Emma Stone Talks About Consuming ’60 Portuguese Tarts’ While Making Unsavory Films: “At the very end, you want to throw up”

The Oscar-winning actress detailed some of what she experienced while working on the award-winning Yorgos Lanthimos film

Emma Stone says she ate a lot of Portuguese tarts while filming ‘Poor Things’. PHOTO:

YORGOS LANTHIMOS. COURTESY OF SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES; EDUCATION IMAGES/UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP VIA GETTY

Emma Stone is opening up about some of the more interesting challenges of filming 2023’s Poor Things.

The Oscar winner — who scored yet another Academy Awards nod in the Best Actress category for her role as Bella Baxter in the film — took part in a panel at Saturday’s Celebration of the Nominees for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. During the conversation, she described a dietary difficulty she faced while filming Poor Things.

When asked if it was tough to play “an explicitly 𝑠e𝑥ual character,” Stone, 35, explained that it “wasn’t.”

“The 𝑠e𝑥uality of Bella was another part of that, and the way that that was going to be shot and how we were going to do it and our incredible intimacy coordinator and our closed sets and all of that. In some ways, that was the easiest part because that was choreographed,” Stone revealed of her character during the conversation at the Skirball Cultural Center.

“Those were quick. We knew exactly what we were doing,” she added.

The bigger challenge, Stone revealed, was portraying some of Baxter’s other emotions and quirks — including the character’s eating habits.

“Figuring out how to walk or eat 60 Portuguese tarts, which the first bite is delicious, but by the end you really want to puke,” she continued. “Or her seeing death and decay for the first time, much more challenging than the nudity, which is the only thing people want to seem to ask me about.”

Emma Stone, Bradley Cooper and More Stars Who Earned Multiple Oscar Nominations This Year

Emma Stone attends SAG-AFTRA Foundation Conversations in January 2024.

DIMITRIOS KAMBOURIS/GETTY IMAGES

In the Yorgos Lanthimos film, Stone plays a woman who is created when Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) places the brain of a deceased woman’s baby into her body after she dies by suicide.

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Stone’s performance has already earned her multiple awards this year, including the leading actress trophy at the 2024 EE BAFTA Film Awards last weekend. The actress saluted her loved ones during her acceptance speech, specifically her mother, Krista Stone.

“I just want to say this in case I don’t ever get a chance to again,” Stone said. “I really want to thank my mom because she’s the best person I know in the world and she inspires me every single day and she’s always made me believe this kind of crazy idea that I could do something like this and I’m beyond grateful.”

Continued Stone, “Without her none of this exists, including my life, so thanks for that too, mom. Thank you so much.”

Stone has already won the Golden Globe and a Critics Choice Award for her portrayal in the movie. While she was up for the trophy, the outstanding performance by a female actor in a leading role award went to Lily Gladstone at Saturday’s SAG Awards for her performance in Killers of the Flower Moon. 

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