Via Deadline, The Favorite director Yorgos Lanthimos is looking at a fan favorite to star in his next film. Willem Dafoe is in negotiations to co-star in the film. This will certainly be an exciting reunion as Dafoe and Lanthimos have both been making exclusively incredible films.

This particular piece will be an adaptation of the 1992 novel Poor Things. Written by the late Scottish writer Alasdair Gray, the story follows a young woman named Bella Baxter, and is more or less a postmodern retelling of the classic Mary Shelley tale Frankenstein. 

The adaptation seems like a perfect fit for Lanthimos, who has directed such critically acclaimed films as The Favorite, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, and The Lobster. All deal with love and creation in interesting ways and this story feels ripe for such topics. This will be a return to feature films for Lanthimos, who has not made one in a few years, but is in production on this film now as well as a short film after making a 2019 short entitled Nimic.

Dafoe is one of the most prolific actors working right now. His career started in the 1980s and he’s been in over one hundred productions in that time span. Dafoe recently starred in Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse, which he was truly incredible in and certainly was snubbed come awards season. The 65-year-old actor can do just about everything from an over-the-top Green Goblin to the serious Thomas Wake in The Lighthouse to the lovably comedic Klaus Daimler in Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. 

It is unknown if these talks will lead anywhere, but the production of Poor Things is sure to be underway at some point this year.