Since Poor Creatures was screened in Venice, Emma Stone became the favorite to add another golden statuette to the one she won for La La Land. Stone – yesterday she was named an Oscar candidate for leading actress – has managed to convince audiences who have seen her play Bella Baxter that it is possible to graft the brain of a baby into the body of a woman who took her own life, and revive it following the myth that Mary Shelley started in Frankenstein. The accurate work of Yorgos Lanthimos and the novel by Alasdair Gray help, but it is the actress born in Arizona who surprises by playing a girl who is later a teenager and later a woman without changing her appearance, convincing us to accompany her emotionally in her magical personal journey. Stone has already won the Golden Globe and the Critics Choice.
How did this new collaboration with Lanthimos come about?
We filmed The Favorite in 2017 and some time later we met for dinner. I asked him about his next project. She had several and one was Poor Creatures. He told me what the book was about and I was so excited that I asked him when we were starting, we had had such a good time together that I wanted to work with him again. The combination of the character, the story and Yorgos was fabulous.
What is it that leads you to work with him again and again?
We adore each other. We understand each other very well and get along wonderfully when we work. But we also respect and admire each other. I feel like I can totally trust him as a director, and that's very rare for an actress, to be able to give yourself over and know that they're going to protect you. And the story we are telling. On the other hand, I can laugh at him and vice versa. We can fight and that gives shape to a very legitimate relationship between the two of us. Yorgos loves building a company that not only includes the actors but also the technical team. It's always the same people who come back to work with him, and that helps me feel safe. Many times he doesn't need to tell me anything, he just does it with a look, and that makes him my favorite director. He is the best.
It is a very risky role. Didn't you hesitate for a second?
Absolutely. He is my favorite character of all the ones I have played, and I also had to do it with Yorgos.
She was also a producer on this film...
It's true. I love trying new things if they give me the opportunity. Yorgos invited me to be a producer on the project. We had been talking about the film for three years and I was delighted that he proposed it to me. I don't think it's changed anything in our dynamic, but it makes me feel even more connected to Bella and her story.
How did you work together in its evolution?
In a very logical way. Neither Yorgos nor I like to talk about the psychology of the character, or what happens to him internally. The external is always there and then there is my own personal work. We developed its evolution in the different sets day by day. And if we needed to change something, we both knew how she had to transform.
How did you prepare for such a complex role?
I simply tried to free myself from shame and all prejudices as much as possible, because everything happened by not doing, instead of doing. Obviously we had to work a lot on how she was going to move and the way she spoke. It was also essential to understand how she evolves as the story progresses. But the key to interpreting her was to free myself from many things because Bella is moved by enjoyment and curiosity, and she has neither shame nor trauma of any kind. It is difficult to find an adult who has not had to deal with some conflict in her life and who has not incorporated some Pavlovian response to certain situations, or who does not have some prejudice. That was the greatest gift of playing her, because Bella has no traumas or prejudices. She simply dedicates herself to discovering everything around her.
What was the strategy for developing Bella's different mental ages in the film?
Regarding her age, it was very important for Yorgos and me to understand that it was not something literal, because she grows very quickly and because, believe it or not, this film is not based on a true story. It is more of a metaphor, even though it seems very realistic. Part of what made this experience so fun is that Bella's experience can't be compared to anything, so we were able to experiment with her evolution with both her movements and her language. In rehearsals, Yorgos and I worked in Budapest on all these aspects. Sometimes we just focused on the way she walked and other times on how she had to talk. Then each big event that happens advances you to the next stage, but those were things we filmed later.
Bella baffles the men with her reactions. How did this aspect work?
I never saw him like that, it doesn't seem to me that he confronts men. Explore all the different facets of life in different places and environments. Her life in relation to men is not questioned. And on the other hand, the male characters in this film are fascinating in their own right, and have different facets in the way they relate to her. What they offer her, what they teach her and what they learn from Bella.
He has also produced and starred in the series The Curse. Why do you want to do both at this stage of his career?
It is something that has started to happen in the last two years. I moved to Los Angeles when I was 15 and started auditioning. 20 years have passed and what I have experienced has been quite surreal. It's also true that as an actress, most of the time you have to accept what you're given instead of enjoying the gift of choice. However, now the best thing about producing is the ability to bring people together. I enjoy finding people who are wonderful to work with and whom I can trust. This is what Yorgos does as a director and I am learning from him.
