Extended transcript: Emma Stone
In less than a decade, Emma Stone has risen from a familiar face in romantic comedies like “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” and “Crazy, Stupid, Love” and a superhero’s girlfriend (in “The Amazing Spider-Man”), to a two-time Oscar-nominated star (for “Birdman” and this year’s “La La Land”). With her tantalizing beauty, the gifted actress burns the screen with emotional intensity and easily commandeers the camera (and the audience’s) attention away from more experienced co-stars; they are no match.
In this expanded interview the Oscar-nominated star of “La La Land” talks with “Sunday Morning” correspondent Lee Cowan about anxiety, auditions, her love of Chaplin, and her special bond with frequent costar Ryan Gosling.
COWAN: I know you’ve talked about this a gazillion times. You’ve been doing so much press for this. But as improbabilities go in the movie business, this one has got to rank near the top of the list - this movie even being made in the first place, right?
STONE: Damien would probably be a better person to answer that question (laughs) because he was the one that was trying to get it made for, I think, six years. Once I got involved and Ryan was involved, we were in the lucky phase of just getting to go along with the motion of the movie. But Damien definitely fought hard to make this.
COWAN: Did it feel like because it was sort of such a long shot that it was a gamble for you?
STONE: I guess everything is risky in a way. But you know, it’s not like a life-or-death risk. It’s a creative, fun risk hopefully. (laughs) So, worst-case scenario, something’s a complete failure. And then you keep your head down, and try to keep working, and move on.
I always think with things like that, gambles are the most fun because it’s part of being an actor or being a creative person. It’s risky only in the vulnerable sense. And then outside of that, no one gets too hurt by it.
COWAN: You were struck, it sounds like, between the fact that it was sort of a throwback but it’s also very contemporary. And it’s that blend that you found interesting.
STONE: Yeah. I loved the idea that it was set in modern day, that the touches felt very modern, but the feeling of the film was this anamorphic sort of Cinemascope celebration of the musicals that Damien and Ryan and I, and many, many people, have fallen in love with through the decades.
The combination of it was definitely a tricky balance, but [also] what made it so inspiring. I think if it had been set in the ‘50s or something, it wouldn’t have been quite as intriguing. The marriage of those two time periods was what was so fun about it.
COWAN: But it was kind of the love story that got you hooked first, right?
STONE: Yeah. And the ending.
COWAN: Before the dancing and the singing?
STONE: Yeah. I mean, I got through the whole script, and I thought it was beautiful. But getting to the ending. ‘Cause my favorite film of all time, which I’ve talked about probably way too frequently (laughs), is “City Lights.” And that ending -- you know, you watch the movie, and you appreciate so much what’s happening in the story. But once you get to the ending, it becomes, at least for me, your favorite movie just because it all led to this beautiful culmination. And that’s what really got me.
COWAN: Obviously the challenges of this were the dancing and the singing. And it all came to you when you were doing “Cabaret.” So you certainly had a certain level of confidence. But was that challenge of having to do all that kind of what inspired you to do it? It was pushing yourself a little bit to see if you could pull this off?
STONE: Yeah. I loved the idea of getting to dive in to rehearse something like this. Because it’s so rare for a movie that you have months of a rehearsal process. There’s always an opportunity to learn new skills as an actor -- the film I did after this [”Battle of the Sexes,” in which she plays Billie Jean King], I was learning to play tennis, gaining a bunch of muscle. There’s all kinds of things that I’ve gotten to learn for parts. But with this, to tap dance, and ballroom dance, and sing each day, work on the character stuff with Damien, and for Ryan playing piano, it was really a special, long process that we got to embark on. And that alone was a huge draw, that rehearsal period.
COWAN: I read that you and Ryan at first, when you were learning the ballroom stuff, you weren’t dancing with each other; you were dancing with your teaching partner. So what was it like when you and Ryan actually got a chance to dance together for the first time?
STONE: It was a little messy! (laughs) As you would expect. Because we were dancing ballroom dancing pros. And then we got into the firm, learned embrace of each other. It’s a tricky thing to learn to ballroom dance. But it was fun because I’ve known him for such a long time. And it made us laugh more than anything. So you know, that makes it easier.
COWAN: So much has been written and said about the chemistry that you guys have together. But you said it’s less chemistry and more just a friendship. That you like working together in part because you know each other so well.
STONE: Yeah, I think there’s just, like, a sense of ease with him and working with him. There is a natural rhythm that we fell into right away in our first audition together. And we’ve always improvised. We’ve had the opportunity to improvise in each of the films we’ve done. And that adds something to your connection as actors.
