Why Yorgos Lanthimos initially refused to work with Emma Stone: “The whole film will collapse”
Within the space of a few years, Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone have quickly evolved into one of the most formidable and potent actor/director partnerships in the industry, even if the director flat-out rejected the chance to work with the star when it was first presented.
That seems ludicrous in retrospect, considering the acclaim and adulation that’s greeted their work together so far. Their first collaboration came on the satirical black comedy The Favourite, which recouped its budget more than six times over at the box office.
It also earned Lanthimos Academy Award nominations for ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director’, while Stone was shortlisted in the ‘Best Supporting Actress’ category. When they reunited on Poor Things, the latter went one better by claiming her second Oscar for ‘Best Actress’, and Lanthimos was once again in the running for the two biggest filmmaking trophies on offer.
Absurdist anthology Kinds of Kindness marked their third picture together in quick succession, and they didn’t waste any time carrying on their partnership when their Save the Green Planet! remake Bugonia was announced. That movie hits cinemas in 2025, and including the short film Bleat, they’ll have done five projects together in the space of seven years.
The double act could have started much earlier, though, after Lanthimos revealed that Stone was being considered for a part in The Lobster. Not only that, but it was technically John C Reilly’s fault she didn’t get it, bizarrely enough. The filmmaker confessed to Variety that he “didn’t use her” despite Stone being on his mind, and it was the actor who coerced him into explaining why.
“The reason I didn’t actually go to her is because there’s a lisping character in The Lobster, and I didn’t want her to be that character,” Lanthimos said. “But Emma has a lisp of her own, so I was like, ‘That’s going to be confusing’. If someone who’s not the lisping woman in the script has a lisp, then the whole film will collapse.”
Reilly’s character effectively ruled Stone out of the running, but she didn’t take it personally. Instead, she bided her time in the knowledge that she’d get her chance to work with Lanthimos eventually, which turned out to be an understatement now that they’re almost averaging a new project together on an annual basis.
Lanthimos didn’t specify which part the lisping man inadvertently pulled from Stone’s grasp, but based on the performers who were cast in The Lobster that are around the same age as the 1988-born star, the wisest bet is either Léa Seydoux’s Loner Leader or Jessica Barden’s Nosebleed Woman. On the plus side, they’ve been making up for lost time, having gone out of their way to remain in each other’s orbit ever since The Favourite finally got them up and running.
