The 56th New York Film Festival is fast approaching this September, and they’ve announced that Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite will open the festival. This follows last week’s announcement that Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma will serve as the Centerpiece selection.
As expected from Lanthimos (whose previous works include The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer), the film is described as wildly intricate and darkly funny look at Sarah Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough (Rachel Weisz) and her servant Abigail Hill (Emma Stone) engaging in a sexually charged fight to the death for the body and soul of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) at the height of the War of the Spanish Succession. New York Film Festival Director and Selection Committee Chair Kent Jones had this to say about the film: “The Favourite is a lot of things at once, each of them perfectly meshed: a historical epic; a visual feast; a wild, wild ride; a formidable display of the art of acting from Rachel Weisz, Emma Stone, and Olivia Colman, abetted by a brilliant cast; a tour de force from Yorgos Lanthimos. And … it’s a blast. We’re very excited to have it as our opening night film.”
It’s definitely an interesting and bold pick to open the festival, but we trust both Lanthimos and the NYFF to challenge our expectations and provide one hell of a ride with The Favourite. It will make its New York premiere at Alice Tully Hall on Friday, September 28 and will be released via Fox Searchlight Pictures on November 23.
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