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Home > Appearances > 2010 >The Tonight Show with Jay Leno – DECEMBER 21ST

Emma Stone is a throwback to the days of American screwball comedies, when a beauty could also be madcap and outrageous. In Easy A, the surprise hit of the fall, the 22-year-old gives her character spark and glamour—with her red hair and smoky voice, she’s a wonderful mix of Lucille Ball (circa Stage Door) and Rosalind Russell. Which isn’t to say Stone isn’t original. True to her age, she draws inspiration from sketch comedy and improvisation, giving her characters a looseness and spontaneity that is distinctly current. Although she’s been acting since she was a child, Stone is not jaded, self-conscious, or predictable—she seems to be up for anything. She had massively frizzed hair and braces in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, ran from flesh eaters inZombieland, and shined in a musical skit on Saturday Night Live last October that channeled the Nouvelle Vague. Speaking French and dancing in narrow jeans, Stone was the epitome of a Godard Sixties ingenue, with a dash of Laugh-In-era Goldie Hawn. Just as Godard’s films simultaneously embraced and recontextualized cinematic archetypes, Stone is constantly reimagining the past for the future.

What was the first movie you remember seeing?
The Jerk, starring Steve Martin. It was my dad’s favorite. I grew up in Arizona, and I wasn’t really a tomboy, but I was loud. And bossy. I wanted to be Steve Martin. Or John Candy.

You’re only 22! Was there anyone closer to your own age who you wanted to be?
She’s not closer to my own age, but I loved Gilda Radner. My favorite of her Saturday Night Live characters is Judy Miller. She’s the Girl Scout who runs around her room, putting on her own show. In my Judy Miller–like way, I did sketch comedy from when I was 11. Some kids join the debate team; I joined improv class.

Did you do musicals too?
I was a stepsister in a local production of Cinderella. I had crazy red hair in a cone shape and lots of blue eye shadow. I had braces at the time, so whenever I smiled it was all red lipstick on my teeth, which was really attractive. After that I did a play called Noises Off, and when that was over I thought, I really want to be in movies. So I asked my parents and eventually they said yes.

You did a PowerPoint presentation?
Yes, I did. There was a chart; there was the song “Hollywood,” by Madonna; and there were pictures of actors like Sarah Jessica Parker, who had started young, in order to explain why we needed to move to L.A. when I was 14 instead of waiting to graduate from high school. There was a fair amount of alliteration in the presentation. It was some really heady stuff. [Laughs.] But I convinced them. When I was 14, my mom and I left Phoenix for pilot season. And…nothing happened. I didn’t get my first big part until I was 18.

Superbad, in which you play the object of desire, was your first major role.
I don’t think people thought comedy was my M.O., and it was. They always cast me as “the girlfriend” or “the young girl with attitude.” I would lose my mind if I felt like I had to be something like “the pretty girl.” When I was auditioning five or six times a week, they’d send me the descriptions of characters. And if it said “beautiful” or “gorgeous” or even “pretty,” my manager would delete it before sending it to me. Otherwise I’d immediately call him and say: “I will not be cast. It’s not going to happen.” Not to put myself down, but I just always thought I’d be a comedian. It was way more important to be funny or honest than to look a certain way.

You must have developed a devoted following of adolescent boys after Superbad.
Yes, I guess, but the movie that really has devoted followers is Zombieland. The zombie fans are avid. There is such a thing as a zombie purist, and they believe zombies need to be slow-moving and dead. Our zombies were fast-moving and alive. We were excommunicated from the zombie community.

Spider-Man fans must be just as intense as the zombie fans—and you are about to play Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker’s very blond girlfriend. And I have red hair! I think the Spider-Man fans are very upset. But I’m about to go blond.

Spider-Man is a prequel, which means your character is in high school. In Easy A, you play a high school girl who is falsely accused of being sexually promiscuous. Having never attended high school yourself, did you interview any actual high school students?
Luckily, Easy A could have taken place anywhere. The theme of reputation and miscommunication and technology could have been in any environment. Rumors fly everywhere.

Especially about sex. You got to simulate sex in Easy A: Your character and a gay male friend try to start a rumor by loudly pretending to have sex.
That was my favorite scene in the script. But when we actually shot it, I learned how difficult it is to simulate sex for that long, from that many angles. Simulation of sex is a real workout. We must have done a hundred takes. There was an oxygen tank at one point. It took two days. Simulated sex is really fun, but it’s not easy.

