‘Poor Things’ Trailer Is Oddball Goodness and a Slap to Mark Ruffalo

Throughout his career, Yorgos Lanthimos has made it clear that his movies will be weird and yet fun. The Favourite broke everyone’s brain and made us fall further in love with Rachel Weisz and Nicholas Hoult. With movies like The Lobster, we questioned our own mortality and love. The world was introduced to the dark and twisted side of Barry Keoghan’s abilities as an actor with Lanthimos’ warped The Killing of a Sacred Deer. The point is, we always know we’re strapped in for a journey when it comes to his movies.

So, it’s no surprise that the trailer for Poor Things seems just as messed up, and yet fascinating, as the rest of his work. Emma Stone returns to Lanthimos’ work to play Bella Baxter. The two worked together previously, most famously on The Favourite, which gained Stone an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

And the trailer for Poor Things gives us a bit more information about the movie. It’s described as follows: “From filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and producer Emma Stone comes the incredible tale and fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Under Baxter’s protection, Bella is eager to learn. Hungry for the worldliness she is lacking, Bella runs off with Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a slick and debauched lawyer, on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.”

Adapted from the Alasdair Gray novel of the same name, it seems like a perfect fit for Lanthimos’ style. And one thing that really stuck out to me in this trailer, apart from Stone, Ramy Youssef, and Willem Dafoe, was the fact that Bella Baxter slapped Duncan Wederburn—meaning that Emma Stone slapped Mark Ruffalo.

Why is Gwen Stacy slapping the Hulk?!

Sure, I know both Mark Ruffalo and Emma Stone’s careers outside of their superhero counterparts. I know most all of their movies, in fact, but sometimes, you just see something that breaks you a little. And that’s what happened for me when Gwen Stacy slapped Bruce Banner across the face. Granted, both of these actors have been nominated for Oscars, but still, my brain wants to do what it wants to do.

Stone says, “I am finding being alive fascinating,” earlier in the trailer, only to then slap Ruffalo across the face.

His response? “Ow.” Why is she slapping him? Who is to say? We surely won’t know until the movie is released on September 8, but until then, we get to see a series of odd images, Willem Dafoe with maybe half a face, and Emma Stone just repeatedly slapping Mark Ruffalo. Oh wait, did I mention Jerrod Carmichael looking like a perfect vampire? That’s here, too.

As always, Lanthimos crafts stories that will have us questioning our own mortality while making us laugh, ponder, and cry. This time around, we just get the added bonus of Mark Ruffalo and his very fun mustache.

(featured image: Searchlight Pictures)