For me, one of the most anticipated and thrilling rituals of the season is the release of a new Yorgos Lanthimos film. I’d been waiting ages for a film like “Bugonia”, for example – and it didn’t disappoint. That blend of madness, unease, and dark comedy that defines the director’s stories always leaves me with a sense of satisfaction and insight that, on one hand, scares me a little and, on the other, feels strangely familiar.
As with Woody Allen and Quentin Tarantino, the recurring cast is one of Lanthimos’s trademarks – and in “Bugonia”, the sublime mix of longtime collaborators and fresh faces is a winning card. One veteran in particular told us firsthand about her experience on his sets and the surprises he had in store for her: Alicia Silverstone.
After a super cool shoot, made even better by the gorgeous spaces of Venice’s Hotel Metropole, my interview with Alicia felt like an encounter with an icon: we compared our impressions of “Bugonia” – hers from the inside, mine from the outside – and we talked about Lanthimos’s sets, “A Merry Little Ex-Mas” and how we perceive Christmas, activism, and our beautiful planet.
I ended the call with that dry yet crystal-clear feeling that comes from conversations that really work: no frills, just ideas that stay with you. Alicia has a straightforward way of tackling topics that both disarms and clarifies at the same time. What lingered with me most was this: the clarity with which she reads the world, and the simplicity with which she passes it on.
What is your first cinema memory?
I think the first would be “The Wizard of Oz”. When I was little, in our house, we had four cassette tapes: that one, “The Sound of Music”, “Bruce Lee”, and “The Three Stooges”.
Speaking of memories, I watched “Bugonia” just yesterday and I’m still processing it – it was crazy, in a good way, and for me surprisingly fun. The movie deals with conspiracy, alienation, and power in very unusual ways. How did you personally relate to the themes of paranoia and belief in the story?
Well, I don’t want to give away anything to anyone, but I think that some of the paranoia is correct, they’re right, and my character in particular was right. So, I like that, that’s fun.
I think that Jesse [Plemmons] is so wonderful in the movie, as well as Emma [Stone], Aidan [Delbis] and Stavros [Halkias], everyone is doing such great work. And, you know, the director, Yorgos Lanthimos, is a brilliant genius.
He’s one of my absolute favorites of all time. “Dogtooth” blows my mind, it’s my favorite one along with “The Killing of the Sacred Deer”.
Oh, that’s so cool. Well, I guess because I’m in “The Killing of the Sacred Deer” it’s harder to experience, I should probably watch it again now, I haven’t seen it since it came out – I knew everything that was going to happen, so, it’s just a different experience for me.
“Bugonia”’s script was written by Will Tracy, who’s a very talented writer, so, you know, everything was on the page. I remember reading my part and thinking, “Oh, I’m going to be playing a sort of drug addict woman”, and I imagined myself in the corner of some dirty room floor, I did not imagine myself levitating or having porcupine needles coming out of my body [laughs]. It was incredible, and the music in the film is so good – it’s so important that people see it in the theater because you won’t get that off of your box, you know.
I just had that experience with another film I did called “Pretty Thing” – I’d seen it on the “little box”, on my computer, and it was good, but then I saw it in the theater, and it was a whole other movie.
“It was incredible, and the music in the film is so good – it’s so important that people see it in the theater because you won’t get that off of your box, you know.”
Yes, absolutely, it’s a whole different thing, and a collective experience first and foremost. The whole alien-vs-human thing in “Bugonia” feels more like a dark joke about how imperfect we, human beings, are. How did you read that theme when you first got the script? How did it change your idea of humanity?
I’ve been an activist since I was about 15 years old, for the Earth, for animals, for children – I think there’s so much beauty and so much love in the world. At the same time, there are even people who are beautiful and lovely, but they are not doing what they need to do to make the world better. So, you know, it’s complicated business.
You play a woman whose past trauma drives a hidden engine in the plot. How did you prepare for that emotional weight, and did any part of the process surprise you?
Well, I just really tried to make sense of what my character was saying, because she’s a little far gone in the world. I’ve locked into her need to keep her son alive, her need to have her son save the world, and those are not complicated themes for me because I am an activist. Also, I thought that her self-hatred was really interesting – you know, she was so ashamed of herself, and working with Yorgos and Jesse was a delight on those scenes.
