“The Favourite”

Fox Searchlight

“The men dressed as if they were peacocks and the women were much more [sedate],” screenwriter Deborah Davis says of the elaborate hair, makeup and costumes worn by actors like Nicholas Hoult and James Smith in Yorgos Lanthimos’ period comedy. She and co-writer Tony Mcnamara say the biggest issue in the film, set during Queen Anne’s reign, was determining just how much political power women had when a queen ruled. He says that Sarah Churchill (Rachel Weisz), the paramour of Olivia Colman’s Anne, “ultimately changed the direction of the country.”