Emma Stone Declares Her Inner “Alien” at Venice Festival Amid Darkly Comic Sci-Fi Premiere

During the Bugonia press conference, Stone joked about her fame—and introduced her self-crafted “avatar” persona—while championing Yorgos Lanthimos’s provocative satire on conspiracy-fueled divide.

At the Venice Film Festival press conference on August 28, 2025, Oscar-winning actress Emma Stone shared her insightful—and playful—strategy for navigating fame amid growing public scrutiny. The moment arrived during the launch of Bugonia, her new sci-fi black comedy directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, which premiered in Venice’s main competition this year.

When asked how she manages success “without turning into an alien,” Stone quipped, “How do you know I’m not an alien?”—delivering laughs while cleverly mirroring the film’s premise: she portrays a high-powered CEO kidnapped by conspiracy-obsessed men who genuinely believe she is an extraterrestrial bent on destroying Earth.

Shifting gears to a more personal reflection, Stone revealed her coping mechanism: “The avatar outside of me.” She explained how she mentally separates her public persona—represented by the version of herself appearing at festivals—from the private, “real” Emma she shares with friends and family. It’s a subtle dissociation that helps her stay grounded amidst the pressures of fame.

Bugonia marks Stone’s fourth collaboration with Lanthimos following The Favourite, Poor Things, and Kinds of Kindness. At Venice, the film was met with enthusiastic applause, even receiving a lengthy standing ovation—an emphatic signal of approval for the director’s bold, genre-bending style.

Adapted from the 2003 South Korean cult classic Save the Green Planet!, Bugonia blends horror, satire, and sci-fi. Stone’s character, Michelle Fuller, is a pharmaceutical CEO who faces her conspirator captors—Teddy (Jesse Plemons) and Don (Aidan Delbis)—who subject her to bizarre rituals after becoming convinced she is part of an alien invasion from Andromeda.

Behind the scenes, Stone even shaved her head—captured on film—adding to the movie’s unsettling and provocative aesthetic.

She praised Lanthimos’s ensemble, calling it a “family” and describing the creative environment as “comforting and safe,” a rare space to explore and express without inhibitions. And in terms of its themes, Stone emphasized that Bugonia reflects modern anxieties through a lens that is “fascinating and moving, funny and fucked up, and alive.”