Why Emma Stone got emotional before shaving her head for new film

USA Today

3 days ago

Hair today, gone tomorrow.
Emma Stone underwent a dramatic transformation for her latest film "Bugonia," for which she shaved her head on camera. In her September issue cover story interview with Vogue published on Aug. 11, the two-time Oscar winner, 36, raved about the haircut and said there is "no better feeling in the world." She added, "The first shower when you've shaved your head? Oh my God, it's amazing."
Still, Stone told Vogue she burst into tears before filming the scene where she shaved her head because she was thinking about her mom, who lost her hair while battling breast cancer. "She actually did something brave," Stone said. "I'm just shaving my head." According to the actress, her mother's reaction to her "Bugonia" look was to say, "I'm so jealous. I want to shave my head again."
According to Vogue, a scene in "Bugonia" involves Stone's character, a pharmaceutical CEO who is held hostage, having her head shaved by her kidnappers. Her friend Jennifer Lawrence joked to Vogue that she "really didn't want her to shave her head" after having "already lived through the Billie Jean King haircut," referring to Stone's look for the 2017 tennis drama "Battle of the Sexes." But "she looked beautiful" and "pulled it off," Lawrence noted.
Stone previously sparked rumors that she had shaved her head after attending the New York Film Festival in 2024 wearing what appeared to be a wig. She later debuted a pixie cut at January's Golden Globe Awards. Stone told Vogue her hair has been growing back "pretty slowly for how long it's been."
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"Bugonia" is Stone's latest collaboration with director Yorgos Lanthimos, whose last three films have all starred the actress: 2018's "The Favourite," 2023's "Poor Things" and 2024's "Kinds of Kindness." She won her second best actress Oscar for her performance in "Poor Things" and earned a best supporting actress nomination for "The Favourite."
In "Bugonia," "two conspiracy obsessed young men kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth," according to the studio's plot synopsis. The movie is set to premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, where future Oscar contenders are often screened.
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Emma Stone opens up about being a mom: 'The greatest gift'
Elsewhere in her conversation with Vogue, Stone, who shares 4-year-old daughter Louise Jean with her husband Dave McCary, opened up about motherhood. "There's nothing I feel luckier about," she told the outlet. "She's the greatest gift of my life, for sure."
Stone continued that motherhood "changes everything" and "simplifies everything" by making her consider whether a job is worth spending time away from her child. "I feel everything I could possibly feel, because everything has exploded," she shared.
Stone previously gave a sweet shoutout to her daughter in her acceptance speech after her Oscar win for "Poor Things" in 2024. "Most importantly, my daughter, who's going to be 3 in three days and has turned our lives Technicolor," she said. "I love you bigger than the whole sky, my girl."