Emma Stone reveals absurdist new film Bugonia difficult ‘in a way I didn’t expect’
She's teamed up with Yorgos Lanthimos again.
Emma Stone gets chased, kidnapped, handcuffed, shaved and hosed in blood for Bugonia, her new absurdist black comedy film with director Yorgos Lanthimos.
But the Oscar-winning star revealed she found the role of hard-nosed CEO Michelle tough in an ‘unexpected’ way – and it wasn’t all physical.
In Bugonia, Stone’s pharmaceutical boss is abducted by conspiracy theorist and beekeeper Teddy (Jesse Plemons) and his trusting cousin (Aidan Delbis), who believe she’s an alien sent to destroy Earth.
‘It was weirdly very physically challenging in a way I didn’t expect because I was like, I guess I’ll just be laying down a lot on a cot – but apparently, she’s a very physical gal!’ joked Stone when asked about the challenges of undertaking the role by Metro at the BFI London Film Festival gala screening on Friday night.
During the movie, Michelle is kept chained in their basement and subjected to some very bizarre – as well as very cruel – treatment, including having her hair shorn off, being covered in thick white paste and subjected to electric shocks.
But none of this physical discomfort proved a major challenge for the Poor Things and Eddington star, who said the biggest hurdle she had to overcome was actually in her performance as the character – who is quite a departure from roles she’s played before in terms of her hard and humourless edge – and how it would be received by audiences.
