'How we created Poor Things' Bella Baxter's world'

Emma Stone is nominated for best actress for her portrayal of Bella Baxter

Techniques from a bygone era were used to create the striking and surreal backdrop to one of the year’s most recognised films.

Oscar nominee James Price, from Herefordshire, worked with co-designer Shona Heath to create the Victorian sci-fi world of Poor Things, home to protagonist Bella Baxter.

The 2023 movie, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and starring Emma Stone alongside Mark Ruffalo and Willem Dafoe, has received 11 Academy Award nominations.

Price and Heath are nominated for best production design and will be at Sunday's ceremony.

Models and painted backdrops were used to create the set

The director wanted to make it studio based and produced as if films from the 1930s were made now, Price said.

Modern day techniques were used as well as those from a "bygone age,” to create a new aesthetic.

“We built a Tower Bridge as a scale model too, which was really fun,” he added.

Painted backdrops were also used to help create the look.

“They were absolutely huge, 60 meters by 20 meters, and there’s only a few people can do that because it’s a dying art,” he said.

The film has been nominated for 11 Academy Awards

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.

The past few months had been a bit crazy, he said.

“People have been coming up to us and just telling us how much they love the film and what it meant to them.

“Its kind of mind blowing you know these are our peers, just being unbelievably generous."

“We’re just a couple of Brits in the home of movie making,” he added.

James Price and Shona Heath have been nominated for best production design

Picking up a Bafta, also for production design, was “another level of craziness,” he added.

“I’d say it was a dream come true, but you don’t dream about things like that, it’s impossible."

Pupils and staff at his former Herefordshire School, would be supporting him on Sunday night, he said.

“Wigmore School played a big part in my life, it was hugely influential, as was Hereford Art College," he said.

“They turned me into an adult and started my career so hugely important," he added.

“I was severely dyslexic and they helped me get ready for the outside world."

Old and new technologies were used to create the aesthetic, said the production designer

The Poor Things “family” were expected to be quite rowdy on Sunday he added.

"It’s going to be like being at a family wedding."

The pair are nominated along with set designer Zsuzsa Mihalek.

Jerskin Fendrix, from Shropshire, is also nominated for the film’s score.