Emma Stone talks teen sex and zombies

Emma Stone talks teen sex and zombies

   While on the press circuit to promote her new film, “Easy A”, opening September 17, young, up and coming actress, Emma Stone (“Superbad”, “Zombieland”) took time out for an interview.

Q: What drew you to play the role of Olive or to want to play the role of Olive?

   A: First of all, it’s really rare to read a really well-written, fleshed-out, funny character that’s female, especially in a comedy, and so that’s exciting right off the bat. Then I just thought the script is so clever, and I really liked Olive’s perspective on things. She’s no damsel in distress, so I just really liked her all around as a character and loved the script itself.

Q: The story seems to take several stereotypical teen clichés and flip-flop the roles, empowering what is usually a supporting character and making her the main protagonist. Do you think a film like Easy A could have been made like say ten years ago?

   A: A big part of it—even beyond the character roles or flipping certain stereotypes on their ear—is the speed of technology now and the digital age and text messaging and Twitter and that type of communication and her being able to not atone but explain everything that’s happened into her Webcam and having people be able to see it. So, I’m sure there could have been some differences ten years ago that would have been similar, but to me, it feels so kind of time-sensitive, the issues that we’re dealing with, so it feels like a kind of modern-times movie to me. But in terms of the characters, I would hope that those are relatively timeless.

Q: There was a nice mix of young actors and veteran actors in Easy A. What do you think you and your fellow young actors learned from some of the older, more experienced actors throughout filming?

   A: Well, I am so grateful anytime I get to work with someone that’s been doing it for a pretty sustained period of time, someone’s been acting a large portion of their life or directing or writing or anybody involved with film.  I can’t speak for everyone else, but for me, I take so much from any actor that I work with.  Not take—not stealing but learning a lot from anybody that I’m working with.  So young or more experienced people, it’s kind of equal to me because everybody’s got
interesting ways of approaching what they do.

   Anything that I would learn from someone like Patty or Stanley or Thomas or Lisa is going to be the same thing that I might learn from someone like Amanda or Penn, so I don’t know. I’m learning all the time, and it’s like being in the master’s class all the time.

Q: You’ve been in a couple of movies where you played high school parts like Superbad and The Rocker.  In Superbad, you played with Michael Cera, who’s kind of gone and … done only those kinds of roles now, but you’ve kind of taken other routes with movies with Zombieland and some of the movies you’re coming out with after Easy A. I was just wondering how is it to be kind of a versatile actress while still being so young.  What have you done to kind of take that separate path to get you sort of more adult roles, I guess, as still such a young person?

   A: I don’t really know that it’s ever a conscious choice on my part. I think that when scripts come along, if it’s something I really want to do and I’m going to go audition for it, I think that I understand the age of the character because it’s written in the script, but I just try to bring that person to life in any way that that character is supposed to be. Like if the character’s 27 and then in the next part is 17, I get to look at it through different eyes because they’ve had 10 years less experience or more experience.  So, try to adjust to that a bit but as far as why they keep letting me do all this stuff, I can’t answer that. I guess I’m really lucky in terms of that, but it’s been nice to be able to kind of jump all over the chart and not just play one certain age.

Q: Did you have any experiences in high school that are similar to that of your character in the film or were there any particular traits that you felt you kind of had in common with the character?

   A: Well, circumstantially, I really didn’t have anything in common with Olive because I was homeschooled for most of high school.  So, I was kind of on my own for most of that experience. As far as personality goes, I think she and I are pretty eerily similar in a lot of ways. That might be one of the reasons I responded so quickly to her when I read the script. I could kind of understand her viewpoint and where she was coming from and what it was like to have a family like that because I have really open, straight parents that we talk about everything. So I liked seeing that kind of cool relationship she had with her family. Yes, I feel like we have a lot in common personality-wise, but I did not have her high school experience.

Q: You’ve had pretty major roles in a bunch of other movies, but this is your first truly starring role with your name above the title. What was the experience like to be the lead and do you prepare for the role differently than you normally would have?

   A: I don’t know that I prepared any differently because of the size of the role. Mainly, I put more pressure on myself for sure but I don’t think it had to do with the size of the role. I think it had more to do with just wanting to make sure that the Olive on the page came to life accurately. So, the only thing I could really do to prepare was to memorize it, but other than that, it was just a daily fight to make sure that I was doing her justice all along the way because she was written so well on the page.  I don’t know. It was a different experience for sure, but I don’t think it had to do with the size of it. I think it just had to do with my own self-inflicted pressure.