COWAN: Did you improvise in “La La Land”?
STONE: Yeah, we got to improvise sometimes.
COWAN: Like what? What was improvised?
STONE: More than anything, it was, because we had those three months, we would sit with Damien and we would improvise scenes together. And Damien would kind of write out what we were coming up with. So it was this sort of, you know, three-person collaboration on how some of those scenes would come together.
Like the fight scene, or when my character goes back to Nevada and decides to give up in that moment. So, yeah, we were just sort of finding stuff all together, which was really such a nice opportunity when writers or directors are open to that.
COWAN: So you obviously had the script. But then you just kept sort of reshaping it and remolding it?
STONE: During the rehearsal process, yeah. A bit.
COWAN: So when you did the dancing in the stars scene, did you have to wear a harness? Was this like a Spider-man kind of harness?
STONE: It was. I felt expert-level in that scene. (laughs) That was the one time I think ever on set that I felt cocky. (laughs)
COWAN: Just because of all the Spider-man? “I got the harness”?
STONE: Yeah. I was like, “Oh, I’ve been here before. (laughs) I can do a little flip.” Yeah, that was one part I was like, “I got this, you guys. Don’t worry. (laughs) Let me walk you through this.”
COWAN: ‘Cause most of these things, like the scene up at Griffith Park, these were all one-take kind of situations, right?
STONE: Yeah.
COWAN: As the sun is going down and you’re missing that perfect opportunity. You had to nail it. Otherwise that was it, right? Pretty much?
STONE: Pretty much. (laughs)
COWAN: No pressure!
STONE: Yeah. I mean, the great thing about that was because we had practiced for such a long time and we had gone up to Griffith on the hill and everything, it was, like, four months in by the time we were doing that. So the adrenaline of it, if you’ve been practicing something for a very long time and it’s finally game time, it’s exciting.
COWAN: So the prep time for this as opposed to, like, “Birdman,” which is similar in a lot of ways --
STONE: “Birdman” was three weeks, though. This is three months. And even for “Cabaret,” I rehearsed for six weeks. So this was much longer than I’ve ever had, like, a concentrated rehearsal period on a project. And it was really fantastic because we were able to nail so much down in rehearsal that by the time we were shooting, because we had to move so quickly to accomplish all of it, it just sort of was coasting along. I wish everything could be like that.
COWAN: Did you watch a lot of Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers movies as you were going this process just to figure out how it’s supposed to look?
STONE: Yeah. I mean, “Top Hat” was huge for us. [The number] “Isn’t It a Lovely Day (to Be Caught in the Rain)“ was a big inspiration for the duet on the hill. That kind of tension between the two of them and coming together against their will. Obviously I would never even jokingly suggest that we’re anything like Fred and Ginger. (laughs) But that sort of feeling of the energy between them emotionally was something we were inspired by.
To watch Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dance to “Isn’t It a Lovely Day (to Be Caught in the Rain)“ from “Top Hat” (1935), click on the video player below, or click here:
To watch Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone dance to “A Lovely Night” in “La La Land,” click on the video player below, or click here:
COWAN: Probably gave you a whole new appreciation for what they must have gone through. ‘Cause I’m sure they didn’t have three or four months to set up those films, right?
STONE: Oh my God. You watch “Singin’ in the Rain” and “Top Hat” and are practicing tap dancing and ballroom dancing each day. And you just realize the stuff they were doing in one shot in the ‘40s and ‘50s -- and Chaplin even in the films that I love of him. The things that these people were doing were unparalleled. It’s phenomenal. The fact that Debbie Reynolds learned to dance for “Singin’ in the Rain” is absolutely mind-blowing. The level she got to, she was 19 years old and dancing with Gene Kelly. I mean, I just can’t even imagine.
COWAN: What was it about Chaplin that you like so much?
STONE: Everything. Everything. Yeah. Well, I love that he --
COWAN: Just the physical aspect of it?
STONE: No, everything. I mean, he was writing, and directing, and producing, and casting, and writing songs. He was so in control of the process. And then he was so physically talented. And what you can see in his face. That’s an inarguable fact, that he’s one of the greatest of all time.
I had a friend that was in film school when I was 14 or 15 that was watching these and kindly suggested that I check this out. And so I saw “City Lights” and then “Modern Times,” I don’t know if you remember that roller skate scene where he’s right at the edge of a second story. I mean, it’s just unbelievable. Just sheer physical talent. He’s like a stunt person, and a comedian, and a heartbreaking actor.
COWAN: Is that one of those things that made you want to get into the business, watching him?
