Fans of Emma Stone and director Yorgos Lanthimos had signed up for an absurd act to catch an early screening of the upcoming absurdist sci-fi black comedy Bugonia where Stone's hair is cut off, on the suspicion of her being an alien.
The early screening in Los Angeles only allowed entry for bald people. With the film's distributor, Focus Features, challenging people to shave their heads to watch the film, many brave fans stepped forward to get a buzz cut.
"I was already thinking of shaving my head," said Sam Sherman from Los Angeles. "I saw, like, a post about this and I was like, that's a perfect excuse because I want to see Bugonia anyway and I get to see it two weeks early or whatever it is, and then I get a free haircut and a free movie. It’s hard to say no to that."
Matthew Lopez said the new rule made the screening feel uniquely interactive. “It’s almost feeling immersive, like, ok, ‘I did it, she did it.’ I can feel some connection to the story," he said.
In Bugonia, Stone plays a powerful pharmaceutical CEO Michelle Fuller, who is kidnapped by two conspiracy theorists - Jesse Plemons and his buddy Aidan Delbis - who are convinced that she's an alien. The rest of the story seems to follow the hunt led by police in search of her and how Stone's character tries to prove she is not who they think she is.
Lanthimos is directing the film from a screenplay by Will Tracy (Succession, The Menu). It is based on the 2003 South Korean comedy Save the Green Planet!, written and directed by Jang Joon-Hwan.
Bugonia brings Lanthimos and Stone together after The Favourite, Poor Things, and Kinds of Kindness. It also reunites Lanthimos with Plemons and the latter with Stone after Kinds of Kindness. The film also stars Alicia Silverstone and Stavros Halkias playing key roles..
Lanthimos and Stone are producing the film alongside Square Peg's Lars Knudsen and Ari Aster, Element Pictures' Andrew Lowe and Ed Guiney, Fruit Tree's Stone, as well as CJ ENM's Jerry Ko and Miky Lee.
Focus Features will release the film in theaters on October 24 with Universal Pictures distributing internationally on October 31.