Now Lanthimos once again teams up with stars Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons for his new thriller Bugonia. This week the three sat down for a chat with The Phuket News about the film which sees Stone play a ruthless businesswoman that Plemons’ character believes is an alien that needs to be stopped.
“Well, I guess, you know, when I read it, it was just like a very entertaining, exciting, interesting, complex read,” says Lanthimos when he is asked what resonated with him when he first read the film’s screenplay.
“It got me really excited imagining what it would be like as a film,” he continues. “And I mean, I’m not very analytical in the beginning, like when I read something and I just instinctively know that there’s much more to it than what’s on the surface if I’m interested in it.
“You know, having made the film and, you know, now talking about it, you know, I understand a lot more of its themes and, you know, how it feels relevant today, even more than when I read it three years ago. The state of the world, you know, how it mirrors that through these characters in this situation.”
Stone listens intently as Lanthimos answers and then adds: “I loved this script from the first moment I read it. Jesse and I were kind of talking earlier today about what it is when you read a script or what you respond to and how you feel. And I think you always know within the first like 20 or 30 pages, like you do with a book, if this is a voice or a feeling that speaks to you. And not knowing, you know, obviously how it was all going to unfold.
“I hadn’t seen Save the Green Planet! I thought it was so interesting the way my mind sort of went back and forth about if this is true or not, if she is, you know, what they say she is or not. And what Teddy was going to do, the amount of violence he would reach or the conclusions that he would come to as it went on. And it was just twisty and surprising and emotional and funny. And yeah, I just was immediately in.”
Explosion of circumstances
With the screenplay being one that captures the audience from the get go it seems that it was the same for the film’s stars.
“There was just an immediate like, wow, I don’t think an opportunity like this is going to come around again in this way,” agrees Plemons.
“It was like meeting this character at this time in my life with the world, you know, the way that it is. There’s something that just felt like really, really exciting. And so I kind of had to work through all of that and sort of let go of those own personal attachments to it and then just try and be there for the actual scenes and throw all of that away.
“But yeah,” he adds. “I mean, the thing that was both challenging and really exhilarating was the fact that Teddy wears every feeling and emotion on his sleeve and you never have any question of how he’s feeling or thinking about any situation, which I really respected, especially nowadays where it feels like so many of us, myself included, you know, we’re just trying to sort of hang on to this attitude of, like, no, I’m keeping it all together.
“So yeah, that was really exciting and challenging. And then the third act of the movie was just like an explosion of circumstances.”
Stone admits that there were also challenging elements for her with Bugonia as well.
“For me, I think the biggest challenge was trying to thread what it would be,” she says after thinking for a moment. “It wasn’t something that I had ever really - not that I haven’t thought about people watching the film, but you really don’t want to think about that very much, you know, as an actor at least, because then, you know, you’re watching yourself more.
“And still with this, the same, but it was interesting because this felt very outside in, in a new way that was like, what will people think when they watch it for the second time?
“That was a new experience for me,” she adds. “And that was challenging sort of to think about what that experience would be. You know, like after having read the script, what would I think reading it from the beginning the second time, and how it was all being laid out and then how to lace that in with, you know, her corporate speak and her flickers of humanity and, you know, what she’s - that was probably the biggest balanced challenge for me, I think.”
Bugonia is currently screening in Phuket and is rated 18.
David Griffiths has been working as a film journalist for over 25 years. That time has seen him work in radio, television and in print. He currently hosts a film podcast called The Popcorn Conspiracy. He is also a Rotten Tomatoes accredited reviewer and is an alternate judge for the Golden Globes Awards. You can follow him at Facebook: SubcultureEntertainmentAus.