STONE: I think watching films that combined -- I mean, of course, watching Charlie Chaplin, it’s not like I could watch him and go, “Oh, that’s exactly (laughs) what I want to do.” I could never be Charlie Chaplin. But the films that were made by people like him, or Gene Wilder, or John Candy (laughs), the people that inspired me so much were the people that were able to combine humor with heartbreak so beautifully and fluidly. Those films I think were what inspired me to want to come to L.A. and audition for movies. Because before that, I really wanted to do musical theatre and didn’t have the chops for it really. (laughs)
COWAN: Which is odd now, looking back.
STONE: Yeah, I know. It’s a strange thing to think about now. But the great thing about “La La Land” is, it kind of has all of those elements of things that I truly love and have loved since I was a kid. I’ve always loved to sing and dance, but the caliber of my talent in those areas obviously is not nearing Patti LuPone or Sutton Foster.
And a great joy of “La La Land” was the naturalism -- Damien wanted it to feel kind of raw and not polished or super technical. So then there’s some humor and some heartbreak. It’s kind of like the dream.
COWAN: You’d said once that it was harder to change the mood in a drama than it is in a comedy because comedy you can do your shtick. You can make your joke and move on. But if you’re really trying to change something in a dramatic scene, you have to go deeper. And that’s in a lot of ways harder to make that shift.
STONE: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, for me at least. I know a lot of actors that are the other way around.
COWAN: You’d said that in a lot of ways “La La Land” sort of helped you re-fall in love with the romantic notion of Hollywood and this town. Had you fallen out of love with that notion a little bit?
STONE: I don’t know that I ever fell in love [with] that notion.
COWAN: Really?
STONE: I moved. And I so much wanted to make it. (laughs) No, but also I didn’t have the most specific kind of outline of what I wanted.
COWAN: So you never thought about winning an Oscar, or winning a SAG Award?
STONE: Oh, I’m sure I did when I was 10 or 11, and being idealistic and, like, stars-in-my-eyes kid. But I don’t think that that was ever a notion that I legitimately thought was a true possibility.
COWAN: Once you got here, it was just getting a job and getting the next job?
STONE: It was auditioning for sitcoms. And, you know, I did a reality search competition, which ended up being such an incredibly fortunate turning point in my life. (laughs) I mean, I met my manager who’s my manager to this day. And so many friends that I still have. But I just sort of was going with what things came to me because that, of course, is what you need to do. Or at least in my lane, that’s what I needed to do at the time.
COWAN: So how has it made you sort of circle back and look at Hollywood in that romantic way again?
STONE: It was interesting, too, ‘cause I moved to New York eight years ago. And New York would not know that I live there.
COWAN: ‘Cause you’re never there?
STONE: They think that I’m lying! (laughs) ‘Cause I’m never there. I never call. (laughs) But I’m a very, very bad partner to New York. But coming back here, I think because so many of the people I love are here and I’m older now, I can see that the beauty of any city is really the people within it and the people that you’re close to. But the notion also of Los Angeles being the place that did make dreams come true in my life, I did move here and I was given this great gift of getting to do what I love for a living by this city.
And at the same time, I have seen people who love it so much and who work so hard and have so much talent that haven’t had the opportunities that I’ve had, which is incredibly confusing and difficult to wrap your head around why one person would get lucky in that way and a different person would have a different experience of it.
This city has two very distinct sides which I think the movie does reference. But yeah. I felt a sense of appreciation at the luck that I was able to find in this place.
COWAN: Well, it’s got to be more than just luck. I mean, there was a drive and a determination, it sounds like, that you had that you just weren’t gonna let this not happen. Or you weren’t going to at least give it 110% of everything you had to make it happen.
STONE: Well, I think that that’s a combination of factors. At 15 when I asked my parents to move to Los Angeles, they said yes. They were able to support me in doing that. That’s not the reality for, I would say, probably the majority of people. And without that opportunity, without parents like that [who] had that faith, a 15-year-old who has a very different outlook on the world than maybe a 28-year-old, or a 48-year-old, you know? To go and accomplish a dream at 15, it doesn’t feel like you have all that much to lose because you’re in high school. You’re being home schooled. You get to kind of go for it in a different way. Your parents are still in charge. So that sort of blind optimism and faith from them was what – so, it is luck! (laughs)
COWAN: You had said that your parents, they parented you was “reins out.” And then they would only sort of rein you in when you screwed up.
STONE: Yeah.
COWAN: That they started out with that sense of, “Okay, here you go. Hang yourself if you want.”
STONE: It was, (laughs) yeah, exactly. Really --
COWAN: That’s amazing.
