The Favourite’s Yorgos Lanthimos nervous helming an all-female story

The Favourite director Yorgos Lanthimos has admitted he had reservations about taking on the story of three women.
The period comedy-drama stars Olivia Colman as Queen Anne, and Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone as two cousins competing to win the monarch’s affections so that they can gain power. Female sexuality proves to be a key part of the plot, but in the light of the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements still dominating conversation in Hollywood, Lanthimos worried that critics may deem it inappropriate for a male director to tell this story.
“I had a fear initially, and I think I overcame it by saying ‘it doesn’t matter that they’re women,” the Greek filmmaker explained to The Guardian. “It is interesting because of that, but it should be made as if it isn’t an issue. I’m a man and I’m going to tell this story about these women, and I obviously don’t know much about it – but if they’re shown as human beings, there’s no judgement.”
Though the lack of strong female representation on screen and behind the camera is another Hollywood talking point, The Lobster filmmaker added that he was not aiming to tick boxes and decided to tell the story of these women as “just an instinctive thing.” Colman, Weisz and Stone have all received critical acclaim for their respective performances with all three achieving Golden Globe nominations for the forthcoming ceremony on 6 January (19).
Lanthimos singled out Stone’s portrayal in particular during the interview, whom he attached to the film even before her Oscar-winning turn in La La Land.
“I don’t think she’s out of her comfort zone yet – she has a lot of room there. I’m not sure how I knew that, but I kind of knew it,” he smiled. “She was very confident from the beginning – physically, she was immediately on it from the rehearsals.”