Director Yorgos Lanthimos and frequent collaborator Emma Stone premiered their latest film, Bugonia, at the Venice Film Festival on Thursday, August 28, as part of the festival’s main competition.
The film received a 6-minute, 50-second ovation in the Sala Grande.
Stone stars alongside Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis, Stavros Halkias, and Alicia Silverstone in a remake of South Korean filmmaker Jang Joon-hwan’s Save the Green Planet!.
The story follows two conspiracy-obsessed men who kidnap a high-powered CEO, played by Stone, convinced she is an alien intent on destroying Earth.
“I love working with Yorgos. I love the material that he’s drawn to and the worlds he wants to explore, and the characters that he’s been generous enough to let me try my hand at,” Stone said at the press conference.
Emma Stone, Yorgos Lanthimos and Jesse Plemons bask in the applause after the premiere of their new film #Bugonia at the #VeniceFilmFestival pic.twitter.com/1im3BbLhgz
— Deadline (@DEADLINE) August 28, 2025
Lanthimos described the film as a reflection on contemporary society: “Humanity is facing a reckoning very soon and people need to choose the right path, otherwise, I don’t know how much time we have with everything that’s happening in the world, with technology, AI, wars, climate change and the denial of all these things.”
Critic Pete Hammond of Deadline called Bugonia “a dizzying… story that ranks right up there with the filmmaker’s best films… insanely pertinent to the misinformation age of today and conspiracy-theorists living in the deepest crevices of the internet.”
Produced by Element Pictures, Pith, Fruit Tree, Square Peg, and CJ ENM, Bugonia will open in limited release on October 24, followed by a wide release on October 31.
