Cannes 2025: Emma Stone says working on ‘Eddington’ was a “gift”

Posted On May 17, 2025May 17, 2025

After starring in the new psychological thriller Eddington, Emma Stone told an audience at the Cannes Film Festival that she considered working on the movie a “gift.”

She began by gushing about the incredible opportunity to work with Ari Aster, the filmmaker: “It was amazing to work with Ari. As an actor, there’s only a limited amount of time in your ability to make choices, creative choices on who you get to work with. If you have the opportunity to work with a filmmaker you admire and deeply respect and feel challenged by and whose stories have affected you, if you’re allowed that opportunity and that choice, then I can’t imagine not making a choice like that.”

She continued: “I’ve admired Ari for so long. Getting the opportunity to work with him was a real honour and a gift.”

She then reminisced on reading the Eddington script for the first time: “I think he’s one of the greatest writers and filmmakers we have, just getting to read his writing is an incredible experience.”

Stone plays a woman who is seen in the trailer delivering a speech about her husband in a short video on social media. Stone’s character, who remains shrouded in mystery, was brought to life in a discussion she had with Aster. “He and I sat and spoke about the character of Louise and arrived at the word ghost,” she said.

She elaborated on finding the character within herself: “It was a really interesting challenge and something I had never really gotten to access before. To be there with Ari and Joaquin and Austin… It was a beautiful and heartbreaking character to find.”

At the same press conference, Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal hailed the filmmaker a “rare director”.

Aster also revealed at the conference that he wrote Eddington in a state of “fear and anxiety about the world”. He set the film during the pandemic, he said, because, “COVID felt like the moment where that link was finally cut for good. and i wanted to make a film about what America feels like to me, and at that tine, and it felt bad. It feels bad. and I’m very worried.”

The synopsis for Eddington, per A24, reads: “In May of 2020, a standoff between a small-town sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix) and mayor (Pedro Pascal) sparks a powder keg as neighbor is pitted against neighbor in Eddington, New Mexico.”

Eddington’s cast also includes Austin Butler, Luke Grimes, Deirdre O’Connell, Michael Ward, Amélie Hoeferle, Clifton Collins Jr and William Belleau.

The highly anticipated movie is set to arrive in theatres on July 18th.

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