STONE: It was incredible. It was incredible, I think, for my brother, too, in the sense that he’s just, if you feel like your parents respect your decision-making and that they give you the benefit of the doubt. you’re innocent until proven guilty. (laughs) There was nothing for me to rebel against because I wasn’t being treated like -- and they definitely didn’t make me feel like an adult; I was still very much the kid. But it was this really amazing opportunity to make my own decisions, and I felt very listened to.
COWAN: Did you feel like it was a tough sell?
STONE: Going to L.A.?
COWAN: Yeah.
STONE: My dad instantly said yes. And my mom was like, “Whoa, whoa, (laughs) whoa, whoa. We’re gonna go in another room and have a discussion. And we’re probably not gonna get back to you for a couple of weeks.” (laughs) And my dad was like, “Sure, yep, yes.” My dad started a company in his 20s. He’s got a “Go get ‘em” kind of thing. And I think he was inspired by the passion he saw. And my mom lost her dad at a very young age, and has this sort of belief system of, you know, “If there’s something that you want to do, if there’s something that means a lot to you, do it now.”
COWAN: Don’t wait.
STONE: “Life is over in the blink of an eye, and you never know when. And [not] to wait, if you have the opportunity, if you’re able to do it.” Of course, some things -- this is so very personal. I could never speak for everyone else. There are some things that have to wait and that can’t just happen right now. I realize that it’s an incredibly fortunate thing that unfolded in my life.
COWAN: Did you have a backup plan?
STONE: No, but I was 15! (laughs) Again, this is that kind of insanity of a 15-year-old. I think at that point knowing I was going to be home schooled -- and I had been home schooled for 7th and 8th grade. So I had an experience of that. Knowing that you could do the curriculum and eventually get into college, so there were a few years until I needed to apply to college. So there was at least that window where I still could’ve gone down that road. And ultimately didn’t. But everybody should. (laughs)
COWAN: Well, it --
STONE: There is no should. (laughs) I won’t should all over myself. (sighs)
COWAN: Was there a part of you that missed some of those experiences in school?
STONE: I didn’t think I did until I turned 22. I was like, “Wow, I got out of high school and all the drama of high school. I got to skip the college experience and be making things that I love.” And then all of a sudden, everybody that I had grown up with graduated from college. And I think it was the first time I really had a sense of the true passage of time, that that time was just gone. That was completely over. Because I moved so young and felt like a little adult so young, because I was out there slugging along and working since I was 17, I didn’t have a concept really of that sort of high school and college feeling. And then, I was like, “Oh, they’re all so much more grown up than me. They’re all college graduates. (laughs) And I can’t go back.”
COWAN: Did you really feel that way?
STONE: Yeah. I had about a year of [being] really hard on myself for, like, “I’m not an educated person. I didn’t take that path.” And then I realized I took my path. This was my story. This was how my story went. But it was really strange.
It hit me right over the head. My childhood best friend went to get her master’s. And I was like, “She’s gonna have a master’s. She’s such a grownup. (laughs) She’s so smart.” I was like, “I got my GED.” And I love to learn. And I’m always curious and seeking things out. But, you know, I’m not an “educated person.”
COWAN: But you seem like a bit of an older soul, though.
STONE: Yeah. But, you know, there’s no paper to go with that! (laughs)
COWAN: What were those early auditions when you first came here at 15? The movie obviously points to how horrible they can be. But horrible isn’t even the right word. Soul-crushing might be a better word (laughs) for some of these, right? I mean, they were just awful.
STONE: Yeah, it can be, definitely. It’s sort of the nature of the beast. It’s this strange sort of combination of a job interview, and a first date, and a break-up (laughs) on a daily basis. Like, a combined feeling of those three things.
COWAN: Like everything that could impact your life in one way or another.
STONE: Totally.
COWAN: The way you look, the way you sound, and how you --
STONE: Everything. Like, you walk into a room, and this could be the next seven years of your life. And you could buy a house. And you can travel. You’re just gonna be -- then, “Oh wait. Never mind.” Okay, break-up. It’s over. It’s never happening. Okay, I shouldn’t have built that up. (laughs) Next day, “Are you the one? Are you the one?” No. Gone. Wow, you really weren’t the one. And you yelled at me! (laughs)
STONE: It’s a very interesting kind of emotional journey. One of my friends who’s an actor, she told me that they put a heart monitor on, they did some test on actors that were doing a play every night. And their heart rate was akin to someone who’s going through a car crash, on a nightly basis.
COWAN: Really?
STONE: Because you have to get yourself to a place of, like, hysteria.
COWAN: Fear?
