Emma Stone shaved her head for Bugonia — would you?
Atsushi Nishijima/Focus Features
hide caption
toggle caption
Atsushi Nishijima/Focus Features
Bugonia is the latest film by director Yorgos Lanthimos. The dark comedy stars Emma Stone as a high-powered CEO who gets kidnapped by a pair of cousins convinced she’s an alien. In the process, they shave her head bald.
The film opens nationwide on October 31, but one audience in Culver City, Calif., was treated to a special advance screening this week. It was part of a publicity stunt.
In the lobby of the Culver Theater, a tattooed barber named K.C. shaved heads bald in exchange for free tickets for Bugonia.
Richard Chung, who works for a video game company, got his head shaved for a free ticket to an advanced screening of Bugonia.
Mandalit del Barco/NPR
hide caption
toggle caption
Mandalit del Barco/NPR
First in line was Matt Lopez, a 29-year-old Disneyland ride operator. “Ever since I saw the trailer about six months ago, I’m like ‘yeah, I’m definitely down for this,'” he said as his shoulder length brown locks were lopped off. “So if I’m able to see this early and get a free haircut at the same time, it’s a no-brainer.
Olabisi Kovadel, 29, got her head shaved too. “I can feel some air hitting my scalp right now,” she said. “It’s pretty refreshing.”
Over the years, movies have created buzz with other promotional stunts — famously, a phony documentary for the 1999 horror movie The Blair Witch Project.
The late director, David Lynch, once campaigned for his movie Inland Empire by chain-smoking on Hollywood Boulevard with a piano and a live cow.
The latest stunts are experiences designed to become viral social media moments. The Bugonia promo was set up for Focus Features by TriplePlay Studios, the same company that hyped the creepy, supernatural horror film Smile in 2022.
“We sent people to baseball games to sit behind home plate, knowing they’d be on camera,” says Alex Craig, founder of TriplePlay Studios. “They just smiled for the entire baseball game.”
That whacky marketing stunt put TriplePlay Studios on the map. Last summer, the company plugged the survival thriller The Long Walk by having moviegoers walk on treadmills continuously while watching the entire one hour and 48 minute long movie. If they stopped, they were escorted out.
Beyond using traditional media, Craig says studios are trying everything they can to get people back to the cinema. “Something that’s off the wall and gets the internet’s attention,” he says.
Even if that means getting your head shaved like Emma Stone.
