'Poor Things' dominates Oscar race with nearly dozen nods

In the much-awaited Academy Awards, Poor Things has clinched 11 nominations and has been touted to win scores of awards at the ceremony.

The film's writer, Tony McNamara, who is nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, said, "Quite a few people said to me they didn't know they needed to see a movie as wild as this, but as soon as they saw it, they said it made them feel like cinema was alive and they could imagine beyond what they thought was possible."

Helmed by Yorgos Lanthimos, the movie has previously bagged a series of gongs.

The response was so overwhelming that the lead actress, Emma Stone, revealed she was initially reluctant to take the character.

"I felt like I was failing her in the first week and failing Yorgos. It was just difficult. I could talk to him about it," she told the filmmaker in the Variety interview.

She continued, "I think because I had lived with her in my mind for so long and I was so deeply in love with Bella, it terrified me not to live up to her as a character."