Sunday 13 January 2013

The world according to Emma Stone

'Money doesn't buy you love or happiness. But it does buy you opportunity': The world according to Emma Stone

PUBLISHED: 22:00, 12 January 2013 | UPDATED: 22:15, 12 January 2013

Emma Stone, 24, is best known for playing Peter Parker’s squeeze, Gwen Stacy, in The Amazing Spider-Man, with her boyfriend, Brit Andrew Garfield, but she has had a run of hits, including Superbad, Zombieland, Crazy, Stupid, Love and The Help.

Her latest outing is in Gangster Squad, a hard-boiled thriller set in Forties Hollywood.

'I've wanted to act and to perform since I was tiny,' said Emma Stone

At school one day I decided I had to move to LA – right then.

I’ve wanted to act and to perform since I was tiny. The one day something washed over me and I thought, ‘I have to move to Los Angeles now. I mean right now. I can’t be in school. Something is going to happen.’

I did a PowerPoint presentation to convince my parents that I needed to move to LA.

I begged them to take me to Hollywood. I am sorry I didn’t go to university but it meant I was able to move to LA and start acting. I wanted to be on Saturday Night Live, I wanted to do improvisation, I wanted to be a sketch comedian. And I knew I wanted to do films some day. I even wanted to produce films, even more than act in them. I wanted to be part of making them, to be in the editing room. I’m so interested in every facet of movie-making. I did my first school play in Phoenix, Arizona, when I was seven. I was Otter in The Wind In The Willows and it kind of went from there. It’s all down to Otter…

The boys have their guns in Gangster Squad – and I got fake curves as my weapon in the movie.

It’s a violent thriller set in Forties Hollywood and based on the true story of how police formed a secret unit to battle against mobster Mickey Cohen, played by Sean Penn, as he sets up a Mafia stronghold in Los Angeles, running prostitution, drugs and gambling. Fitting into that really tight corset with plastered bodice to give me an hourglass figure was the biggest challenge, and I look very curvy. I just couldn’t breathe in it – or sit down or stand up. I had to be careful at lunchtime. It was like being in a body cast but I loved the look it gave me. What girl wouldn’t?

'Fitting into that really tight corset with plastered bodice to give me an hourglass figure was the biggest challenge, and I look very curvy,' said Emma of her appearance in Gangster Squad

The only thing that money buys you is opportunity.

It doesn’t buy you love or happiness – my parents taught me that. My father worked so hard for so long to get me where I am. My parents have never acted in their lives. They’re both afraid of public speaking but they’re amazing. They said, ‘We can’t imagine why you want to act but we understand you want to.’

Until recently I had to show my ID when I was going out, to prove I’m over 21, but because I have done so many movies I don’t have to any more.

I am so sick of my face – seriously! But I’m incredibly grateful for all these opportunities, getting to work with people I admire and having choices, which, for an actor is the dream. But I know it won’t last forever.

'My character is a combination of Rita Hayworth, Lauren Bacall and Gene Tierney,' said Emma

I’m supposed to be a style icon (last year she was voted Best Dressed Woman by Vogue).

But really that’s down to my stylist. She says: ‘Do you want to wear this?’ And I’m like, ‘Sure’. And I put it on. In my daily life I just wear what I like. Looking back, I can’t believe how much make-up I used to wear. When I was a teenager I would get a spray tan to cover up my freckles.

My character in Gangster Squad comes to Hollywood wanting to be a star like I did and falls in with the wrong crowd.

I did think about the comparisons with my life. I came to LA at a very young age, wanting to act. So thinking about that was a good way to get into the character. It was strange, too. I remember one scene with Ryan (Gosling) when I said, ‘I came out here to be a star.’ And at the end of the day I walked out of the studio and there were paparazzi. It was like some strange kind of alternative reality.

There was an intense connection with Andrew (Garfield) the first time we met.

I don’t think you should try to explain the chemistry between two people – it’s either there or it isn’t. Initially, I was worried that The Amazing Spider-Man was going to be all CGI and green screens. But then I got the script, which had these incredible scenes between Peter (Garfield) and Gwen with real emotion and heart. The final audition – where they had me in full costume and hair to shoot scenes with Andrew – convinced me to take the part.

After the cinema shootings in Aurora, Colorado, last July when 12 people died, it was right that director Reuben Fleischer re-shot a cinema shoot-out scene in Gangster Squad.

It’s difficult to make sense of something like the Aurora killings; it was all so horrific, I don’t think any of us can. It’s interesting being part of something that raises that kind of question because it’s obviously relevant to the movie. People can draw what conclusions they like about the media’s portrayal of violence and its effect on young people. We would all prefer not to have that discussion – but it is important we do.

I love the Forties golden era of Hollywood.

My character Grace in Gangster Squad is a combination of Rita Hayworth, Lauren Bacall and Gene Tierney. She wants to be an actress. I love that Forties period because it really was the golden age of Hollywood, and for the glamour and the women: actresses such as Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn, who literally wore the pants and played big, gorgeous meaty roles, which seemed to be prevalent then.

‘Gangster Squad’ is in cinemas now

KATCHING MY I

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