By the looks of the first trailer for “Bugonia,” Emma Stone’s latest collaboration with director Yorgos Lanthimos will be just as brilliantly bizarre as its predecessors.
“Bugonia,” an English-language remake of the South Korean sci-fi comedy “Save the Green Planet!,” follows two conspiracy theorists who believe Stone’s high-powered chief executive character is an alien planning to destroy planet Earth — so they kidnap her.
Stone and Lanthimos have previously worked together on “The Favourite” (2018), “Poor Things” (2023) and “Kinds of Kindness” (2024). “Bugonia” marks their third consecutive film in three years.
The trailer — released Thursday by Focus Features — opens with a voiceover, a metaphor and a shot of a beehive. “The workers gather pollen for the queen,” Jesse Plemons, who worked with Lanthimos and Stone in “Kinds of Kindness,” says as the trailer cuts to Stone’s swaggering CEO.
After a quippy kidnapping montage with Plemons and Aidan Delbis’ characters set to Green Day’s “Basket Case,” Stone is shown lying unconscious in a bed. Jarring chords alternate with action-packed footage of fist fights and police chases, all framed in Lanthimos’ quintessential style.
“How can you tell she’s an alien?” Delbis asks. Plemons replies, “Well, the signs are obvious.”
The conspiracy theory — and the truth about the CEO’s extraterrestrial status — remain anything but obvious in this initial teaser; fans will have to wait for the film’s release.
“Bugonia” is set for a limited run on Oct. 24 before expanding wide Oct. 31. Stavros Halkias and Alicia Silverstone round out the cast.
