‘Poor Things’ director Lanthimos is my muse, says ‘feminist’ Emma Stone

CANNES, France — Emma Stone has won an Oscar working with director Yorgos Lanthimos, but the self-described feminist star on Saturday rejected the suggestion that she is the Greek auteur’s “muse”.

“He’s my muse,” Stone joked, during a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival for “Kinds of Kindness”.

The movie is Stone’s third feature film collaboration with the Greek director, after “The Favourite” and “Poor Things”.

A dark comedy containing three separate stories, it requires each actor to play three discrete characters.

Asked whether she views herself as an activist when picking her roles, Stone replied: “I am a feminist. Whether that’s activism or not, that just is what makes sense to me.”

“I don’t know I’m really the type of actor that’s like, ‘I need to do this film because it has this particular message,’” she added.

“I just find the characters interesting, the worlds interesting and it’s something that I want to explore.”

While Lanthimos and Stone’s two previous efforts together enjoyed mainstream commercial as well as critical success, “Kinds of Kindness” marks a return for the director to his more surreal and experimental early work.

Reviews have been largely favourable, but many have noted that the film will be too subversive for some viewers, and the film was booed by several critics at one press screening attended by AFP.

Jesse Plemons co-stars in the movie, which also features another “Poor Things” alumnus, in Willem Dafoe.

Stone described the atmosphere on set as comparable to a theatre company, with the actors and director having “built-in trust with each other”.

And like in “Poor Things”, Stone appears in graphic scenes of sex and violence in “Kinds of Kindness”.

“I just have extreme comfort, I feel like I can do anything with him,” she said, of Lanthimos.

“I trust him beyond the trust I’ve ever had with any director.”