Noted actor Emma Stone, who is awaiting the release of Yorgos Lanthimos' Bugonia, recently revealed that she used a "beautiful" stage name for six months in the beginning of her career after discovering she couldn't use her birth name Emily Stone when working in the Hollywood industry.
In an interview with Stephen Colbert on his The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the actor revealed why she had to change her name. "I actually adopted a stage name for, I would say, like six months. Because the Screen Actors Guild, it’s like the Business Bureau. You can only have one person with that name."
The actor, who was 16 at the time, decided to use the stage name 'Riley'. "I decided I wanted to be Riley for like six months. So I was Riley Stone, which is a beautiful name," she said. Soon, she was struggling to get used to being called Riley when she was working and realised it was a mistake changing her name.
"I did an episode, like a guest part, on Malcolm in the Middle, and they kept going like: ‘Riley! Riley!’ And I had no idea who they were talking to. Truly. And I was like: ‘I cannot be Riley.' Like, it’s such a… It came out of nowhere," she shared. Stone later decided to switch to 'Emma' as it sounded close to her original name Emily.
Previously, Emma Stone had expressed her wish to change her name back to Emily as she sometimes found the change to be confusing. "When I get to know them, people that I work with do (call me Emily). It’s just because my name was taken (by another actress). Then I freaked out a couple of years ago. For some reason, I was like: 'I can’t do it anymore. Just call me Emily'," she told The Hollywood Reporter, adding that she likes being called by her birth name.
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. Focus Features will release the film in theaters on October 24 with Universal Pictures distributing internationally on October 31.
