How a 1998 night school script became a satirical masterpiece of royal power dynamics

Entertainment · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: The Favourite began as a humble screenwriting project before evolving into a bold, absurdist examination of 18th-century court politics. By stripping away traditional period drama tropes, director Yorgos Lanthimos crafted a visceral, intimate power struggle between three women, forever changing how we perceive the historical figure of Queen Anne.

The film originated in 1998 when Deborah Davis, then a student at night school, wrote the first draft titled The Balance of Power. Her research uncovered a complex female triangle involving Queen Anne, Sarah Churchill, and Abigail Masham. Producer Ceci Dempsey was immediately captivated by the raw survival instincts and manipulations depicted in the script. However, the project faced significant hurdles for nearly a decade; financiers were hesitant to back a film centered entirely on female leads with explicit lesbian content, fearing it lacked marketability.

When director Yorgos Lanthimos joined the project, he sought to avoid making the characters' sexuality a political statement, instead focusing on them as complex human beings. Alongside screenwriter Tony McNamara, Lanthimos refined the script to feel vibrant and contemporary rather than like a museum piece. The production relied on an unorthodox three-week rehearsal process where actors performed dramatic scenes while physically contorted or writhing on the floor. Lanthimos believed these exercises helped the cast bypass intellectualizing their lines, allowing for more instinctive, raw performances.

Visually, the film utilized wide-angle and fisheye lenses to emphasize the isolation of the characters within the vast, opulent spaces of Hatfield House. Cinematographer Robbie Ryan and production designer Fiona Crombie worked to capture a sense of entrapment, where the palace shifts from a playground to a prison. By relying heavily on natural lighting and stripping back ornate decorations, the team created a stark, contained world. This aesthetic, combined with the central performances of Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, and Emma Stone, helped the film achieve widespread critical acclaim, securing ten Academy Award nominations and cementing its status as a defining work of the 21st century.

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