Acclaimed director Yorgos Lanthimos and his frequent collaborator, actress Emma Stone, graced the Venice Film Festival on Thursday to present their latest film, Bugonia, which is featured in the festival’s prestigious main competition. This highly anticipated film explores pressing societal issues, as Lanthimos emphasized during his press conference earlier that day. Following the screening, the film was met with an impressive ovation lasting 6 minutes and 50 seconds inside the iconic Sala Grande.
In Bugonia, Stone stars alongside a talented ensemble cast that includes Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis, Stavros Halkias, and Alicia Silverstone. This film is a remake of the South Korean cult classic by filmmaker Jang Joon-hwan, titled Save the Green Planet!. The storyline revolves around two conspiracy-obsessed men, portrayed by Plemons and Delbis, who abduct the high-powered CEO (played by Stone) of a major corporation, believing that she is an alien with intentions to annihilate Earth.
Post-screening, the audience’s enthusiasm was palpable, with Lanthimos and his cast taking multiple bows. They exited the venue in a heartwarming display of camaraderie, linking arms as they celebrated their film's reception. In his review, Deadline critic Pete Hammond described Bugonia as “a dizzying, batsh*t-crazy story” that ranks among Lanthimos’s finest works, including Poor Things, The Favourite, Dogtooth, and The Lobster. Each of these films shares a surreal quality with Bugonia, which resonates deeply with today’s climate of misinformation and the rise of conspiracy theories.
This latest collaboration marks the second time Lanthimos and Stone have teamed up for a Venice competition title, following their success with Poor Things in 2023, which won the coveted Golden Lion and earned four Academy Awards, including Best Actress for Stone, as well as two Golden Globes. Their previous projects together also include Kinds of Kindness, set for release in 2024, and the critically acclaimed The Favourite from 2018.
During the press conference, Stone expressed her appreciation for working with Lanthimos, stating, “I love working with Yorgos. I love the material that he’s drawn to, the worlds he wants to explore, and the characters that he’s been generous enough to let me try my hand at.” Lanthimos added a somber note regarding the themes of Bugonia, stating, “Humanity is facing a reckoning very soon, and people need to choose the right path. Otherwise, I don’t know how much time we have with everything that’s happening in the world, including technology, AI, wars, climate change, and the denial of these issues.”
As Bugonia continues to generate buzz at the Venice Film Festival, it is clear that Lanthimos and Stone's collaboration is not only artistically significant but also socially relevant, reflecting the complexities of modern-day challenges.