STONE: Your body doesn’t know sometimes that it’s not real. So that sort of heightened sense of feeling in an audition room which is, you know, like shooting a scene on crack (laughs) because there’s the nerves of a test-taking mentality. It’s a very strange process. And it’s so unlike making a film. I wish audition processes were different, and for some directors they are. They realize that it’s just not even a fair test of a person, to walk in, put them on camera, it feels so different than it does on the day.
COWAN: But you can’t ever, as much as you want something like this, you can’t ever prepare for that level of rejection really, right? I mean, you just sort of have to get a thick skin, I guess, and know that it’s not personal?
STONE: Someone asked me this question five years ago. And it’s one of my favorite questions ever, which was, “How do you keep your skin thin?” Because you have to have a thin skin. As a creative person, you have to. You can’t get a thick skin. Those people that have hardened to rejection or hardened to life in general, it’s pretty hard to feel them. You know, to look at their eyes on screen and feel them. I guess that’s specifically talking about actors, but I think that’s probably [true] in general. You want to keep your skin thin.
I’ve realized more and more that from the very beginning the only way to get through that is the people around you, the people that do not care whether you are the most (laughs) celebrated actor of all time, Meryl Streep, or, you know, working at the dog bakery, or doing anything.
[Editor’s note: “Dog bakery”?]
STONE: I mean, it doesn’t matter what you do. It matters who you are. And I think that realization that I have been so deeply, profoundly lucky to have friends in my life that have always just loved me exactly as I am no matter what time period I’m in. That’s the only way I’ve gotten through it.
COWAN: Well, listening to you talk, you’ve been pretty open about the anxiety that you had growing up when you were younger.
STONE: Oh, I still have it. (laughs)
COWAN: Do you still have panic attacks now?
STONE: Not as acutely as when I was a kid, because now I understand it a bit more. But yeah. No, I still get -- all my synapses flood. (laughs) I definitely get a flooding sensation.
COWAN: But when you were a kid, I mean, this wasn’t, like, teen angst. This was serious, right? I mean, it was debilitating.
STONE: It wasn’t angst. Yeah, it was a disorder. (laughs)
COWAN: Like, from what? Where was it coming from?
STONE: I mean, it’s probably partially just wiring, just sensitivity, being a sensitive person. I mean, it was basically since I was a baby. So I think just a predisposition and, I don’t know, a combination of factors.
COWAN: But I think people would think if you’re anxious, the last thing you’d do is go up on stage or do a film and have everybody looking at you. If you’re an anxious person, that would be the one thing it seems like you would avoid. (laughs)
STONE: Yeah. But, I mean, there are really shy people -- to me Beyonce seems pretty shy. And yet Sasha Fierce is a badass! (laughs) There is something to the fact that when you’re on stage or when you’re playing someone else, you’re able to transmute all the things inside you that maybe get a bit blocked by the wall of shyness, or the wall of anxiety, or [by] overthinking. They sort of fall away in that moment and channeled into something else.
COWAN: ‘Cause being on stage has to take all of your attention.
STONE: It forces you into the present. And, you know, that’s anxiety’s kryptonite. So (laughs) if you’re present, you won’t be anxious. It’s all about past and future with that.
COWAN: ‘Cause you’re not having that inner dialogue in your head of, “Am I good enough?”
STONE: If you’re truly in it, there is no inner dialogue. You’re getting to sort of be free while lightly steering something. It’s an incredible feeling when you’re really in that.
And that’s not obviously possible all the time. There are some days where I just am dissolving into a puddle of, “I don’t know what the hell I did with that scene. I clearly ruined the movie. We can’t ever go back. That’s forever. (laughs) Good God!” You know, that’s definitely not always the case.
COWAN: Was there a time or a moment that you remember that this clicked for you? When you had that moment on stage, or in front of a camera, that it was all coming together and you were hitting it? Do you remember when that first happened that made you think --
STONE: I mean, in my --
COWAN: It’s kind of a stupid question, but some --
STONE: It’s not.
COWAN: People have moments.
STONE: No, it’s not. I mean, I was put in my first grade play. And that was the first time I had ever been on stage. And I did a little song and dance. And I just remember it feeling like so much fun and so special. And I thought back about it. And I wondered if it was the feeling of being on stage or if it was acting. And then I remember doing the spelling bee the next year, being up on stage, and having to be perfect. You know, I love spelling.
COWAN: You’re a champion, right?
STONE: I did win the second grade spelling bee. Yes, I did! (laughs) Yeah. I think the final word was “microfinance”, which is really just those two words combined. But that didn’t feel good. And I was like, “Oh, no. So it’s not standing up on a stage and just doing anything.” That perfection element gets me, I think, probably because of my kind of anxious nature. That perfectionism. Anything that can be perfect is very damaging (laughs) for my psyche.
