Emma Stone Revealed What Made Her ‘So Afraid’ When She Shaved Her Head for Bugonia

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The Academy Award-winning actress has worked with celebrated director Yorgos Lanthimos on several films. Despite their successful partnership and the creation of many acclaimed movies, she recently confessed she was nervous about filming a particular scene in their latest project.

I was absolutely floored by Emma Stone in her new film! She actually shaved her head, on camera, in a single take – saying goodbye to that iconic red hair of hers. And the story is wild! Her character interacts with Jesse Plemons’ character, Teddy, who turns out to be an alien sent to Earth with a pretty destructive mission. Stone recently told Entertainment Weekly about that shaving scene, and honestly, it was so brave. She was really worried about messing it up, and you can feel that vulnerability – it was a powerful moment.

The actress has publicly discussed her decision to shave her head for the movie, and the film Bugonia gained a lot of attention online after promising a special showing for people who are bald or willing to shave their heads to attend.

In the movie, Teddy and his cousin Don (played by Aidan Delbis) kidnap Michelle Fuller, a character played by Stone. They shaved her head believing it would allow her to connect with a spaceship. Stone described how she got through the intense scene, saying she simply focused on remaining completely still. “Stay still. That was it. I was meditating on stay still, just stay still,” she explained.

She shared that she was very nervous about messing up the scene, especially because it was filmed in a single take. She described being in a sort of trance and essentially having to pretend to be lifeless, like ‘playing dead’.

The star of La La Land confessed they didn’t plan for any retakes of the scene. “We only had one shot, so we used four cameras to be absolutely certain we got it,” the actress explained. Thankfully, everything worked out perfectly.

Director Yorgos Lanthimos said it wasn’t hard to convince the actress to shave her head. The decision was already in the script, so he didn’t need to ask her directly. She had a brief moment of nervousness when she first read the scene, but it wasn’t about not wanting to do it. She went ahead with it, and they only had one chance to get the shot. Afterwards, she was very happy with the result, saying she felt liberated and loved the look.

Bugonia Had a Great Reception

Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos have collaborated on five films together, including the short film Bleat and the feature-length movies The Favourite (2018), Poor Things (2023), and Kinds of Kindness (2024). Stone won her second Oscar for her performance in Poor Things, which also received three additional Oscar nominations.

The new thriller comedy, Bugonia, premiered at the Venice International Film Festival and will be released in theaters this Friday. Critics are loving it, giving it a ‘Certified Fresh’ score of 89% based on 148 reviews, while audiences also give it a thumbs up with an 82% rating.

Bugonia hits theaters on Oct. 31.

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2025-10-30 00:06