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How Yorgos Lanthimos Transformed Emma Stone's Acting | Acting Breakdown

The Back Focus

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From The Favourite to Poor Things to Kinds of Kindness, and now Bugonia, this video explores how Lanthimos has helped shape Stone into one of the most daring and versatile actors working today.

We break down Emma Stone’s acting techniques, her intense character preparation, behind-the-scenes stories, and what it’s really like working with a filmmaker like Yorgos Lanthimos — known for his absurdist, surreal, and emotionally complex storytelling.

Topics covered:
✅ How Emma Stone prepared for her roles in The Favourite, Poor Things, Kinds of Kindness, and Bugonia
✅ Why Yorgos Lanthimos cast her and kept bringing her back
✅ Acting techniques, rehearsal methods, and how she evolved across these performances
✅ The creative trust and weird energy that fuels their partnership
✅ Love scenes, wigs, corsets, sponge logistics, and dancing behind the scenes
✅ How this partnership compares to classic director/actor duos like Scorsese & De Niro, Tarantino & Jackson, and von Trier & Skarsgård

Whether you’re an actor, filmmaker, or just a film nerd who loves seeing an A-lister get strange, this is a deep dive into Emma Stone’s transformation as an actress through one of the most unique director-actor collaborations of the 21st century.

AMAZON AFFILIATE LINKS

Yorgos Films
Dogtooth - https://amzn.to/4nMpZZv
The Lobster - https://amzn.to/4qMdFvh
The Killing of a Sacred Deer - https://amzn.to/3WFCStw
The Favourite - https://amzn.to/47Gr7rF
Poor Things - https://amzn.to/4qL1jDs
Kinds of Kindness - https://amzn.to/4qIY9Al

Emma Stone Films
La La land - https://amzn.to/3XirmV4
Birdman - https://amzn.to/43ZRR5p
Cruella - https://amzn.to/49HYpcD

Other Films Mentioned
Dogville - https://amzn.to/47P0alL
Dancer in the Dark - https://amzn.to/3LtzJdQ
Breaking the Waves - https://amzn.to/49qqIMP
American Pie Presents: The Book of Love - https://amzn.to/3LuLNvl
The French Connection - https://amzn.to/4884flp
The Hunted - https://amzn.to/4nH5kWQ
The Avengers - https://amzn.to/3JxLPCd
Spider-Man - https://amzn.to/3WKf5Zl
Brüno - https://amzn.to/3WKf4Vh

CHAPTERS
0:00 - Intro
3:00 - The Favourite
12:29 - Poor Things
18:21 - Kinds of Kindness
21:57 - Bugonia

20 Comments

@khazixmondragon 10 months ago

bro is dropping lore in the middle of the video.

@BillTheMiniseries 10 months ago

Love that she chooses projects that challenge her. She's won 2 Oscars at 35, she's rich, she could do Rom Com's forever. Nothing wrong with that, but there is something to be said about an artist at her caliber and at this stage in her career to continue to push herself artistically.

@panoskampo5849 10 months ago

During the press conference for their short film Bleat, she mentioned that taking those roles and playing those characters is what gives meaning into being an actress and what she is enjoying the most in her work.. and she is happy that she reached that point in her career that she can take those roles without hesitation... Also, she worked in Bleat for free. It was a project commisioned by the National Opera of Greece with a limited budget and she participated in this just for the sake of Lanthimos and because she wanted to be a part of it.

@trinaq 10 months ago

I love that Emma Stone is willing to go along with Yorgos Lanthimos' vision, however surreal it may seem. It's made her more versatile as a performer, who isn't afraid to step outside of her comfort zone.

@Taxtherich2 10 months ago

I thought Mark Ruffalo was superb in Poor Things. He deserved an Oscar for that role.

@MatthewHayesFilms 10 months ago

after watching Emma Stone in any yorgos movie, I have the confidence to be the weird little freak I am.

@KarnodAdlhorn 7 months ago

Emma has seemingly become her character in La La Land: Living the dream that actors act for

@FairyListerine 10 months ago

I remember hearing that she had a really hard time making Birdman, that the director made her cry. I say this just because that was as her star was rising. She got an Oscar nom for that role too, but I think she knew then that she wanted to do the art but she didn't want to be miserable doing it.

@sammalla5238 10 months ago

emma can do these weird indie flicks while retaining critical acclaim, lanthimos can garner more interest in his movies with a hollywood A-lister

It's a win-win

@calabrees7 10 months ago

ive never been so intrigued by youtuber lore

@BenKoekblik 9 months ago

Emma is just one of those one in a million kind of characters herself, just a unique person, that in this case decided to be an actress. Its great that her and Yorgos have created some a 'small' space for actually creative, weird, possibly too weird kind of movies in a landscape that is dominated by corporate, pre cooked slop. Hope they stay involved with movies for a long time so people can still watch that kind of art from time to time, in an era where economic incentives and possibly some sort of 'AI' are most likely going to continue to dominate. For me Bugonia was one of the highlights of the year.

@andrewralte4844 10 months ago

She was in Malcolm in the Middle, Superbad, Easy A, House Bunny and Crazy Stupid Love by the time she was 21. She's already offbeat, eclectic and a little bit weird. Love her in SNL. Yorgos kinda perfected that lovely weirdness about her.

@RealmOfWondersOneSixth 10 months ago

Lanthimos found his MUSE- that's how I see it. And who doesn't want to work with Lanthimos multiple times? He is a big name in the Arthouse cinema like Lars von Trier was, or Wes Anderson who also has his favourites in Swinton and Schwarzmann.

@MaryGershwin 10 months ago

Thank you for the part about Emmas hair. It is so weird how obsessed everybody seems to be about hair. Where I am from, cutting off your hair completely short is something most young women do at one point. The cool ones at least. And literally every one I've spoken to about it said they just wanted to know how it is and nobody ever made a fuzz about it.

@Funnylittleman 10 months ago

I know this video was excellent because even though I find Yorgos Lanthimos films obnoxious it still made me feel warmly about him and especially Emma Stone.

@timrob12 10 months ago

Emma Stone is one of these actresses who seems up for everything, as weird as it may be, and that's really positive, because it doesn't tie her to one spefic type of role and opens up various doors for her.

@bradleysmithyoutube 10 months ago

Are we sure Yorgos is not really an alien made of yogurt? Cuz that’s the image his name evokes.

@Lemmelly 10 months ago (edited)

8:52 Wait...wait...it's YOU!! DUUUUUDE you were legit the FIRST channel I ever subscribed to on youtube! I loved watching your videos back in 2006/07, the movie parodies done in your house. No or few props, just talent! Hehe. Coming from a long time fan: glad to see you're still around! 😊😂

@Kaltagstar96 4 months ago

You could legitimately make a movie about the behind the scenes shenanigans of Lanthimos' movies and it would be fascinating. I also love how Emma Stone is just doing all this weird shit because she can, especially because she could likely coast for the rest of her career in rom-coms or in safe, traditional roles. But she prefers going absolutely insane.