Emma Stone Reunites with Reporter Who Went Viral for Calling Her by Her Real Name at Cannes Film Festival (2025)

Emma Stone reunited with the reporter who went viral for calling her by her real name at the Cannes Film Festival last year, as she appeared at the annual event again on Saturday, May 17, to promote her new movie Eddington.

During a press conference, the journalist told Stone, "I'd like to thank you for quite literally changing my life. Just a year ago, we were at the very same press room, where I addressed you by your real name, Emily."

As Stone, 36, responded, "Yes, very good to see you,"the reporter continued, "The video of this, and your kind and warm response, it went viral in Western media and obviously in my country, Kazakhstan, and it has skyrocketed my career and it has changed my personal life — literally for saying one word."

"That wasincredibly sweet, and I'm so happy that a name could do that," Stone then responded, before going on to discuss her project with the journalist.

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During the press conference at the2024 Cannes Film Festival, Stone beamed when the reporter referred to her by her birth name of Emily.

"That's my name!" she excitedly told Yorgos Lanthimos at the time, as they promoted their film Kinds of Kindness.

Stone previously toldThe Hollywood Reporterthat she initially changed her real name professionally to Emma years ago because another actress was already going by Emily Stone.

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During her most recent Cannes appearance, Stone and costars Joaquin Phoenix,Pedro PascalandAustin Butlerspoke alongside filmmaker Ari Aster about their new thriller, which takes place in New Mexico in May 2020 amid the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic and as civil unrest began to break out across the United States.

Pascal, 50, opened up about how he feels for immigrants in the United States currently amid Donald Trump's second presidential term.

"I want people to be safe and to be protected, and I want very much to live on the right side of history," he said. "And I'm an immigrant. My parents are refugees from Chile. I myself was a refugee. We fled a dictatorship, and I was privileged enough to grow up in the U.S. after asylum in Denmark."

Added the actor: "And if it weren't for that, I don't know what would've happened to us. So I stand by those protections, always."

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A synopsis for Eddington states that the film depicts "a standoff between a small-town sheriff (Phoenix) and mayor (Pascal) [that] sparks a powder keg as neighbor is pitted against neighbor in Eddington, New Mexico."

The movie was written and directed by Aster, 38, who has gained renown in the indie film community for his movies Hereditary, Midsommar and Beau Is Afraid, the latter of which he also worked with Phoenix, 50, on.

A trailer released for Eddington in April showed footage of Phoenix, Butler, 33, Pascal and Stone's characters speaking — along with other footage that implies Phoenix's sheriff has assaulted protestors in his town — before the character is seen "doomscrolling" on his phone before bed.

Eddington's stars are expected to be all over movie theaters throughout the rest of the year. Stone returns to the big screen with frequent collaborator Yorgos Lanthimos in Bugonia, which releases in theaters in October,while Pascal stars in June's Materialists and July's The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which releases one week after Eddington.

Butler, meanwhile, stars in Darren Aronofsky's Caught Stealing that will be released in August.

The Cannes Film Festival runs through May 24. Following Eddington's world premiere, the movie hits theaters on July 18.