Emma Stone premiers a New Yorgos Lanthimos-Directed Short Film in Athens

Emma Stone is in Athens for the premiere of her short film Bleat, which was directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, with who she previously worked on the 2018 movie The Favourite.

The short film is about a professional cellist whose encounter with a stranger has surreal repercussions.

Playing a young widow in the 30-minute movie, with surreal and disturbing scenes of sex, death and resurrection, Stone said she welcomed the limited-release project set on the island of Tinos and featuring goats roaming its rock-and-thorn landscape.

You can watch the trailer below.

Speaking at a press conference after the screening, Stone said that acting in the film was “a professional challenge and a relief,” and added that: “What is the point continuing to give in this kind of ‒ no offence ‒ stupid job of acting if you’re not gonna keep pushing and being challenged?” AP reported.

The film will be screened to the public for three days this week at the national opera, on the Athens Riviera.

Yorgos Lanthimos is a filmmaker known for comedically bizarre and far-left-of-centre films like “The Lobster” and “Dogtooth.” His 2018 period film, “The Favourite,” earned ten Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.

About Yorgos Lanthimos

“The Favourite,” earned ten Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and Lanthimos is already plotting a follow-up with its Academy Award-winning star Emma Stone. 

Titled “Poor Things,” and co-starring actors like Mark Ruffalo and Willem Dafoe, the film was shot late last summer, so there’s hope we’ll see the movie later this year somewhere at the film festival circuit. But the wait to see Lanthimos and Stone reunited will arrive much sooner than that, at least for lucky audiences in Greece.