{"id":494107,"date":"2026-01-05T13:01:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T13:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/494107\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T13:01:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T13:01:18","slug":"bugonia-emma-stone-jesse-plemons-on-yorgos-lanthimos-silly-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/494107\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Bugonia’: Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons on Yorgos Lanthimos’ ‘silly games’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jesse Plemons<\/a>, in his thoughtful baritone, admits, \u201cIn hindsight, I think she kept me off-balance for the majority of the shoot in a way that I don\u2019t think I could comprehend in the moment.\u201d Then he turns to the other two people sharing the couch: \u201cWhy are you guys laughing?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I\u2019m not,\u201d says Emma Stone, failing to stay exactly stone-faced while pointing at a snickering Yorgos Lanthimos: \u201cHe thinks that I\u2019m \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, she \u2014 she \u2014,\u201d Lanthimos protests, trying unconvincingly to blame her.<\/p>\n

Stone pulls it together and says, facing down her director, \u201cI\u2019m laughing because you\u2019re thinking it\u2019s funny. Because I knew immediately that Yorgos was going to be like \u2014 \u201d she (accurately) imitates his snicker in anticipation of what Stone was going to say in response to Plemons. Lanthimos looks indignant, but he\u2019s caught.<\/p>\n

\u201cI laughed because she did,\u201d he weakly claims, and there are more giggles.<\/p>\n

And Plemons, suddenly the new kid in class again, outside the in-joke despite his second film with these two, declares, \u201cThat\u2019s the end of the interview.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Three <\/p>\n

Emma Stone, left, Aidan Delbis and Jesse Plemons in \u201cBugonia.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Atsushi Nishijima \/ Focus Features)<\/p>\n

These three very professional cinematic artistes are populating the couch in a swanky West Hollywood hotel suite to discuss their latest collaboration, \u201cBugonia,\u201d<\/a> Lanthimos and screenwriter Will Tracy\u2019s adaptation of the 2003 Korean feature \u201cSave the Green Planet!\u201d In the film, the intelligent but troubled Teddy (Plemons) and his naive cousin Don (newcomer Aidan Delbis<\/a>) kidnap Michelle (Stone), the chief executive of a major pharmaceutical company. They don\u2019t want money; Teddy is convinced Michelle is an Andromedon \u2014 an alien from another star system who is an enemy to humanity.<\/p>\n

The film is essentially a three-hander, Teddy going to harrowing extremes to force Michelle to confess, with poor, loyal Don caught in the middle. Its constantly shifting tactics and power balances live in the liminal space between wild theories and actual conspiracies. It\u2019s a comedy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re all comedies,\u201d Stone says, archly, looking for Lanthimos\u2019 reaction to her assessment of his oeuvre. (He gives her nothing.) But she agrees with Plemons\u2019 comments on common themes in the filmmaker\u2019s work:<\/p>\n

1 <\/p>\n

\"Emma <\/p>\n

2 <\/p>\n

\"Jesse <\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> Emma Stone. 2.<\/strong> Jesse Plemons. (JSquared Photography \/ For The Times) <\/p>\n

\u201cPower dynamics, social control; the actual themes the films are exploring seem very simple and universal to me,\u201d he says, \u201cbut the ways in which he\u2019s exploring them are always askew.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stone adds, \u201cIsolation and extremes. All three people are extremely isolated in different ways, whether it\u2019s Michelle\u2019s big house and being alone as CEO of this company, or the very different socioeconomic background of Teddy and Don and how their isolation can breed more extreme viewpoints, and vice versa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sounds like hilarious stuff. But yes, there is plenty of humor in the high-stakes, high-tension, high-wire act that is \u201cBugonia,\u201d with much conveyed in ways the actors relate through inflection or even without dialogue. This is a by-product of working in what feels like the Lanthimos Repertory Company (repeat offenders include Colin Farrell, Olivia Colman, Willem Dafoe and Rachel Weisz).<\/p>\n

Stone says when she was the new kid, on \u201cThe Favourite,\u201d she was daunted at first, but \u201cWe all bonded so quickly because of [his] rehearsal process. I fell in love with the way it all felt and the freedom of it.\u201d<\/p>\n