Top 5 Emma Stone Performances
By Austin Johnson
Emma Stone is just 30 years old, but she already has the resume of a veteran. She has gone from being rejected at an audition to play Claire Bennet in NBC’s television series Heroes to winning Oscar gold. Hayden Panettiere got that Claire Bennet role, by the way. Stone recalls that rejection being big for her mentally. Since then, she has worked with some all-time directors and actors, keeping her career right in the spotlight for all of us to see. 12 years ago, she was in one of the best teen films to ever be made, Superbad. When I was a kid and saw her on the screen, I thought about how she legitimately had skills that outmatched the other girls her age. She continued doing what young actors do by performing in films that will get your name out there. Whether it’s been silly or not, Stone always adds a certain professionalism to each film she is in.
Emma’s career took a strong turn when she appeared in Tate Taylor’s 2011 drama The Help. She showed some serious chops in that film and hasn’t looked back since. In 2015, she was nominated for her role in Birdman. In 2017, she won the Best Actress Oscar for her role in La La Land. Earlier this year, she was nominated for her role in The Favourite. So, I think that it’s safe to say we will see her nominated in 2021. She’s smack dab in the middle of her prime and it’s very clear that she is one of the elite performers on the rise. The various roles she has tackled in her short but busy career is something to admire, and I can’t wait to see what other characters she decides to challenge herself with.
Emma’s career took a strong turn when she appeared in Tate Taylor’s 2011 drama The Help. She showed some serious chops in that film and hasn’t looked back since. In 2015, she was nominated for her role in Birdman. In 2017, she won the Best Actress Oscar for her role in La La Land. Earlier this year, she was nominated for her role in The Favourite. So, I think that it’s safe to say we will see her nominated in 2021. She’s smack dab in the middle of her prime and it’s very clear that she is one of the elite performers on the rise. The various roles she has tackled in her short but busy career is something to admire, and I can’t wait to see what other characters she decides to challenge herself with.
5.) Wichita in Zombieland (2009)
“Yeah! 1997 was a great year! I saw my first R-rated movie... Anaconda. Got my first tattoo, a porpoise. Fake. Had my first kiss... Scotty Lynch.”
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Films that rely heavily on zombies in a serious tone usually don’t satisfy me too much, but Zombieland takes the comedic route. This isn’t necessarily a fresh approach but it works. It consistently makes appearances on lists for best zombie films of all time. Stone does it all in this one, playing the older sister to Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), the love interest for Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), and the friend that old man Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) never knew he needed. I truly believe that Stone is the glue of this random cast and she was only 21. She won over the hearts of so many young people, because she balances beautiful and badass so well. We got a glimpse into her star quality that simply can’t be ignored even when she was in comedies as a youngster.
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4.) Jules in Superbad (2007)
“You scratch our backs, we'll scratch yours.”
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Now I know Stone isn’t really in Superbad a whole lot, but I can’t praise this film and its cast enough. Each one of them has become an icon in the teen film realm. Stone plays Seth’s (Jonah Hill) love interest spectacularly. Their shared home economics class was the very first time any of us ever saw her on the big screen and she undoubtedly made a huge impact on a film that will be hailed as one of the greatest comedies forever. The role of Jules definitely got her career rolling in the right direction, always moving forward since the 2007 classic, Superbad.
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3.) Mia in La La Land (2016)
“People love what other people are passionate about.”
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If you read my Ryan Gosling Top 5, you saw that Mia’s counterpart, Sebastian, was in the mix. I enjoy La La Land quite a bit and Stone really declared her status as an elite actress through her performance. The Academy gave Stone the Oscar for Best Actress for her efforts. She sang, danced, and acted in textbook fashion, offering up one of the more memorable young female characters in recent memory. Damien Chazelle was able to get a fine duo in Stone and Gosling who have a chemistry that runs back to 2013’s Gangster Squad and even further back to 2011’s Crazy, Stupid, Love. La La Land’s stakes are way higher. Remember when Sebastian comes back home to surprise Mia with dinner? That scene is impeccable, due to the fact that both of them are so damn convincing as a 20-something-year-old couple in Los Angeles.
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2.) Abigail in The Favourite (2018)
“As it turns out, I'm capable of much unpleasantness.”
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I’ll never forget seeing the trailer for this Yorgos Lanthimos masterpiece. I saw the name, Olivia Colman, and smiled. I saw the name, Rachel Weisz, and got closer to the edge of my seat. Then, I saw Emma Stone’s name on the screen and got wildly excited. It is an absolutely perfect trifecta of women who can act with the very best of them. They all stand out and all got nominated by the Academy, with Colman even taking the win for Best Actress. Stone changes her pace up completely in The Favourite, showing more spunk and tenacity than ever. Not to mention, she does a British accent very well. Stone’s ceiling seems to be at an all time high after this 2018 career-defining kind of performance.
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1.) Sam in Birdman (2014)
“Means something to who? You had a career before the third comic book movie, before people began to forget who was inside the bird costume. You're doing a play based on a book that was written 60 years ago, for a thousand rich old white people whose only real concern is gonna be where they go to have their cake and coffee when it's over. And let's face it, Dad, it's not for the sake of art. It's because you want to feel relevant again. Well, there's a whole world out there where people fight to be relevant every day. And you act like it doesn't even exist! Things are happening in a place that you willfully ignore, a place that has already forgotten you. I mean, who the fuck are you? You hate bloggers. You make fun of Twitter. You don't even have a Facebook page. You're the one who doesn't exist. You're doing this because you're scared to death, like the rest of us, that you don't matter. And you know what? You're right. You don't. It's not important. You're not important. Get used to it.”
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Sorry for the long quote, but that scene between Stone and Michael Keaton is absolutely pristine. I also love the scene on the roof between her and Edward Norton. Just a little game of truth or dare on the roof… I’ll be honest, it took me a minute to come around to Stone as a serious actress, but when I saw Birdman at my favorite theater in San Antonio, The Bijou, I completely fell in love. She somehow became this instant top tier actress in my mind. The role of Sam got Stone her first Oscar nomination, and she came up short against an all-time performance by Patricia Arquette in Boyhood. Emma Stone has made a significant imprint on the industry, but I personally don’t see her matching the pure authenticity that Sam brought out of her.
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