And the great thing about acting and singing and dancing is, it really can’t be perfect. It’s such a subjective thing.
COWAN: There’s no single right way.
STONE: There’s no right way. There’s no measurement system. That’s why, you know, art competitions are a little confusing (laughs) to me. I mean, they’re lovely, but so many people are affected by different people and different things in such different ways. And yeah, it’s immeasurable.
COWAN: Did you go into another spelling bee after your second grade? Did you go third grade?
STONE: No. But I still have my spelling bee trophy in my apartment.
COWAN: Do you really?
STONE: Yeah, it’s, like, a little one of those that you probably get at Michael’s or something with a little bee on top, [and] a nameplate.
COWAN: Is that gonna stay next to your SAG Award and all your other --
STONE: That’s next to my Kids Choice award. That’s the only ones I have in my apartment. (laughs) The orange blimp and the spelling bee trophy!
I grew up watching the Kids Choice Awards and people getting slimed. And I was just like, “Can you imagine having a blimp?” (laughs) And then I got a blimp, and I was like, “Well, that’s it for me. I’m signing off. Back to Arizona I go.” (laughs)
COWAN: So “Easy A” was the first real starring role that you had, right? What was it like to have to carry that? You were how old when you did that?
STONE: 20. It was complex. I think timing-wise, it was complicated for me just because there was a lot happening within my family.
COWAN: That’s when your mom was sick, right?
STONE: My mom was sick. And she’s all good now. But at that time, I think it was just, never having been in every single frame of a film before, and being 20 years old, and carrying so much [of] that story, and doing the best that I could, and not really being able to balance both of those worlds.
I was pretty flooded during that time period. But the director, Will Gluck, I hold him so dearly close to my heart because he was just the greatest partner I could have asked for. We were two sparring brother, sister peas on the film. I mean, he pushed me all the time, and made fun of me, and just made it -- he got me through it.
COWAN: Do you like being pushed?
STONE: Yeah. I’d rather be pushed than coddled (laughs) any day of the week.
COWAN: Because?
STONE: Because anything that feels, I don’t know, false in that -- I don’t know. I’d rather someone ask me to go deeper, and try harder, and be better. One of the coolest things about doing this job is growing, and changing with everything, and never making the same decision twice because you’ve learned so much from the last project. I guess that’s like in life. You keep moving through, and you hopefully learn from your mistakes and just get better and better all the time.
COWAN: And “Birdman,” you had said, was an experience like that.
STONE: Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
COWAN: You’d done pretty well.
STONE: Yeah. And Alejendro [Iñárritu] is, like, one of my favorites as well. (laughs) He really pushed all of us in a huge way. And it was infuriating in some moments until it wasn’t. And then it was super liberating. And I learned so much from that short experience.
COWAN: ‘Cause you got what he was trying to get out of you?
STONE: Well, he was trying to get me to stop trying to please him. I kept looking to him for approval. And then finally when it broke -- and he’s never said this. I mean, I’ll say this in an interview. And I don’t know if you’ll put this in here, if he sees it. But he’s never said this to me -- but once I stopped, once my mind flipped and I was like, “Oh God. F*** it. You know, I’m just gonna do whatever I want.” I got up there, and I went, and did the scene. And he just stopped and goes, “That was beautiful.” (laughs)
You know, he knew instantly that I was not looking for his approval anymore. And the character in that moment was no longer looking for approval, either. And you could just feel the shift. And I was like, “Oh! Oh, I don’t need to people please my way through it.” (laughs) You know, it was a huge life lesson on top of being --
COWAN: What scene was that?
STONE: The rooftop scene, with Edward [Norton].
COWAN: That’s fascinating. How did you balance doing “Easy A” and your mom being sick? Because obviously your mom’s incredibly important to you. Finally after working so hard, you get this chance. It couldn’t have come in a lot of ways at a worse time.
STONE: Yeah.
COWAN: Like, “Thanks, God!”
STONE: She forced me to do it. (laughs)
COWAN: Did she?
STONE: Yeah. She forced me to work through it. I said I wanted to not do it, and she was very dramatic about it. She was like, “Well, you know, if you’re not doing your thing, I’m not doing my thing.” And I was like, “Oh, you know how to get me. Wow. What a rascal.” (laughs) Unbelievable. So I did. And she did.
COWAN: And you succeeded, and so did she.
STONE: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
COWAN: That’s awesome.
STONE: There’s no crying in baseball, my friends. (laughs) And we’re playing baseball.
