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She does not watch the films in which she played, and the attention of passers-by and paparazzi seems strange to her. She turns down a role if the character is called “beautiful” or “sex-attractive” and she doesn’t feel like she should be getting huge fees. Meeting with Emma Stone, who evaluates herself and the world in completely different categories.
She seems to be one of those girls who are liked at school. She’s the kind of girl that other girls want to be friends with. She becomes a woman who cannot but charm: she is open, soberly assesses reality and tries to make it easy for everyone around. And now she offers to move so that the Venetian sun does not hit me in the eyes, and is going to treat me to expensive wine. Here, in the restaurant of the Hungaria Hotel on the Lido, where the Venice Film Festival takes place, you can’t order anything else (desperate art deco, tiles, stained glass windows, a dance floor in the center), and I would have completely dispensed with water, but she insists. And she even stamps her black shoe on a flat white sole – my refusal seems so treacherous to her. “I won’t drink alone! And I like to drink wine, ”she admits. And I agree in the secret cynical hope that wine relaxes.
But my hope is unfounded. Emma Stone does not need to relax because she is not tense. She is free, calm, smiling and … changeable: in the course of the conversation she makes faces, playing different people, her heroines and her emotions at different times. Or yesterday, at the premiere of Alejandro González Iñárritu, who opened the Birdman festival, she was in a dark green gauze dress with a revealing neckline, and today she is almost wearing a strict uniform: a black knitted blouse with white stripes along the neck and melange grayish tube trousers … This is her own She defines the transformation ironically: “I dressed up in the scale of a chessboard, but yesterday I was a Dragee Fairy.” As ironic as her change of style, she evaluates her celebrity status, earned by the age of 25. She clearly has a special view of life’s achievements. And, even under the threat of her resentment, I decide to find out what those views are.
“Oscar” external
After graduating from school as an external student, Emma Stone also “mastered” the Academy Award as an external student, becoming one of the youngest Oscar nominees. And she was nominated in the category “Best Supporting Actress” for “Birdman”. This is a dramatic role – an ugly woman who desperately opposes the authority of her father-star and painfully heals the trauma caused by his stardom. And you, our readers, probably already know whether Stone received an Oscar. I envy. V. B.
Psychologies: Do you really not like watching movies with you?
Emma Stone: You know, sometimes they are great films. Here is “Birdman”… And I would like to watch and enjoy such films, and then think about them. From childhood, I got used to thinking seriously about cinema – my dad taught me, he is a terrible cinephile, and we always discussed what we watched. But I’m on the screen… It’s different. Boring, to be honest. Would you like to stare at yourself for two hours?
You are not me, you are an actress, it is natural for you to appreciate your work …
E.S.: Look, I’ve already worked on this job. I have been preparing for films for a long time. I study character, I compare it with literary heroines, I torture directors and screenwriters, I go for consultations to psychologists. At some point, the work must be completed. And wait for the next job.
But you would be pleased. After all, you are talented, you are beautiful and elegant, you have beautiful eyes, no one else has them …
E.S.: … And then watching films with your own participation would be something like, excuse me, masturbation. No, I’m looking for amenities in other zones.
In what?
E.S.: In those where the main thing is not me at all. In normal life, where it doesn’t matter that you become a star.
Read more:
- Moonlight Magic by Woody Allen
What is a normal life for someone who is constantly under the spotlight beam?
E.S.: Normal relationships and maintaining normal reactions. I have lived in Los Angeles since I was 14. In a city where everyone is busy with the show, everyone evaluates each other in terms of prospects for show business, determine success by the degree of your “visibility”. I owe everything to Los Angeles, but three years ago I fled it to New York. Of course, to Andrew (Andrew Garfield – actor, Stone’s partner in The Amazing Spider-Man, her boyfriend. – Approx. ed.), But also because everyone there doesn’t care what you have achieved and how famous you are. And most importantly, people there have values higher than success. There was a guy walking down the street behind me, well, a perfect Hasid. With a camera. I’m in sports pants, in sneakers, dragging a backpack from yoga. And he – oops! – and taking pictures. I told him: “Well, what is it for? It’s not fair after all.” The paparazzi from Los Angeles would have made a scandal to me to provoke aggression for the next colorful picture, or would have fled without answering. And this one: I’m sorry, but Time magazine needs three photos of you on the street. Well, I say: okay, go ahead, click. You see, in New York, normal human contact is possible even with a photographer sent to catch you by surprise. And he may be a Hasid. And to respond to your dissatisfaction in a human way, to explain … These are the amenities I love.