Before Emma Stone signed on in October to the play Peter Parker’s love interest, Gwen Stacy, in the rebooted “Spider-Man,” rumors were swirling that the 22-year-old was looking to join up with another reboot: Jonah Hill’s “21 Jump Street.” The pair had starred together in “Superbad,” and Sony was reportedly trying to reunite them for a big-screen take on Johnny Depp’s ’80s-era TV series.

But Stone’s entry into “Spider-Man” threw those plans in flux, and now MTV News has heard from Stone herself that she won’t be taking part in “Jump Street.”

“I don’t think I’m going to be part of that, but Jonah is one of my favorite people in the entire world,”

she told us during a chat for our Thankful Week (we named her the actress we’re most thankful for in 2010).

As recently as early November, Hill was still playing coy about casting Stone. “I can’t say anything to the negative or the positive of that,” he told us of the possibility. “I think we’ll have some cool casting announcements to make very, very soon.”

Instead of an announcement about Stone, though, news soon broke that Channing Tatum had signed on to “Jump Street.” And when we asked Stone if she still had plans for the flick despite her commitment to “Spider-Man,” she joked,

“I think Channing Tatum swept in.”

So while she won’t be stepping in front of the camera with Hill and Tatum on the project, she told us she can’t wait to check it out.

“I’m psyched to see that movie,”

she said.

“It’s going to be great.”

Are you disappointed that Stone won’t be in “21 Jump Street”?

As MTV News’ Thankful Week draws to a close, we begin to cast our gaze away from the big screen and towards tables soon to be the scene of turkey-crazed feasts. But we have one last honor to bestow: the actress we’re most thankful for in 2010.

The winner is none other than Emma Stone, a move that completes a nifty “Spider-Man” double win, as we also honored Andrew Garfield — who’s stepping into the role of Peter Parker — as the actor we’re most thankful for this year. Stone won the part of Gwen Stacy in October, capping a stellar year for the 22-year-old.

From the top-notch teenage rom-com “Easy A” to her “Saturday Night Live” hosting gig to the opportunity to shoot flicks opposite the likes of Steve Carell (“Crazy, Stupid, Love”) and Justin Timberlake (“Friends With Benefits”), Stone was already having a great 2010. Then “Spider-Man” director Marc Webb came calling. Her life is never going to be the same — and she couldn’t be more excited.

The always-energetic actress called up MTV News in the midst of “Spider-Man” preproduction to talk about what a surreal year it’s been and how she’s dealing with the pressures of taking on the iconic Marvel series.

MTV: Thanks for calling up to chat.

Emma Stone: Thank you for having me!

MTV: Well, you’re going to be very excited in a second.

Stone: What is it? What’s it going to be? You like how I’m excited at the mere mention that I’m going to be excited?

MTV: Uh-oh, I really have to come through now. Look out your window — there’s a blimp with your face on it!

Stone: Oh my god, it’s so beautiful, I’m looking right now! You wanna know what’s really insane about that? I actually pulled back the curtain and looked at the sky.

MTV: I’m sorry to disappoint, but I can tell you that every year we honor various people we’re thankful for, and this year you’re the woman we’re most thankful for.

Stone: Oh my god, shut up! Get out of here! I prepared a 10-minute speech, is that OK?

MTV: I’m afraid we don’t have enough time. You know, the man we’re most thankful for this year is your “Spider-Man” co-star Andrew Garfield.

Stone: Hey, I know that guy! We’ve met. He’s the worst!

MTV: I won’t tell him you said that. It has been quite a year for you. “Easy A” gets a great reaction, you’re shooting movies with people like Justin Timberlake and Ryan Gosling, you host “Saturday Night Live,” and then you land “Spider-Man.” Does 2010 feel like a landmark year?

Stone: It feels kind of scary saying this because that means it’s only downhill, but it’s been the best year of my life. Not just with how lucky I’ve been work-wise, but with my family and friends. I’m totally terrified for 2011. I have such a disaster mentality, it’s not even funny.

MTV: Which raises the question, are you ready for something as big as “Spider-Man”? Can you ever be ready for something like that?

Stone: The way I have to approach it, and I think Andrew would agree, is just like any other movie. You’re going to put the same amount of focus into this that you would with anything. It just happens to be an exponentially bigger budget. So there’s that. It’ll probably feel different when we start to do press, but we won’t have to deal with that for another year and a half. And there are harnesses I’m going to have to use in this one. That’s the only difference: just the harnesses.

