This article was originally published on December 22, 2023. Emma Stone has since won her second Oscar for the leading role in Poor Things and reportedly shaved her head for her fourth collaboration with director Yorgos Lanthimos, set to release in 2025 . The quintessential Emma Stone acting choice comes near the end of Battle of the Sexes , a solid but unremarkable 2017 tennis bio-drama in which she plays Billie Jean King to Steve Carell’s Bobby Riggs.
King is all nerves before their famous match; as attendants carry her down a hallway on a garish throne, preparing for a grand entrance, she is visibly fretful over the reputational damage of agreeing to this in the first place. She ducks her head as she enters the stadium — and looks up as she emerges into the light, smiling like a superstar. It’s a split-second reveal of the machinery behind preternatural charisma.
Stone has always known how to let you in on a metamorphosis. Her best roles are those in which her character transforms and ascends: an unknown actress becomes a movie star, a newcomer to the queen’s court acquires power, a talented tennis player turns icon. She doesn’t disappear into her roles; she makes you aware of the games her characters are playing.
In All About Eve terms, she’s Bette Davis and she’s Anne Baxter. With her giant eyes — which can project vulnerability or shift into unearthly confidence — and her raspy voice, Stone locates the star inside the striver and vice versa. More recent.
