Emma Stone had a major loose end to resolve backstage Sunday after winning her second Academy Award.
Stone, who won the Oscar for lead actress for her role as the mischievous Bella Baxter in “Poor Things,” spoke out about the wardrobe malfunction that nearly overshadowed her acceptance speech during the telecast.
“My dress is torn,” she mouthed uneasily before taking the Dolby Theater stage. Stone tried to protect the back seam of her custom Louis Vuitton dress as she walked up the stairs, and host Jessica Lange also tried to help. Upon receiving the trophy from Michelle Yeoh and hugging her friend Jennifer Lawrence, the overwhelmed Stone opened her speech by acknowledging the disaster of her dress.
“My dress is torn; I think it happened during 'I'm Just Ken,'” she said, looking at her “La La Land” co-star Ryan Gosling in the audience. “Barbie’s” Ken performed the Oscar-nominated song during the ceremony, and Stone was among those who sang along with Gosling’s high-energy performance of Ken.
In the press room, Stone doubled down as the media requested a welfare check for her peplum-waist column dress.
“They sewed me back up,” he happily shared. “Just when I came back[stage]“They sewed me back up, which was wonderful.”
She added: “I really think I broke it during 'I'm Just Ken.' I was so amazed by Ryan and what he was doing, and that number blew my mind. And I was there, and I was just trying and, you know, things happen.”
Emma Stone arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar party on Sunday at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills.
(Evan Agostini / Invisión / Associated Press)
He did not elaborate on the wardrobe malfunction, and representatives for LVMH, which owns Louis Vuitton, did not immediately respond Monday to The Times' request for comment. (Stone eventually took off the dress and put on a sheer dress, also by Louis Vuitton, for the Vanity Fair party after the show.)
The nervous star told reporters she was surprised by the win, which was a very close race with fellow nominee Lily Gladstone for “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Stone said she felt like she had “fainted” on stage, though she greeted her daughter during the ceremony and addressed the collaborative power of film (which was later referenced by best picture winner Emma Thomas, who won the top prize along with husband and producing partner Christopher Nolan for “Oppenheimer”).
Stone shared what she learned from playing Bella Baxter in Yorgos Lanthimos' period drama, which won three additional Oscars: for costume design, production design, makeup and hairstyling.
“She's a very, very important character to me,” the 35-year-old said. She praised “the opportunity to play a person starting from scratch but in a totally metaphorical way, which can't really happen in real life.” Stone said she played the character “gaining language and skills at a rapid pace every day and managing to chart that course and realize that she was full of joy, curiosity and true love.”
“It was an incredible lesson I learned,” he said. “So I really miss playing her, ever since we wrapped filming, which was a long time ago. It was about two and a half years ago. “I miss Bella and I'm so grateful we were able to celebrate the movie tonight.”
The Oscar winner for “The La La Land” made headlines that same night due to her reaction to missing the presentation of three technical awards won by the film's crew members.
“Earlier in the lobby, I saw Emma Stone talking to [co-star] Mark Ruffalo's wife, Sunrise Coigney, tweeted Amy Kaufman, Times columnist. “They took a bathroom break and watched 'Poor Things' winning craft awards on the monitors. “We missed out on all the awards we're going to win,” Stone said. 'S-. We stink.'”
Then a clip showing Stone returning to the theater went viral during costume designer Holly Waddington's acceptance speech.
Times editorial assistant Malia Mendez contributed to this. report.
