Poor Things designers' Oscars win is 'surreal and wonderful'

James Price and Shona Heath won the Oscar for Best Production Design for Poor Things

Winning an Oscar for best production design was surreal, wonderful, and probably a one time thing, Shona Heath said.

Ms Heath and James Price, from Worcestershire and Herefordshire respectively, took the award for their work in creating the Victorian sci-fi world of Poor Things, for which Emma Stone took best actress.

Ms Heath said waiting for the announcement was nerve wracking and she had thought Barbie was going to win.

"It's completely surreal and wonderful and I can't explain it because I suppose it doesn't have a category in your life - this is a one time thing probably," she said.

"It isn't like anything else so I can't explain it."

'Love and custard tarts'

Price and Heath have already won an Art Directors Guild Award, as well as accolades from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Bafta) and the Set Decorators Society of America alongside the film’s set decorator, Zsuzsa Mihalek.

They said the last few weeks had been a bit crazy.

"So this is crazy. I feel in the mood for love and custard tarts really," Mr Price said accepting the award.

The former Wigmore School pupil thanked his "partner-in-crime" Ms Heath, calling her the "art department Bella", referring to the film's protagonist, Bella Baxter.

Speaking to the BBC afterwards Ms Heath thanked her mum and everyone she went to The Alice Ottley School with in Worcester.

She also said she had an Oscars chocolate in her bag which she was going to give to her son.

Speaking from a limousine on the way to the Searchlight Pictures after party, Ms Heath said she and Mr Price had prepared a speech, but decided they wanted to ad-lib it instead.

"James started to go off-piste with custard tarts so I think we both got a bit thrown, but I don't even know what I said. It all goes blank up there," she said.

Poor Things, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, tells the story of Bella Baxter, a woman who is brought back to life by an unorthodox scientist.

The film had been nominated for 11 awards including one for Shropshire composer Jerskin Fendrix for best music (original score).