Emma Stone has spoken to NME about performing Chappell Roan’s “total earworm” ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ in absurdist black comedy Bugonia – check out the full interview above.
Bugonia is the latest collaboration between Oscar-winner Stone and acclaimed director Yorgos Lanthimos, with the pair previously teaming up for 2023’s Poor Things, 2024’s Kinds Of Kindness and 2018’s The Favourite.
In Bugonia, Stone plays fierce pharmaceutical CEO Michelle Fuller who, in one early scene, unwinds after an intense day in the office by belting out Chappell Roan’s 2024 pop hit ‘Good Luck, Babe!’.
“It was a different song originally in the script but we had known for a while that we wanted to change it for something that would be fun and interesting for Michelle to be singing along to after having this very corporate day,” Stone told NME. “After this very structured day, she’s able to let loose and sing in the car.”
“It’s a great song, first of all, and a total ear worm. I think everybody had that stuck in their head [after] we had shot all those driving sequences. I also think the lyrics of that song are oddly sort of amazing with the themes of this film,” she added.
Bugonia also features Green Day’s ‘Basket Case’ alongside an original score composed by Jerskin Fendrix. “He rocks and is just amazing,” said Stone. Fendrix hadn’t read the script when he started creating the music but was given four keywords – basement, bees, Emma bald, spaceship – to kickstart the process.
“They hadn’t recorded all the final versions of the score but we were listening to his music before we started filming,” added Jesse Plemons, who plays beekeeper and conspiracy theorist Teddy Gatz in Bugonia. “It definitely influenced us.”
Stone also spoke about covering Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Dreams’ with Haim for the 50th anniversary Saturday Night Live show. “I’m basically the fourth Haim sister. I’m a deeply valued member of the family,” she joked. “It was so much fun though. They’re very sweet for letting me come up there and cymbal around onstage. I love them very much.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Plemons revealed that the one album he keeps coming back to is Nina Simone’s ‘To Love Somebody’. “It’s amazing, it’s got ‘Suzanne’ and ‘Revolution’ on it,” he said. Meanwhile Stone picked Arcade Fire’s ‘The Suburbs’. ‘I just love everything they’ve done.”
Check out the full interview above, where Stone gives her verdict on Taylor Swift’s new album ‘The Life Of A Showgirl’ and Plemons talks about covering The Rescuers’ theme tune while on the set of Bugonia.
In a four-star review of Bugonia, NME’s Victoria Luxford wrote: “While perhaps not as glorious as Lanthimos’ best, Bugonia’s shock and awe prompts a discussion about internet culture that hits worryingly close to home. It’s another win for his ongoing partnership with Stone, who may be abducting another Oscar in a few months’ time.”
‘Bugonia’ is in UK cinemas now