Emma Stone is the fastest rising star in Hollywood. She first gained attention with her performance in “Superbad”, then surprised people with a high school comedy “Easy A”, landed a huge hit with “The Help”, and has just finished shooting the reboot of the Spider Man franchise. But Emma is not your typical Hollywood beauty; she shows depth as well as the ability to transform from nerdy girl to bombshell. In “The Help”, she plays a young writer in 1960s Mississippi attempting to expose the racism against the black housemaids in her town. Excerpts
The Help was a huge hit in the U.S.. Did you expect that this project would get so much attention when you signed on to it?
There is nothing I know for sure. I don't even know for sure if I am going to live through the next five minutes. Hopefully I do.
We knew that we had something special and everybody loved the book so much that we had the hope that people would like the film as well. But nobody could have expected the reception that it received, which has been really amazing.
The film deals with segregation, which is actually still a relevant topic in America if you look closely. How do you experience that?
I live in New York, which is one of the most diverse cities in the world. I'm from Arizona, which is a very conservative state, but also a state that sweeps a lot of the issues it doesn't want to deal with under the rug. As far as segregation goes, I would be shocked if in my generation somebody would be genuinely racist at the age of 23.
You said you live in New York these days. Was L.A. getting too much for you?
Yes, definitely. I like L.A. because of my friends there and the weather is very nice, but other than that it is a hard place to live in. Everything revolves around the movie business. So when you are not working and just want to talk about normal things it is almost impossible... I remember the day I decided to move to New York. I sat in a restaurant and the people to my left were talking about a script they were writing and the people on my right were talking about a movie they were producing. I was like, “No more. That's it, I am leaving.” I wanted to be able to sit next to an accountant and a lawyer while having a meal.
How was shooting Spider Man? It was your first big budget blockbuster production after all.
It was great. It really taught me that it doesn't matter what the background is, no matter if it is a blue screen or if you are hanging on wires or sitting in a house in Mississippi, your job as an actor is to build a connection between you and another human being. This version will be very different. It is about him being orphaned and his parents leaving him. But he is still a super hero... He still has webs coming out of his hands, I will tell you that. (Laughs)
For “Easy A” you said you recorded tons of casting tapes because you were never happy. Are you still such a perfectionist?
I have realised that there is no such thing as perfection in my job, ever. I just had to learn how to deal with myself as a micro-manager. So when I am working, every night before I go to set, I lay out all my clothes and I pre-make my coffee and I lay out the script. That way I can sleep better because I know everything is taken care of.
Plus I learned not to watch any playback anymore. I don't even watch the films when they are done.
But did you watch The Help?
Yes, because it was at the White House. If Mrs. Obama wants you to sit through the movie, you sit through the movie. I don't know how you say no to the First Lady. (Laughs) I was sitting in the front row with everybody behind me so I couldn't even sink into my seat out of embarrassment.
Rumours say that at age 14 you created a PowerPoint presentation for your parents called “Project Hollywood” to convince them that you should move into acting.
That's true, that's no rumour.
Is Hollywood how you imagined back then?
I don't know. It's just different. It's work. But it's also really, really exciting. It's also a lot better than you could ever imagine – and harder than you could imagine, too. But I've been really lucky, thus far.
Do you have to make an effort to keep your feet on the ground?
Absolutely. I've got some really great parents and a really great family and good friends that cut me down to size all the time. It's pretty great.
What clothes represent you the best?
Well in my everyday life I just kind of wear... whatever. I don't really think about it that much. But whenever they give me clothes to choose from I tend to wear a lot of black, or things that have zippers or chains on them. So I don't know what that says about me. Leather. I like leather. Really into leather. (Laughs) Getting pretty wild.
Is it true that you are a bad liar even though your profession involves doing things that are not true?
Acting has to be truth, though. The reason why I don't like to watch myself is because I can tell when I am lying and when I am saying the truth. So I have to try to operate from the truth as much as possible, but it is an ongoing struggle to be as truthful as possible. You need to try to feel what the character feels.
