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Though Emma Stone may be well on her way to a second Oscar, she is looking back on the early days of her career and some “total garbage” advice she was given along the way.
Accepting the Desert Palm Achievement Award for best actress at the Palm Springs Film Awards on Thursday, presented by her Poor Things co-stars Mark Ruffalo and Willem Dafoe, Stone told the crowd how much gratitude she has for this current moment.
“I’m grateful that I get to keep trying new things and for the opportunity to make choices when it comes to work because I know how rare and fleeting it can be to choose what you want to do, or who you want to work with, as an actor,” she told the crowd. “I was not always sure that that would be the case, because when I first moved to L.A., I went to one of those general meetings that they sometimes send you to. An executive told me that for male actors, it’s a marathon, not a sprint, and in his eyes, for women, it was a sprint, not a marathon.”
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“That was 20 years ago, and I realized that advice is total garbage because the majority of the women that I look up to in this industry, many of whom are in this room, have proven that as time goes on, life and work only get more interesting and more fulfilling,” Stone continued to a round of applause.
Speaking about her role in Poor Things, the star said it was unlike anything she’d ever read in “a woman who is immune to external expectations and impervious to judgment and shame. Playing Bella was challenging because I had to try to unlearn those aspects in myself, and it also made her an absolute joy to play. To make this film has been a highlight of my life, mainly thanks to a true creative soulmate,” Stone said, giving a shout-out to director Yorgos Lanthimos.
“I hope for many more years of the chance to take swings and to try new things and to keep this marathon going,” Stone added. Killers of the Flower Moon, Cillian Murphy, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Greta Gerwig, Jeffrey Wright, Carey Mulligan, Colman Domingo, Danielle Brooks, Billie Eilish, Finneas O’Connell and Paul Giamatti are also being honored at the event.
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