The Making of ‘Bugonia’: Yorgos Lanthimos’ First Call? Emma Stone, of Course
The Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos took an original approach for his latest film by collaborating with Succession writer Will Tracy to remake a Korean cult classic. However, his initial step was familiar: reaching out to his frequent muse.
When Lanthimos first read the script for Bugonia, he immediately recognized two new challenges in his career. Firstly, he would direct a film he had not extensively developed himself. Secondly, he would address a story more explicitly connected to the present-day world than his previous, more 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.”
Right after finishing the script, Lanthimos sent it to Emma Stone, the star and muse of his last three films.
“I read it that same day, and from then on, we were like, let’s do this,” Stone says. “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.”
Author's summary: Yorgos Lanthimos embraces a new creative path with Bugonia, collaborating swiftly with Emma Stone on a present-day story unlike anything in his prior films.