What surprised me the most was when Yorgos said to me, “Now, I’m trying to make it not make any sense”, while I’d just spent so much time trying to make it make sense so that I could believe what I was saying! [laughs] That was fun.
Yeah, I guess working with Yorgos Lanthimos means stepping into a very distinct cinematic world – how was your experience on set, and what was the most surprising aspect of working with him on this project?
Well, because I was in “The Killing of a Sacred Deer”, I had already had the amazing experience of working with him. But it was very different last time, equally beautiful and interesting, but just different.
I remember that on “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” it was the first time I saw a filmmaker put the camera in such different places. In my experience, usually you do a wide shot, and then you come in closer – that’s how filmmaking is usually. But with Yorgos, I saw him put the wide shot up the stairs, in almost in another room, and I thought, “What is happening?”. And then when he did a close-up on Barry [Keoghan], it was almost on his ear, on the back of his head, and it was so interesting. And also, he let us do so many takes, and he didn’t say anything. I remember once I went over to him, and I said, “Is there anything you want different?”. He said, “I’d tell you if I wanted something different, don’t you think?”.
He was walking around with his camera taking pictures of us the whole time – that has not changed, he still does that, he loves photography.
On this one, though he was much more playful – he was a DJ on set, constantly playing great music and just really playful with everyone. You could tell he had really formed wonderful relationships with his first AD, with his DP, with the actors, he had really loosey-goosey, playful vibration. That was really nice, and the direction was very different on this one than it was last time. I hope I get to do it many, many more times. He’s truly a brilliant, brilliant genius, and he’s also just the kindest person.
“The direction was very different on this one than it was last time. I hope I get to do it many, many more times.”
“Bugonia” blends sci-fi, dark comedy, thriller and social critique. Which of those genres did you feel most influent in the making of it – and which personally challenged or engaged you most?
I don’t go into a project thinking about what the genre is because, for me, you play them all the same. Whatever scene we’re playing, I think, “This is absolutely real, this is what’s happening”. Also, the genre that you think you’re making doesn’t always match the experience. For example, “Pretty Thing” is an erotic thriller, but I was laughing out loud at some parts, you know? You don’t really know what you’re going to get.
For “Bugonia”, I’m sure they knew what they were going to get and they were quite specific, but I just love free falling into Yorgos’ world, I love that I can trust him and do whatever he has in mind. I’ve seen enough of his work to know that’s a whole planet you’re entering and it’s a wonderful one.
A very, dark, disturbing, but also amusing planet. And what do you hope audiences take away from “Bugonia”? What do you hope they remember about it?
I think they’re going to have a really great experience. It’s highly entertaining watching the actors, but specifically Emma and Jesse, go back and forth with each other. It’s got enough of those gruesome moments for the people who like that kind of stuff, too – you definitely experience some shock, and I think you’ll have some good laughs as well.
My deep wish would be that everyone would realize that they need to be plant-based to save the world.
Now speaking of “A Merry Little Ex-Mas”: what was your experience like on this set? It’s a whole different thing, of course, so, what was it like?
Yeah, I jumped from Yorgos’ film to the TV show “Irish Blood”, then to this Christmas movie. We laughed a lot. We laughed a lot on set, and I had really good time with the actors, specifically Oliver Hudson and Pearson Fodé.
I mean, the movie is about a woman who is breaking up with her husband and she doesn’t want to, but he’s just doing everything wrong and driving her mad, and she’s probably doing stuff wrong, too – she’s tried so hard to make it work, and now there’s no other option but to break up. So, they’re having this last Christmas in her house, and she wants it to go perfectly, but everything falls apart. She’s so sad at Christmas time, but the whole situation is very funny.
There’s also a lot of talk about being totally honest. Do you think it’s harder than ever to be truly honest – with others and even with ourselves?
No, I don’t. I guess it might be for others, but personally I’ve never had a hard time being honest, nor even with myself. I actually have such a repulsion to lying and a repulsion to not trying to make this life the best it can possibly be. We all have trauma, we all have stuff we have to work through, but for me, to live my life and not try to get to the bottom of everything and fix everything and make it the best it can be is just a waste. I can’t even comprehend it. What do you think?
I think it’s harder to be honest with yourself than with others. At least, I find it harder to be honest with myself sometimes because I’m such a people-pleaser, so I’m rather focused on other people’s well-being and on being respectful towards them rather than myself.
