In Yorgos Lanthimos’ Bugonia, Teddy (Jesse Plemons) enlists his cousin Don (Aidan Delbis) to help him kidnap Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone), a CEO Teddy believes to be an alien. Ready for whatever trickery she has prepared, Teddy remains resolute opposite an opponent who is equally determined not to be broken.
Awards Buzz spoke with cinematographer Robbie Ryan about reteaming with Lanthimos and Stone and particularly the delight of getting to work with a lead actress whose skin has been conditioned for a specific look on camera:
“What I love about what we do in my regard is that whatever goes on in front of the camera is that we just deal with it. Emma Stone with a shaved head and then with a lot of cream on it is a quite unusual image that just looked so amazing. I wish the whole film could have cream on her the whole time because she looked insanely different with that. I just loved that Yorgos bends the rules for what you expect into different realms for every film. Him and Emma have this great journey they’re going on where they challenge each other and really push the limits to where they’re going. From a visual point of view, from a DP’s point of view, we didn’t change anything, we just shot it. We did a lot of preparation, lighting conditions for what the basement might look like under fluorescent light or an LED work light or a Tungsten work light. So we just had all these different lighting scenarios that we were able to lean into. Luckily, she’s luminous in any light, Emma Stone.
In addition to discussing this being his fourth feature working with Lanthimos, Ryan also spoke about his repeat collaborations with filmmakers like Andrea Arnold, Ken Loach, and Noah Baumbach.
Bugonia is currently available on VOD.
