The big screen adaptation of Alasdair Gray’s 1992 novel Poor Things has joined Barbie and Oppenheimer in scoring big nominations at the 2024 Golden Globe Awards.
Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos' new film has been nominated for Best Film - Musical or Comedy, Best Screenplay and Best Original Score, with Lanthimos also nominated for Best Director.
Emma Stone’s performance is also nominated for Best Female Actor in a film – Musical or Comedy, with co-stars Willem Dafoe and Mark Ruffalo also receiving Best Supporting Actor nominations for their performances.
The seven nominations for Poor Things match those received by Martin Scorsese’s American epic Western crime drama Killers of the Flower Moon, with Oppenheimer receiving eight nods and Barbie leading the charge with nine nominations.
The awards ceremony for the 81st edition of the film and television gongs is due to take place in Los Angeles on January 7.
READ MORE: Poor Things: Big screen adaptation of Alasdair Gray novel hailed as 'masterpiece'
Set in the 19th century and borrowing from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Guardian Fiction Prize-winning novel Poor Things centres on Bella Baxter, who is brought back to life after the brain of a fetus is placed in her skull by a scientist in late-Victorian Glasgow.
Searchlight Pictures, one of the companies producing the film, describes it as “a whirlwind adventure hopping from Alexandria to Odessa to a Parisian brothel”.
Poor Things sees Oscar-winning actress Emma Stone reunite with Athens-born director Lanthimos, who directed Oscar-winning 2018 historical black comedy The Favourite.
Stone, who was also received a Best Female Actor in a television series – drama nomination for her performance in “The Curse,” said in a statement that she was “feeling extremely bewildered and thankful for it all”, adding that her Poor Things character Bella Baxter was her “favourite” and that she was “so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this magical film experience.”
Commenting on the Golden Globe nominations for the big screen adaption of Alasdair Gray’s novel, Sorcha Dallas, custodian of The Alasdair Gray Archive, told The Herald: “Everyone at The Alasdair Gray Archive is delighted to see the success of Yorgos Lanthimos’s interpretation of Gray’s seminal book Poor Things by the film's recent nominations at The Golden Globes.
“We hope it brings more readers to discover the world building Alasdair made across literature and art and how central to this were the people and places within Glasgow.'”
The nominations for Poor Things come after the film received a eight-minute-long standing ovation at its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival back in September.
Hollywood website Deadline called the post-screening ovation "one of the most enthusiastic responses to a film some Venice festgoers have ever seen".
Inverse called the movie "an absurdist masterpiece" and Lanthimos' "best and weirdest movie to date", while Indiewire noted that it "already feels like an instant classic".
Poor Things, which is due out in UK cinemas on January 12, 2024, isn’t the only Scottish connection to the Golden Globes 2024.
READ MORE: First look at big screen adaptation of Alasdair Gray novel Poor Things
Dundee-born actor Brian Cox is nominated for the Best actor in a TV series - drama award for his portrayal of billionaire media mogul Logan Roy in Succession.
The HBO series is the top-nominated TV show, with a total of nine nods for its final season - a new record for a TV series. Cox previously won the Best actor in a TV series - drama award at the Golden Globes in 2020 for his performance as Roy, and was nominated for the same award in 2021.
2020 also saw another Scot, Krysty Wilson-Cairns, claim Golden Globes glory for 1917, the First World War epic which she co-wrote with Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes. The film, which included a sequence shot at Govan Graving Docks in Glasgow, was crowned Best Motion Picture (Drama).
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