COWAN: I mean, that was an incredibly aggressive -- a triple-negative is awful, but --
STONE: Yeah, it was. It’s a bitch, that one. F*** cancer.
COWAN: Yeah. “Crazy, Stupid, Love.” I have to ask you this ‘cause I know it’s so bizarre. The Lauren Bacall impersonation of the coffee commercial.
STONE: Have you seen it?
COWAN: Yes. I remember that coffee commercial. Sadly, I’m old enough.
STONE: It’s so good. (laughs) It’s so good.
COWAN: But why? Why did you, out of--
STONE: I had seen it. I mean, I want to say (laughs) it was probably Woody Harrelson, ‘cause Woody on “Zombieland” started calling me Betty, which was Lauren Bacall’s real name. He’s like, “You send out like Betty. You sound like Betty.” (laughs) And I was like, “Who is Betty?” “Betty Bacall.” And so I looked her up, and I found the High Point commercial. And it became our favorite. I mean, Woody can do the whole commercial, too. It’s so damn good. She opens up the curtains and says, “My favorite time of day is night.” (laughs)
COWAN: Was that in the script? Or did you put it in?
STONE: Oh no. That entire sequence of our first night together was improvised.
COWAN: Was it really?
STONE: All the different little moments. Yeah.
COWAN: You’re laughing, and goofing off, and saying--
STONE: Oh yeah. And him talking about the coin bears and all of that. That was really just something Ryan was doing at that time; He was staying up and watching infomercials. I won the spelling bee and my dad cried. That’s the spelling bee I told you about. That’s really us talking.
COWAN: So now, was that the first time you guys were together?
STONE: Yeah.
COWAN: Yeah? And you just clicked.
STONE: Yeah, it was so much fun. And the directors [Glenn Ficarra and John Requa] were just like, “All right, guys. We’re just gonna throw you in different places around the room. Just go for it. Just talk.” And so we did. And it was just so funny. It was such a fun day.
COWAN: And was the “Dirty Dancing” also improvised?
STONE: No, it was a nightmare. No, that wasn’t improvised. That scene was scripted. Yeah, it was just the little montage of bits in the room that was improvised. But no, the “Dirty Dancing” lift was always in there.
COWAN: Were you as nervous about doing it as it appeared?
STONE: Well, I ultimately did not do it.
COWAN: Oh, you didn’t?
STONE: A stunt double did it.
COWAN: Oh, I thought you did.
STONE: Yeah, no. I got flooded. (laughs)
COWAN: Really? You just said, “Nope”?
STONE: Yeah. Well, I didn’t know I was phobic. But I ran, and I did the lift. And then I curled around Ryan’s head like a roly poly. (laughs) And he had to let me down because I was, you know, smacking him in the head. And then I realized because I had broken both of my arms at the same time when I was a child from great height, I had a phobia of being lifted over someone’s head. So I had to go lay down. And they used a stunt double. And it all worked out great. She did a beautiful job. Her form was so much better than mine ever could have been.
COWAN: But a phobia of being lifted over someone’s head, that’s gotta be pretty rare! (laughs)
STONE: Well, I think my phobia is more like, this kind of a pitch. I can’t [move] in any way that I could break my arms.
COWAN: You broke both your arms?
STONE: Yeah.
COWAN: At the same time?
STONE: At the same time.
COWAN: Falling?
STONE: When I was seven. Falling off one of those tall bars in gymnastics class. I was standing on top, and I fell forward, and I broke my fall like this. And I broke both my arms.
COWAN: Oh my God.
STONE: You know what? This is me. (laughs) I got more where that came from.
COWAN: Did you break anything else?
STONE: I broke my heel, my left heel, when I was 13 jumping off the stairs at Valley Youth Theatre. I jumped off some stairs, slammed onto it, had a cast for that whole summer, too. See, now, both of these were in Arizona. Both of these were just before summer. So I had casts through the summer in Arizona (laughs) twice, which was -- it’s pretty brutal in 115° heat, I gotta be honest. Not fun. (laughs)
COWAN: I read somewhere where you said you’ve gotten starstruck a couple times and cried a couple times. But in “Zombieland,” it was --
STONE: Oh, Bill Murray.
COWAN: -- specifically Bill Murray that you just couldn’t get over that you were --
STONE: I thought I was doing great. And Woody [Harrelson] knew. And he was like, “She’s gonna have a meltdown.” And I was like, (laughs) “Watch me.” So Bill came. And I was like, “Look at me. I’m doing so great.” And then Ruben [Fleischer], the director, sent me a little B-roll footage from the day ‘cause he was like, “I know how excited you were about Bill. Here you go.” I was insane! (laughs) I mean, there was a camera on us. And any time I wasn’t on camera when I thought I was holding it together, the camera would be pointed to Bill, and I was literally just so reactive, so obvious. So my transparency got the best of me. (laughs)
COWAN: And you cried when you met Tom Hanks. Is that true?
