


To go deeper into McNamara’s writing process, take a listen to
the podcast. Poor Things is in theaters Dec. 8.