Emma Stone has a “shtick.”
The Oscar winner revealed during The Hollywood Reporter’s Actress Roundtable that her “teary cry smile” became a recurring facial expression in the 2011 film The Help.
“Tate Taylor, the director, made me laugh so much because on the set he goes, ‘All right, why don’t you just do your teary cry smile?’ And I know exactly what it is, it’s like [makes the face] with a tear,” she recalled. “I’ve never done it since. I was like, ‘Fuck, it’s my teary cry smile moment!’ I see it in a movie, and I’m like, ‘Damn it, teary cry smile.’ That’s my shtick.”
Stone also reflected on the worst career advice she has received, which actually came from herself. “I’m so hard on myself. I think because I’ve made mistakes before, I have such a hard time forgiving myself that I get scared and I lock up,” she said.
“As time has gone on I’ve gotten more excited to play people that are unlike me or where I need to go into different worlds because I’ve felt for so long just in my own experience, so that’s what I understood how to play,” she shared.
The actress credits her role as Billie Jean King in Battle of the Sexes for inspiring her to take on characters that are more different from her and have wider life experiences. “She’s infused so much into my spirit,” Stone said of playing the professional athlete. “It became something that I really wanted to expand into because for a long time I was playing different versions of myself, teary cry smile and all.”
The Actress Roundtable also features Mary J. Blige, Jessica Chastain, Allison Janney, Jennifer Lawrence and Saoirse Ronan. Tune in to THR.com/roundtables for more roundtables featuring talent from the year’s top films.