Yeah, I perfectly understand because I used to do that. Now, I don’t do that anymore. We all have to work on that, I think, it’s a hard one.
“For me, to live my life and not try to get to the bottom of everything and fix everything and make it the best it can be is just a waste.”
The film mentions the idea of “giving things their true name.” If you had to do that now, how would you name or define this chapter of your life?
I wrote something about this recently. You know, sometimes I scribble notes and this is kind of a deep question. I don’t really think of my life that way. Do you know the answer to that for yourself?
I guess this chapter of my life I could call it “The Mess We Made” or something like that. Lots of things are happening and I feel confused on many fronts, so I guess that’s what I would call this chapter like.
Yeah. I don’t know how I could put my life into a sentence, instead. Like, which is a chapter? Is it the forties? Is it the fifties? You know, this year has been very busy, so this chapter thing. I think it depends on how you tend to divide your life and on what happens in your life, as well. I don’t really have a name for mine.
Yeah, fair enough. And what is the meaning of Christmas for you?
I grew up in a Jewish family, so Christmas was not something we did. I would always be curious, go to friends’ houses for Christmas sometimes to experience “whatever that thing was”.
Then my son’s dad was born on Christmas, so it was nice that I could give him a full birthday because I didn’t care about Christmas, it wasn’t important in my life. When our son was born, we started playing around with Christmas and enjoying it.
I think it’s a really nice “excuse” to have some family time, to pause and enjoy the holiday season, and make yummy food and be a family, and the magic of it all, and then the magic for the little ones. That’s what it is for me. Most of the time we go to Jamaica at Christmas, and we don’t even celebrate Christmas at all, to be honest.
You are definitely a true ’90s icon – both for your style and your individuality. How has the idea of being an “icon” changed in today’s world? What does it mean to be an icon today?
I don’t know, I never really understood that. You know, I’ve heard that word for a long time now, and it doesn’t have a specific meaning to me. I think that anybody that was a big part of a time sort of became an icon, right? Like Prince, Britney Spears, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Elvis. Somebody who really defines a generation for people and that time.
Who do you think are today’s icons?
Uh, I wouldn’t know… Do you know?
Maybe the Kardashians. I think in a few years, they’re going to say they were the icons of our time.
Yeah, right!
An epic fail on set?
Well, on “Pretty Thing” we almost got shut down every day. We shot during the strike, and we had all the credentials to be working during strike, but every day, something went wrong, like location permits, or I’d be on set and shooting and go off set for a minute before the next take, and then there’d be some argument happening outside… Every time, there was always something, everything that could possibly delay you at every turn happened to us.
Back to Lanthimos, as it always happens to me after watching one of his movies – tonight I dreamt about “Bugonia”, this morning I woke up thinking about “Bugonia” and I think I will keep thinking about it the rest of this day, at least. What is the latest film or TV show that you’ve watched that had this kind of effect on you?
Well, what are you thinking about when you’re thinking about “Bugonia”?
I’m comparing how it started with how it ended, the technical and stylistic aspects of it, the crazy-good performances, the surprises, the easter eggs, the subtle way this story tackles the ecologic crisis we’re living. Like you said, I hope the people who watch it read that message and consider it seriously.
Yeah. I think it’s so interesting that even if it’s so important to ask ourselves, “Do people do the things that they need to do to make the change?”, I’m not even sure that to get us think about that is the intention of the filmmakers – I think it was just entertainment.
But if you care about this Earth, we have to change what’s on our plate – it’s the most effective thing you can do.
Anyway, I’m re-watching “The Bear” with my son right now – besides the fact that they say “fuck” every single sentence, sometimes multiple times in a sentence, it’s just so good. The characters are amazing, the story is amazing, we’re really enjoying it.
Yeah, that’s one of my favorite shows of the last couple of years. And “fuck” is only the most elegant word they use! [laughs]
One more question for you – what does it mean to feel comfortable in your own skin?
Honestly, that’s the most important thing. When I don’t feel comfortable in my skin, I want to fix that immediately. And it’s important to me that the people that are close to me also are comfortable in their skin. I’m super sensitive, and so, being around people who aren’t, I really feel it, and it makes me uneasy, I feel the pulse and then I want to leave. I’m pretty solid and I’ve learned that through a lot of hard work.
Being comfortable in your own skin is everything.
Photos by Johnny Carrano.
Location: Hotel Metropole Venezia.
What do you think?