Jesse Eisenberg makes Emma Stone cry with emotional Independent Spirit Awards speech: “I think about her like a fairy godmother”
Jesse Eisenberg brought Emma Stone to tears after he paid tribute to her in a speech at the Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday (February 22).
The actor and director won Best Screenplay for the buddy comedy A Real Pain, which he wrote, directed and starred in, and he used his speech to shout out his longtime friend and collaborator Stone, herself a producer on the movie.
He said: “I met Emma when we were in Zombieland together in 2009, and since then, I write little magazine articles and little things on McSweeney’s, and she’s the only person – I’m including my mom here – who would take little screenshots of it over the last 15 years and send me things like, ‘This is such a funny line!’”
He described Stone as “the most famous person I know, and yet also the most dedicated to encouraging me as a writer,” and added, “I think about her not as my producer, but like a fairy godmother – that I am riding the coattails of her goodwill.”
As he finished his speech, Stone could be seen getting visibly emotional in the audience.
After his win, Eisenberg was asked if he’d like to write something for Stone to act in at some point, and he replied, “Every single person in the world who opens a final draft folder wants to write something for Emma Stone. She’s the greatest in every genre. So yeah.”
He then joked, “I tend not to think of writing from the perspective of what actor could do it. More so just like characters that interest me. At some point, I’ll probably have the presumption to write something for her and it’ll be a very awkward conversation where she tells me she’s busy.”
Also at the awards, Kieran Culkin won Best Supporting Performance for his turn as Benji Kaplan in A Real Pain, while comedy dramas Anora and Dìdi won three and two awards respectively.
In a four-star review of A Real Pain, NME said: “Making just his second film as director, following 2022’s When You Finish Saving The World, Eisenberg graciously lets [Culkin] take centre stage but everyone here contributes to the ensemble, especially [Will] Sharpe who nails the knowledgeable, ultra-sensitive Brit who treads softly across this torturous historical path. A road movie that really makes you think about the stops it makes, there is real pain inside this film; Eisenberg and his cast do well to ensure you’ll feel every moment of it.
As for Stone, Eisenberg revealed in November that she got her role in Zombieland by insulting him in the audition. He said, “I was already cast in the movie, so I was auditioning like many people for her part that day. The actors at that point were all amazing actresses, but they were all, like, trying to get into the movie, and so they were being really polite and everything.
“And then [Stone] came in, and she just started making fun of me in the scene, like just assaulting me with insults in the scene and it was so funny. They were so quick and so funny and cutting. And she left the room and I just felt so, so small.”
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Adam England
NME
