At the 2025 Venice Film Festival, Emma Stone stunned audiences with her latest collaboration with director Yorgos Lanthimos in the dark sci-fi comedy Bugonia. The film, which riffs on the 2003 South Korean cult classic Save the Green Planet!, sees Stone as a high-powered pharmaceutical CEO kidnapped by conspiracy-obsessed individuals convinced she’s an extraterrestrial ready to annihilate humanity.(turn0news18
Stone described the film as “funny and fucked up,” a twisted blend of satire, suspense, and social commentary that feels downright prophetic in an age of technological unease, political strife, and climate anxiety. Of note: she shaved her head for the role—a commitment she called “wonderful” during press events.
Landing among the select few competing for Venice’s Golden Lion, the film once again unites Stone and Lanthimos, following their Oscar-winning partnership in Poor Things. The director emphasized the film’s eerie proximity to reality, despite its surreal trappings.
On the red carpet, Stone channeled minimalist glamour in a chic Louis Vuitton ensemble before receiving a public declaration of alien belief—she echoed Carl Sagan’s sentiment that it’s narcissistic to think humanity is alone in the universe.
With Bugonia, Stone and Lanthimos bend the genre rules once more, crafting a chilling comedic thriller that reflects the perils of modern paranoia.
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