And how not to lose human, as you say, reactions if you are successful?
E.S.: There is a recipe, but not universal. Attention, the correct answer … You must have my parents! Pa-pam! No, really. My parents never brought up my brother and me in the spirit of achieving and having. It is more important for them to “be”. They have always judged us and judge us not by what we have achieved, but by who we are. Dad will never speak in the spirit that it’s great that my fee is increased, he will rather say, for example, about my “A student of easy virtue”: “That scene with imitation of sex turned out funny.” He will not pay attention to my photo shoot in a glossy magazine, but at some point he may say that I am a good daughter. Mom here recently praised me for my friends – and they are entirely civil activists. Which I interpreted to mean that I, from her point of view, know how to find the right people and maintain relationships with them. And this for me, parents know, is the best praise. Parents care about who I am, not how successful I am. I grew up with these kinds of principles, and I will die with them, I hope.
And how did such wonderful, intelligent people allow you to start an acting career at 14?
E.S.: They tried to get me to do something! I’m kidding, of course. Eddie Redmayne told me here that when he decided to become an actor at the age of 16, his financier dad dissuaded him with statistics. And according to statistics, only every hundredth of the actors achieves to live exclusively on professional earnings. You see, acting is already a success! Therefore, I calmly relate to the size of the fees and believe that our Hollywood “excess” is beyond necessity. Well, in our country there is a progressive income tax! I’m not kidding. I am really convinced that the fact that I get money for doing what I love, what is called creativity, is already a privilege. And my parents, yes, they were not against it. You see, I was an obnoxious child, loud, sometimes hysterical. Very loud and deliverable. Perhaps that is why now I try to please everyone and not get it in any case. True, my hysteria was also expressed in the fact that I tried to be funny so that they would not take me seriously. At the age of 8, I had a panic attack. And I got rid of these conditions only thanks to psychotherapy. But when I rehearsed in the children’s theater, where I went from the age of nine, or went on stage, all fears, all uncertainty disappeared. You see, I wanted to be funny, so that they wouldn’t consider me, I was afraid to be myself – suddenly I couldn’t cope. And on stage, I naturally separated from myself. And calmed down. Therefore, my parents realized that acting for me might be the best way out.
But at 14! To Hollywood!
E.S.: Well, firstly, at 15. And I didn’t go alone. Mom temporarily left dad and Spencer, my little brother, to come with me.
Read more:
- Claire Danes: “Now I’m ready to look where it’s scary”
What is the story about the PowerPoint presentation that you supposedly convinced your parents that you really need to go to Hollywood? Mythology?
E.S.: What mythology! I just worry terribly when I need to concentrate, when I need to do something important. And it is more convenient for me to entrust the matter to some kind of medium, an intermediate authority between me and the perceiver. So I made a presentation for parents. Madonna’s song “Hollywood” sounded there and there was a slide montage: what caused the need for my move, what are the possible consequences and results, examples of such decisions – successful child actors were meant … Well, I convinced them. Now I’m thinking: if my child did this, I would never succumb. But our parents always took us seriously. And my mom and I came to Los Angeles. I left school and then graduated from it with teachers “at home”, externally.
Was it not tempting to explain the successes by being chosen?.. A guardian angel, for example?
