Emma Stone has revealed unsettling similarities between her upcoming film Bugonia and the real‑life case of Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Speaking at the Telluride Film Festival, the Oscar‑winning actress and producer said the parallels struck her soon after filming wrapped in 2024, when news broke that Thompson had been shot and Mangione arrested.
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, Bugonia is a satirical, absurdist science‑fiction dark comedy and a remake of the South Korean cult classic Save the Green Planet. Stone plays a ruthless, high‑powered pharmaceutical CEO who is kidnapped by a low‑level employee, portrayed by Jesse Plemons. Convinced she is an alien from the Andromeda galaxy sent to destroy humanity, the conspiracy‑obsessed captor subjects her to brutal confinement and torture.
Stone described the eerie timing of the real‑world events, recalling that she lives in New York and learned of the nearby shooting of a healthcare CEO just after the production ended. “It was wild, because we had all just been in a basement [filming] together talking about these issues and the bigger meaning of everything. It keeps hitting you that the world is so deeply fraught and terrifying in so many ways,” she told the audience.
Bugonia premiered in the main competition at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on August 28, 2025, and is set for U.S. theatrical release on October 24, 2025, through Focus Features.
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