Emma Stone discusses fame, coping strategies and Yorgos Lanthimos collaboration at Venice Film Festival

Emma Stone shared her approach to navigating fame and reflected on her new film 'Bugonia' at the Venice Film Festival.

Emma Stone addressed the challenges of navigating fame and the demands of her career during a press conference at the Venice Film Festival, where her new film Bugonia is premiering.

The two-time Academy Award winner explained how she copes with public attention, joking first when asked how she handles fame “without turning into an alien.” “How do you know I’m not an alien?” she replied, before offering a more reflective answer.

Stone described her strategy as viewing herself in two parts: “I call it the avatar outside of me. There’s me and then there’s, like, me here [at the festival] if that makes any sense. I separate the two in my mind a little bit, which I maybe need to do less. As a coping mechanism, there’s the person who comes here, and then there’s a person I am with all my friends and family — and they’re the same person. It’s just different things to keep myself sane, I guess.”

Bugonia sees Stone play a powerful CEO who is kidnapped by conspiracy theorists convinced she is an alien planning Earth’s destruction. The film, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, premieres tonight at Sala Grande during the festival, which runs from August 27 to September 6.

Stone spoke about her long-standing collaboration with Lanthimos, following Poor Things, Kinds of Kindness and The Favourite. “It’s clear that I love working with Yorgos and I love the material he’s drawn to and the characters he explores,” she said. Highlighting the familiar team behind Bugonia, she added that it creates “a really comforting and safe environment to explore and feel as free as possible.”

She also reflected on the themes of Bugonia, noting that they echo contemporary global issues. “There’s so much that’s happening that’s reflective of this time in our world,” Stone said.