Emma Stone explains why she was ’terrified’ while filming Poor Things

Emma Stone has opened up about feeling 'terrified' while she was filming her latest movie, Poor Things.

Over the last few weeks, Poor Things has earned Emma Stone the BAFTA, the Golden Globe and the Critics Choice Award for Best Actress, as well as earning the Golden Globe itself for Best Film.

The multiple nominations and awards Stone has been awarded for the movie proved she played her role of Bella very, very well - but in a new interview, the actor admitted she was actually 'terrified' while creating the picture.

In the movie, Stone plays a young woman who is brought back to life by an unorthodox scientist (Willem Dafoe).

Stone sat down with Poor Things director Yorgos Lanthimos for an interview with Variety following her various wins, with the pair recalling that the director didn't hand over the script until two years after they first discussed the film.

When Stone finally did get her hands on the script, she said there wasn't much she could do in the way of preparing.

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She explained: "I think with Bella, because everything is so new — and because we started at the beginning of the movie in her most primal, primitive stage — it was nice to be building that physically in rehearsal before we started filming, and not have it be something I had been working on for a long time that felt very mannered or trained."

Stone's character reflected that of a growing child - only without any of the physical growth. The complexity of the character left Stone 'panicking' in the first week of shooting, as she tried to establish how to play her.

The prospect actually 'terrified' her, she said, explaining: "I think because I had lived with her in my mind for so long and I was so deeply in love with Bella, it terrified me not to live up to her as a character.

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"I felt like I was failing her in the first week, and failing Yorgos. It was just difficult. I could talk to him about it, but I couldn’t talk to her about it."

Thankfully, Stone was able to work with Lanthimos and the pair were able to 'discover as [they] went'.

Though Stone was nervous about the film, she was able to portray Bella as someone who didn't live with 'self-judgment or shame'.

"Part of the nature of anxiety is that you’re always watching yourself," she said.

"In some ways — this is horrible to say — it’s a very selfish condition to have. Not to insult other people with anxiety — I still have it — but it’s because you’re thinking about yourself a lot. You’re thinking about, 'What’s going to happen to me? What have I said? What have I done?'

"Whereas Bella’s way of approaching the world, it’s just about experience. It’s just about how she feels about things."