Who should star in the film adaptation of My Year of Rest and Relaxation?

Emma Stone was apparently in “full-blown shock” when she won the award for best actress at this year’s Critics Choice Awards. Others were less surprised. After all, Poor Things director Yorgos Lanthimos has a solid track record when it comes to choosing his stars and leading them to award-winning performances. This is good news for the director’s upcoming adaptation of Ottessa Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation. It also raises the all-important question: who, exactly, is lined up to play the novel’s unnamed, perpetually-sleepy protagonist?

In case you’ve forgotten (or you just pretended to read the book back in 2018) My Year of Rest and Relaxation revolves around a young woman living in the New York City of 2000 and 2001, who attempts to sleep for an entire year with the help of prescription medication. There aren’t too many other characters – both of her wealthy WASP parents died during her senior year of college, and her only ‘friend’ is Reva, an old and overbearing college roommate who openly envies her wealth – but that only makes the casting choice all the more important, with the lead destined to carry the bulk of the film on her back, despite mostly remaining unconscious.

Why are we talking about this now? Well, Yorgos Lanthimos recently reminded Dazed that he’s still working on the MYoRaR script with Ottessa Moshfegh. On X, this was seemingly enough to rekindle the debate about who should step into the narrator’s designer clothes and crumpled bed sheets. We’ve mulled over some of the most popular picks below.

EMMA STONE

To start with an obvious option, Emma Stone has starred in Lanthimos’ last two films. Based on this and this alone, some have her pinned as a shoo-in for the lead role in My Year of Rest and Relaxation, whenever it goes into production. When asked about the film in the aforementioned Dazed interview, however, she declined to answer if actually she’ll play a role, leaving us in the dark.

MARGOT ROBBIE

Margot Robbie’s passion for My Year of Rest and Relaxation is undeniable. The Barbie actor actually bought the rights way back in 2018, and has previously produced a German-language stage adaptation (find Ottessa Moshfegh discussing writing for Robbie in this Dazed interview from 2023). And yes, Robbie is basically Hollywood royalty by this point. But can you imagine her face on thousands of cool girl Instagram moodboards, alongside photos of fluffy little ducklings and fawns captioned ‘remember, this is who you’re being mean to when you’re mean to me’? Not really, and for that reason she’s out of the running.

DASHA NEKRASOVA

In the most recent wave of casting speculation (or accusations, depending how you take it) one name has come up more than most: Dasha Nekrasova, AKA the blonde one from Red Scare, or Kendall Roy’s crisis PR rep in Succession. Dasha’s backers cite her dead-eyed stare and vocal fry among her biggest assets. Unfortunately, Ottessa Moshfegh has previously denied her knowledge of the actor/podcaster’s existence, which doesn’t convey a great deal of enthusiasm toward her take on the role.

HUNTER SCHAFER

The hype for Hunter Schafer as the novel’s unnamed narrator goes back much further than this week’s discourse, with deep internet dream casting lists dating back to Euphoria season one. As the 2024 votes roll in, though, she has emerged as a firm favourite, and the film girlies have the fancams to prove why.

ANNA DELVEY

It’s no secret that Anna Delvey harboured a dream to be born to a couple of rich New Yorkers, giving her time to cook up little artsy schemes or, indeed, to simply snooze the day away. Does she look anything like the character described in the novel? No, but Anna Delvey isn’t one to be tied down by her identity, so we hold out hope. Maybe MYoRaR could be her big break.

SOMEONE WE DON’T KNOW YET

Ok, all we’ve established so far is that there are a lot of names up for discussion. As much as you’ll find people throwing around A-listers and cult favourites, though, there’s also a growing internet consensus that the role would be better played by a complete newcomer. This would both protect the integrity of the character, and act as the perfect platform for a new star to rise. (If you’re a young aspiring actress and you like to describe your lifestyle as a ‘state of abjection’, now’s your time to shine.) All we do know, for now, is that Rachel Sennott has to play Reva.