E.S.: I don’t laugh just because I’m afraid to offend you. But I am completely on the side of Woody Allen, for whom I played in “Moonlight Magic”. And this is a comedy, and the magic there is equal to charlatanism. Charming, but quackery. Even suggesting such a thing is ridiculous to me. Actually, as well as the fact that what happened is solely my merit. After all, when we arrived in Los Angeles, they didn’t offer me anything at all – no tests, nothing. And I, almost in protest, dyed – I’m a natural blonde – a brunette. And – hop! – the first role appeared. As if the color of the hair changes everything – my abilities and the degree of relevance! People are so limited at times… And then, at the photo test for Super Peppers, director Judd Apatow walked into the studio, looked at me, dispassionately instructed: “Dye her red,” and immediately left. I became red. And my victories began!
Well, isn’t it mystical?
E.S.: No, an image comedy! The image finally matched with me – I am red-haired by nature, and not by hair color. I’m not afraid to be a clown. And I dream of becoming a mime someday. Or play a role without words.
It is known about this tattoo of yours on your wrist – that your mother has the same one and it marks her healing from cancer … Didn’t protect her kind?
E.S.: A trace of bird paws … Mom loves this song by The Beatles – “Blackbird”. When she fell ill, 6 years ago, with breast cancer, I promised myself that I would ask Paul McCartney for a drawing by his hand, such traces, and give it to her. There was a remission, I wrote to McCartney, he, the kindest person, sent a drawing … And when, after another 2 years, my mother was already completely healthy, we made these identical tattoos – a pair of bird tracks according to McCartney’s sketch. This is not a guardian. This is a sign of our indestructible connection under any circumstances … Although, perhaps, such a connection is mystical in itself. Kidding.
You are clearly at the peak of your career right now. It turns out that many important things in your life have already happened by the age of 25. What would you like now: a short but super-demanded life of a star or a long life as a character actress?
E.S.: Why, actors have no future! I mean, you finish filming and you never know if they will invite you again. And what’s the business plan? I definitely don’t have it. And then, plans require the development of priorities. And I have … You see, in life for me everything is equal. That’s when I hosted the Oscar ceremony, everyone told me: Emma, this is such an honor! Evidence of such recognition! And I… Going on the Oscar stage, I felt exactly the same as when I went on stage in our school theater at the age of 12: delight and responsibility. True, then you look from the Oscar stage into the audience and … Christmas trees, this is Meryl Streep! But all the same: I’m sure everything is the same in life. And besides, this principle of early rock stars is close to me: live fast, die young. Die in the sense that it doesn’t matter that then you won’t be, say, filmed. But you caught the energy of life, lived to the fullest, played everything you wanted, made films that, maybe, changed someone. So yes, I choose a big career, high peaks, dinners in night diners after filming, and completely following what Bill Murray, my favorite actor, said: “Life is a game, and it’s more fun if you play your game, not by someone else’s rules.” . So don’t be discouraged, relax and play.” Do you know what Murray is doing in New York? He runs up to strangers from behind, closes their eyes with his hands, and when they turn around and see him, he says caustically: “Ha ha, no one will believe you anyway!” And quickly leaves. That’s what I understand!
Her three decisive actions
Found a job
“Well, it was impossible to sit on the parent’s neck!” – this is how Emma explains why she ended up at the Three Dogs Dog Bakery as a baker’s assistant. After arriving in Los Angeles, she actively went to auditions, failed everywhere, and the agent found with difficulty stopped even calling her in the end … “Three Dogs” remained my only real job, ”Stone now smiles, not without nostalgia.
Engaged in vocals
As you know, Emma was a loud and noisy child. But it’s probably still a gentle wording. As a baby, Emma screamed so loudly that knots formed on her vocal cords, due to which she now has a pleasantly hoarse voice. Because of them, Emma periodically loses her voice. But she decided to deal with this problem in the most decisive way: in November she made her debut on Broadway in the musical Cabaret.
Converted success
Noticing one day in a restaurant that they were being filmed, Emma and her boyfriend Andrew Garfield themselves arranged a photo shoot on a New York street. In a disguised form, but with clear posters: “We do not need attention. But these wonderful organizations are very good.” And they gave a list of Internet sites for charitable foundations dealing with education, autism and support for cancer patients. V. B.