STONE: He didn’t know. I turned away. In fact, I think the only person that actually saw me cry in front of them was maybe Diane a little bit. Diane Keaton. Just a little. (laughs) Just a little bit.
COWAN: So now that you’re in the midst of this award season, it’s going so amazingly well for you. But you’ve said you’re a bit fatalistic, that the better things are going for you, sometimes the more terrified you get.
STONE: Yeah.
COWAN: So things are going pretty good for you right now. (laughs)
STONE: Thanks for bringing it up!
COWAN: How terrified (laughs) are you?
STONE: Of the rug being pulled out from under me?
COWAN: Yeah.
STONE: I think as time goes on, I’m trying to get less fatalistic, because that’s just one of those unhealthy, kind of dangerous head spaces to get in, of not being able to tolerate sustained positive energy. (laughs) You need to get better at tolerating that. (laughs) Not you. Me.
COWAN: No. I do, too!
STONE: I always talk about “me” as “you.” And so I’m trying to make friends with that fear a little bit more and get into a place of everything ebbs and flows. Nothing lasts forever. Highs, lows, it’s all fine. A little gentler with it. Because I really used to think things going well, for some reasons, would be much more terrifying internally than things being a bit chaotic for me.
COWAN: ‘Cause you were worried [how] it was going to end if it was going well?
STONE: I think so. Yeah, I think so.
COWAN: ‘Cause even last night, you had said the fact that you were worthy of getting a SAG Award you had to wrap your head around. You said it took some mental gymnastics even to get you in that place. And there you were up on stage holding it.
STONE: Yeah, it’s a trip. It’s a very interesting sort of road to go down mentally. But I’m trying to just accept things, accept the beauty of things and the joy and positivity of things as they are in the moment and accept when it’s not that way as well. Because, of course, none of it lasts forever. It’s all going to change very rapidly. But that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. It doesn’t have to be panic-inducing. It can be just the way life is.
COWAN: How does this time around differ from “The Help”? Or does it? The first time, I guess, is always --
STONE: Yeah, “The Help” was so much fun because it felt like I was tagging along with this group of amazing women and a hilarious, wild director, we were just so full of excitement and celebration. And it was kind of a first for everybody in that way. Not Viola, but it was a first for everybody else, that experience. So that really felt just like going along with this wonderful female train that was just, (laughs) it was great. And we all had so much fun together.
And then, yeah, this time around, I’m pretty blown away the reception to the film and that it seems to be making people feel good. Maybe not everybody. But at least some people feel good. (laughs) God, I couldn’t be more grateful.
COWAN: Do you remember the first time you watched “La La Land” with an audience?
STONE: At the Venice Film Festival.
COWAN: What was that like?
STONE: Damien and I were just having an out-of-body experience. You know, there were subtitles in Italian throughout. (laughs) And it was just this huge, packed house with no air conditioning. And so we were already sweating enough from our nerves.
And then there was no air. So we had pools of sweat watching the movie. And after the audition song, I reached over to Damien, and his hand was just, oh my God, just the sweatiest palm (laughs) you’ve ever felt. We sort of, like, grasped each other’s hands. And Ryan was shooting a movie, he wasn’t there. And it just felt wrong. And we were just like, “Oh God. This is so insane.” It was really overwhelming.
COWAN: Just ‘cause --
STONE: That’s been the definitive word of this experience, overwhelming, in the best way. But just in a surreal way.
COWAN: So is the whole notion of the dream of coming to Hollywood, and making it big, and everything working out, is it as good as it looks in the movies? ‘Cause it has largely happened to you.
STONE: It’s incredible. I cannot complain for a second. And it’s also real life. So s*** happens. And you know, things happen with the people you love and life continues. And it’s amazing to get to do something so special and fulfilling in work. And I also feel like it doesn’t change who you are or what you have to experience in life really.
It doesn’t magically make everything different. It’s interesting, ‘cause I think there is maybe that notion that if you have a dream and then it comes true, everything’ll just be great now and you’ll just be coasting. But that’s not how it goes.
I have such gratitude for it. And if anything, it just makes me more and more want to get closer and closer to those I love and get closer and closer to the Earth. (laughs) You know, like, staying as firmly planted on Earth as possible. Because that’s really it, you know?
COWAN: That’s what sticks around.
STONE: That’s it. That’s the real stuff. Yeah.