Emma Stone has won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role, beating her fellow nominee Killers of the Flower Moon's Lily Gladstone, who was the bookies' favourite.
Despite Gladstone scoring the SAG Award and having a historic win at the Golden Globes this year, Oscar voters have shifted to Stone's free-spirited, brilliant performance in Yorgos Lanthimos' Poor Things.
"My dress is broken, I think it happened during 'I'm Just Ken'," Stone started her speech, visibly nervous and emotional. "This is very overwhelming. My voice is also a little gone, whatever!"
The actress thanked her fellow nominees ("I'm in awe of you") and the movie's team. "It's been such an honour to do this together," she said.
"It's not about me, it's about a team that came together to make something greater than the sum of its parts," Stone said, thanking "every crew member" and everybody involved in the production.
"Thank you for the gift of a lifetime in the role of Bella Baxter," she said to director Lanthimos.
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This is the second Oscar for Stone, who already won the Best Lead Actress award back in 2017 for La La Land.
With this win, Emma beat not only Gladstone, but also her other fellow nominees Annette Bening (Nyad), Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall) and Carey Mulligan (Maestro).
Based on Alasdair Gray's 1993 novel, Poor Things follows Bella Baxter, a woman who is brought back to life and goes through a sexual and political awakening.
Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy, Stone revealed that the character has changed her life.
"I found her inspiring in all ways. Her lack of shame and self-judgment can't help but rub off on you, in a way," she said.
"I will say that since playing her – this is always stupid to me, and no offence to any other actors that may ever hear this – but I'm always like, 'Oh, an actor talking about this is so transformative, it was therapy', I don't know why I always find that so kind of silly because it feels like such a lucky job where you're playing dress-up."
Poor Things is now available to watch on Disney+.
Mireia (she/her) has been working as a movie and TV journalist for over eight years. Based in the UK, she is a former deputy movies editor at Digital Spy, and previously worked for the Spanish magazine Fotogramas. Mireia's work has been published in other outlets such as Esquire and Elle in Spain, and WeLoveCinema and GamesRadar+ in the UK. She is also a published author, having written the essay Biblioteca Studio Ghibli: Nicky, la aprendiz de bruja about Hayao Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service.
During her years as a freelance journalist and film critic, Mireia has covered festivals around the world and has interviewed high-profile talents such as Kristen Stewart, Ryan Gosling, Jake Gyllenhaal and many more. She's also taken part in juries such as the FIPRESCI jury at Venice Film Festival and the short film jury at Kingston International Film Festival in London. LinkedIn
