Emma Stone’s star will soon shine on Broadway when she debuts in “Cabaret,”
but the actress’s latest projects have been darker than her previous
roles in “The Amazing Spider-Man,” “Easy A” and, earlier this year,
“Magic in the Moonlight.”
In the film “Birdman,” directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, she plays Sam, a young woman fresh out of rehab and furious at her father, Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton).
Sam agrees to be his assistant as he obsesses over staging his Broadway
adaptation of a Raymond Carver story, but then feels neglected and
relegated to menial tasks like getting his coffee.
Ms. Stone, 25 years old, filmed several of her “Birdman” scenes on
the rooftop of Broadway’s St. James Theatre on 44th Street, just 10
blocks from where she will star in her own show, “Cabaret” at Studio 54,
starting Nov. 11.
In “Cabaret,” she is set to take over the role of Sally Bowles, the
despairing singer at the Kit Kat Klub in 1931 Berlin. Directed by Rob Marshall and Sam Mendes, this Roundabout Theatre Company revival stars Alan Cumming as the Emcee and, currently, Michelle Williams as Sally.
Sally is a tragic figure, for whom love is fleeting—and a role Ms.
Stone has wanted to play ever since she watched Natasha Richardson sing
“Cabaret” as a 9-year-old girl.
Ms. Stone spoke with the Journal about “Birdman” and “Cabaret,”
navigating social media as a public person, and redirecting paparazzi
interest. An edited transcript follows.
In “Birdman,” Sam is often on the periphery of things, then
becomes the center of some key action. Were you able to use that to your
advantage to play her?
It’s a good question, because she is lurking and sitting on her phone
on the outskirts of scenes a lot of the time. It was one of those
always-watching kind of feelings. I feel like a lot of people distract
themselves when they’re on their phone, but they’re sort of aware of
what’s happening around them, which gives them more insights than maybe
it seems.
In the scene when Sam lashes out at her dad, it’s intense
when she yells, “You don’t exist!” but also kind of funny because she’s
criticizing him for not caring about Twitter and Facebook.
Because it’s such a tangent, I thought it was probably something she
had written down in a journal when she was in rehab, as something she
had felt about him and had probably said to herself a million times, and
was activated enough to say it to him the first time. Which I think
felt different than what she expected it to feel. I don’t think I saw it
as comedy or tragedy, so much as just this little truth bomb that she
was finally getting the chance to throw at him.
Sam tries to show him the power of YouTube and social media.
How do you negotiate your own power on the Internet as a public person?
I don’t have a public social-media account—Twitter or Instagram or
anything—but I have apps on my phone of Huffington Post or the Guardian.
I look at people’s Twitter.
Because I don’t really engage with it on a personal level, I don’t
see comments personally directed at me or respond to anything in that
way. I think maybe it’s easier to stay removed in some sense. I don’t
feel at the mercy of whoever’s “@”-replying me, you know?
But it is interesting because there’s just so much of it now. There’s
just so many websites and so many different forums. I grew up loving
the Internet so much and building websites. I had an e-zine that I would
send to three people who would subscribe, who were probably all my mom
under different screen names, before blogging was really a thing. I
think now there’s an overwhelming nature that’s sort of inherent to
social media—all the tweets and the constant-ness of it is a little much
for me.
What was your e-zine like?
It was called Neptune. It was a pretty hip e-zine. I had an advice
column which featured questions from me and answers by me, which was
great for working things out in a strangely therapeutic sense for a
10-year-old. I was really into fonts and layouts, so I worked hard on
that. I sent it to my subscribers, who adored it, just adored it.
I also had this newsletter that I made for the third-graders every
Wednesday. I would put this newsletter on all the girls’ desks, and it
was called Girls’ Locker. I don’t know what my deal was, but I really
wanted to be a journalist.
When the paparazzi have shot photos of you, at times you held
up signs that highlighted charities and causes. Is that an effort to
shape or control the experience?
The nature of that thing is that you feel totally out of control and
like you’re in a different reality where it’s OK for people that you
don’t know to be taking pictures of you with a long-distance lens.
It’s a violating feeling a lot of the time. The times when we’ve done
the signs, it’s been groups of people outside, and it just felt like
there was a chance in that moment to redirect. Because otherwise it was
just going to be walking down the street and just another picture of me
holding a damn coffee cup since I’m always drinking coffee, wearing the
same scarf [laughs]. But that’s not me.
So it felt like an opportunity. At the same time, that felt like a
more effective way to bring attention in that direction even than
Twitter maybe would, because it doesn’t feel like a faceless link that
you’re sending out.
You’re about to play Sally Bowles in “Cabaret” on Broadway. What emotions do you feel with Sally’s song “Maybe This Time”?
I just went through the scene the other day and worked out that scene
with Bill Heck, the guy who plays Cliff. I mean, I just yesterday for
the first time got on stage and sang that song, which is really surreal.
Theater is always an evolving idea, but right now that song seems to
me the most optimistic we ever get to see her. I feel like that’s in
some ways the most hopeful point of the show until the very end of the
song. So I’m sort of thinking about that right now. She has a respite
from all of the things that are racing through her mind all the time.
How about her final song, “Cabaret”?
I could sing that all day, every day. That’s just my favorite thing
in the world. I’m still in rehearsals, so everything is always changing,
and I’m trying things for the first time, in that capacity.
I’ve been singing it in my bedroom or in my head for 16 years but
never actually on stage at Studio 54. I don’t really know yet where it
will land or how it will all end up, but it’s just the coolest, coolest
thing, and I’m really happy and excited.
How are Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall guiding you?
My first official week of rehearsal was last week, so when I go back
we’ll be able to dive in a little bit deeper. I’ve gotten to talk about
the character a lot with them. It’s been something I’ve been mulling
over for about a year and a half so it just feels like I’m learning how
to take all that stuff—the singing in the bedroom, all that’s been
happening internally—and externalize it.
They’re helping me through that. They just know the show very well and they have for a long time, so that’s incredibly helpful.
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