MTV: Seriously, though, it’s been quite a year for you with onscreen love interests. The women in the office are jealous — Penn Badgley, Timberlake, Gosling, Garfield. You’re a lucky woman …

Stone: What can I say? You cannot compare them. They are so wonderful in their own ways. Again, it’s been an amazing year.

MTV: Has there been one surreal point in particular that kind of encapsulates 2010 for you?

Stone: Hosting “Saturday Night Live.” That’s always been my ultimate dream. That moment before you come out those doors when Don Pardo says your name and you’re standing there … I had never let myself imagine what that would feel like. That moment when you walk through those doors was probably the most surreal moment, not just of this year, but ever.

MTV: So you guys are in rehearsals for “Spider-Man,” right? What is that process like at this point?

Stone: Today I went and did hair tests, because I have blonde hair now since Gwen has blonde hair. My natural hair is blonde, so it’s kind of nice. I looked in the mirror and said, “Oh my god, it’s me again, it’s been so long!” We’re finalizing the visual stuff. And I think we’ll start actually rehearsing, because we start shooting in two weeks. Andrew and I went and learned about science yesterday. Gwen really likes science, so we learned about science. I was homeschooled, so I never went to chemistry class in a traditional setting like Gwen is into. That was really beneficial.

MTV: There seemed to be so much competition for the role of Gwen Stacy. Do you ever think, “Why me?” What do you think won you the part?

Stone: I ask myself that question every day. I have no f—ing idea. It’s the most amazing idea, I can’t even tell you. I don’t think I ever will figure out how it happened. It’s been mind-blowing. I know things will eventually change, so I’m just trying to avoid thinking about it and just enjoy it while it’s happening. Ugh, what am I even saying? Don’t write any of that down!

LOVEFiLM: How did you get involved in the project?

Emma Stone: It kind of started like any other job, I read the script and then I auditioned, so it was just a pretty basic evolvement.

LF: Olive isn’t the coolest kid at school, did you draw on any of your own high school experiences?

ES: I only went to high school for my first semester of the ninth grade year, but then I left and was home schooled, so it’s a different experience. I think the film is related to how someone feels in life in general. School is a more extreme version of what happens in life because you see the same people every day. It can happen in a work environment or anything like that. I mean, it was the same with the kids when I was doing theatre growing up, so it’s all relatable…

LF: What I loved about the film is that you can be a teenager or you can be in your twenties or in your thirties even, and still enjoy it…

ES: I think anyone can relate to being 17 and working out who you want to be, what you want to do with your life and who you want to be with. It could happen in the work place with a 35 year old woman. It’s just a subject matter. I think it’s a universal story rather than just having to be 17 and high school for this to happen.

LF: You’ve played a geek before in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and a cool kid in Superbad, which did you prefer?

ES: Oh gosh that’s hard to answer. Olive was so much fun to play. The best part of being an actor is playing different sides of yourself while you’re playing other characters.

LF: What was it like having Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson as parents? I want them to be my parents…

ES: You can always tell what it’s like working with them when you watch the film. They were so funny and amazing and loose. We gelled together so well and made it so much fun. They were only there for three days but they were great. You learn a lot from working with people like that. I simultaneously want them to be my parents and want to marry them both, which is this kind of weird symbiotic relationship, that just doesn’t go together…(laughs)

LF: As much as I don’t like the song, I loved the Pocket Full of Sunshine scene, was that fun to film or painful?

ES: The director Will Gluck has these two little girls who had a card that played a song over and over, so that scene is in the movie because of his own experience with an annoying song. And it’s haunted us ever since. We were at a national press day and they played the song as we were walking out. As much as it’s funny in the movie, it really haunts us.

LF: Which was your favourite scene to film?

ES: Well I really loved filming with Stanley and Patricia, they were great days. Those were my favourite days. It was great.
The best part of being an actor is playing different sides of yourself while you’re playing other characters.

LF: What can our readers expect from Easy A?

ES: That’s a hard question to answer. Sorry I have trouble summing up the movie in one sentence. There are lots of great scenes and there’s a lot to take away, it touches on modern technology and the spreading of rumours, in a teenager’s world. It’s just really good fun…

LF: It’s great news that you’ll be starring in Spider-Man, how does it feel to be part of something so huge?

ES: I’m so excited, it’s going to be a crazy re-imagining and it’s going to be a lot of fun. It starts soon so I’m really looking forward to it.