Emma Stone thanks “Poor Things” writer for 'I must go punch that baby' line in BAFTAs acceptance speech

Lester Fabian Brathwaite

18 February 2024 at 5:35 pm·2-min read

"It was life-changing for me."

Emma Stone's really picking up steam on the way to the Oscars, winning Best Actress for Poor Things at the BAFTA Film Awards. Stone thanked her director Yorgos Lanthimos, her mother, and the screenwriter Tony McNamara for one line in particular.

“Tony, thank you for the line ‘I must go punch that baby.’ It was life-changing for me,” the actress said while accepting her award, the second Best Actress BAFTA of her career, after winning in 2017 for La La Land.

<p>Kate Green/BAFTA/Getty</p> Emma Stone at the 2024 BAFTA Film Awards — Kate Green/BAFTA/Getty
Emma Stone at the 2024 BAFTA Film Awards

In Poor Things, which she also produced, Stone stars as recently dead Victorian woman Bella Baxter, Frankenstein'd back to life by mad scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) with the brain of an unborn fetus. Bella eventually breaks free from Baxter and embarks on a sex-filled journey of enlightenment.

In one particular scene, Bella spits out food while dining at a fancy restaurant, only to be irritated by the sound of a crying child. "Why keep it in my mouth if it is revolting?" she asks. "I must go punch that baby!"

Based on the 1992 novel by Alasdair Gray, Poor Things picked up awards for Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, Best Makeup and Hair, and Best Visual Effects. Next month, Poor Things is up for 11 Academy Awards, tied with Killers of the Flower Moon for second most-nominated picture of the year, behind Oppenheimer with 13.

Stone's biggest competition in the Best Actress category, which she won in 2017 (La La Land), is Lily Gladstone in Killers, the first Native actress nominated in that category. Stone and Gladstone have split the majority of awards, but Gladstone was curiously snubbed by the BAFTAs while Killers of the Flower Moon lost out on all nine of its BAFTA nominations.

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