The Making of ‘Bugonia’: Yorgos Lanthimos’ First Call? Emma Stone, of Course.

The Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos took a fresh direction for his latest film, collaborating with Succession writer Will Tracy to remake a Korean cult classic. His initial move was familiar: reaching out to his frequent collaborator and muse, Emma Stone.

A New Challenge for Lanthimos

When Lanthimos first read the script for Bugonia, he realized he would do two things new to his career: directing a film he hadn’t helped develop and addressing a story more immediately connected to the current world than his typically abstract films.

“Up until this point, I’d read scripts, but I’ve never been so excited immediately afterward that I would say, ‘This is almost ready for me to make just as it is,’” Lanthimos recalls. “To be handed something that was already so great was a tremendous gift.”

Emma Stone’s Immediate Response

Right after finishing the script, Lanthimos sent it to Emma Stone, who had starred in his previous three films. She read it the same day, and they quickly decided to move forward.

“From then on, we were like, let’s do this,” Stone explains. “It was really crazy for me because ever since The Favourite, I’ve seen the projects we’ve done together in very different states of being, where they take years to develop. This was the first time we received a script and were like, ‘Whoa, let’s go make this right away,’ and it basically doesn’t require any process.”

Summary

Yorgos Lanthimos embraced a direct and immediate approach for Bugonia, marking a departure from his usual process by quickly involving Emma Stone and tackling a contemporary story.

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The Hollywood Reporter — 2025-11-08