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'Bugonia' trailer features Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons in eccentric kidnap caper from director Yorgos Lanthimos

By Chris Morgan | Last updated Aug 28, 2025 5:41 PM ET

Oscar season is officially heating up. Daniel Day-Lewis is back from retirement. Chloe Zhao has a tearjerker about William Shakespeare’s personal heartbreak . And of course, it wouldn’t be awards season without Yorgos Lanthimos dropping something strange and fascinating with Emma Stone. Enter the first trailer for 'Bugonia,' which looks every bit as weird as you’d hope.

Lanthimos built his name on polarizing, sometimes downright antagonistic movies like 'Dogtooth' and 'The Killing of a Sacred Deer.' Then he eased his way into Oscar territory with 'The Favourite' and 'Poor Things,' both awards darlings. In 2024, he slipped in the oddball anthology 'Kinds of Kindness,' almost like a palate cleanser before getting back to awards heat with 'Bugonia.'

Not that this is Lanthimos going mainstream. The film follows two conspiracy-minded men who kidnap a CEO they believe is an alien out to destroy Earth. Emma Stone, who won Best Actress for 'Poor Things,' plays the executive, while Jesse Plemons is one of the would-be abductors. Both were pegged as Oscar contenders before the trailer even dropped, and nothing about that has changed.

'Bugonia' premieres Oct. 24 in theaters, but it debuted today at the Venice Film Festival, and the early word only strengthens its awards buzz. Honestly, you might as well pencil in Stone for another nomination right now.

Chris Morgan

Chris Morgan is a Detroit-based culture writer who has somehow managed to justify getting his BA in Film Studies. He has written about sports and entertainment across various internet platforms for years and is also the author of three books about '90s television.

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