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Emma Stone hesitated about one element she needed for her latest film, Bgonia.
Stone, 36, and director Yorgos Lantimos chatted about the new film in a Q&A in New York City on Wednesday, September 3rd. There, the Oscar-winning actress confessed that she was worried about certain requests.
In the upcoming film, Stone stars as a powerful drug CEO, believed to be an alien sent to destroy the Earth, and is lured by conspiracy theorists (Jesse Plemons and Aidan Delbis). Due to the nature of the film, she had to shave her head on the camera, and there was no room for error in one take.
“From the moment I read the script I knew I had to shave my head because there was never any other way,” Stone told Indiewire in a recent Q&A.
Lanthimos then said, “Once I had cold feet.” Stone confirmed it was “last minute.”
“It was a year and a half and I knew I was going to shave my head, but I had four cameras set up that day because I had to get it in one shot, so I was filming mostly on Vistavision.
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Despite her fears about transformation, 51-year-old Lanthimos spoke to her and eased her concerns.
“It really brought her back to Earth,” Stone said, reminiscing about her mother’s chemotherapy treatment. “She legally did something violently and lost her hair. And the first thing she said was, ‘I’m so jealous, I want to shave my head again.’ ”
Stone’s mother, Christa, was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer in 2008.
“And I could do what I like and my mother was with me, so I was shaving my head and I was like, ‘What a gift! That’s hair,'” Stone continued. “So it was actually one of the greatest experiences of my life, I was so free and thought it was just hair.
Stone’s longtime friend Jennifer Lawrence told Vogue that Stone “took (the look).” “To be honest, she looked beautiful,” he added.
“I really didn’t want her to shave her head,” Lawrence, 35, confessed to the outlet. “I already lived through Billy Jean King’s haircut,” the Silver Lining playbook star continued, referring to Stone’s role as the iconic tennis player in Sex of the Sex.
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Stone’s latest film is her fourth collaboration with actress Lantimos. The pair previously worked together on Favorites (2018), Poor Things (2023), and Kindness of Kindness (2024). The cutest thing Stone won won her second Best Actress Academy Award for her charming role in her head. (She was for La La Land in 2017.)
Bgonia stars Premon, Delvis, Stavros Harukias and Alicia Silverstone. Written by Will Tracy, it is a rethink of the 2003 Korean film Save the Green Planet!
The film is co-produced by Stone and Lantimos, as well as Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Ali Astor, Lars Knudsen, Miki Lee and Jerry Kyungbum Comb.
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Bagonia will be in a limited theatre on October 24th and open wide on October 31st.
