Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favorite follow-up Poor Things has taken the Golden Lion at the 80th Venice International Film Festival
The winners for the 80th Venice International Film Festival are officially in, with Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things taking the coveted Golden Lion as the best film at the festival. Other winners include Italian director Matteo Garrone, as well as Priscilla actress Cailee Spaeny and Memory star Peter Sarsgaard.
Here is the list of major category winners from the Venice Film Festival:
Golden Lion: Poor Things by Yorgos Lanthimos
Grand Jury Prize: Evil Does Not Exist by Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Special Jury Prize: Green Border by Agnieszka Holland
Silver Lion: Matteo Garrone for Io capitano
Volpi Cup for Best Actress: Cailee Spaeny for Priscilla
Volpi Cup for Best Actor: Peter Sarsgaard for Memory
Golden Osella for Best Screenplay: Guillermo Calderón and Pablo Larraín for El Conde
Marcello Mastroianni Award: Seydou Sarr for Io capitano
Yorgos Lanthimos has won at the Venice Film Festival before, taking home the Best Screenplay award for Alps back in 2011 while The Favorite was bestowed the Grand Jury Prize five years ago. Both of those films were nominated for the Golden Lion. While it is extremely rare that a movie wins both the Golden Lion and the Best Picture Oscar, the win for Poor Things can only help its chances for a nomination, which many pundits already pegged it to get.
Poor Things beat out some major competition at the Venice Film Festival, as Michael Mann’s Ferrari, David Fincher’s The Killer and Bradley Cooper’s Maestro were all vying for the Golden Lion. The film has had nearly unanimous praise, with many pointing to Emma Stone taking home her second Oscar. Her most recent nod came from Lanthimos’ own The Favorite.
This year’s jury for the Venice Film Festival was headed by Damien Chazelle, whose own La La Land and First Man competed at the famed festival. Other members include three-time Golden Lion nominee Jane Campion, two-time Golden Osella winner Martin McDonagh and more.
How do you think Yorgos Lanthimos and Poor Things will fare when the major awards nominations come out? Could it be one of the few movies that wins both the Golden Lion and the Academy Award for Best Picture?