Emma Stone went down the rabbit hole of social media conspiracy theories for 'Eddington' role

IANS May 17, 2025 375 views

Emma Stone's latest film 'Eddington' offers a provocative exploration of conspiracy theories and social division during the COVID-19 pandemic. The actress revealed she deliberately altered her social media algorithms to understand her character's psychological journey. Directed by Ari Aster, the film debuted at Cannes to a five-minute standing ovation, featuring a star-studded cast including Joaquin Phoenix and Austin Butler. The Western drama promises to challenge viewers' perceptions of community tensions and digital misinformation.

"Once you start Googling it, you start seeing more and more things. So it's a real rabbit hole" - Emma Stone
Emma Stone went down the rabbit hole of social media conspiracy theories for 'Eddington' role
Los Angeles, May 17: Hollywood actress Emma Stone used social media to get into the headspace of her character in Ari Aster’s Western film ‘Eddington’. She had to learn a lot about conspiracy theories, and started working its way into her social media algorithms.

Key Points

1

Emma Stone dove deep into conspiracy theories for her complex role

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Film explores social tensions during COVID-19 pandemic

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'Eddington' receives standing ovation at Cannes

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Explores small-town dynamics during politically charged period

Stone plays Louise, the wife of Joaquin Phoenix’s sheriff, who falls down a conspiracy rabbit hole when she meets Austin Butler’s seductive guru, reports ‘Variety’.

Asked at the Cannes Film Festival press conference for ‘Eddington’ about how she prepared for the role, Stone reflected on how her own algorithm changed during filming.

“The only additional thing that scared me a little bit in the algorithm system was looking into some of the things that are in this film that haven’t been in my algorithm, unfortunately added them to my algorithm”, she said. “Because once you start Googling it, you start seeing more and more things. So it’s a real rabbit hole, very quickly. Unfortunately, I’m still getting fed some crazy shit”.

As per ‘Variety’, ‘Eddington’, which debuted at Cannes last night to a five-minute standing ovation, also stars Pedro Pascal and Austin Butler.

The A24 film, which doesn’t shy away from skewering the MAGA movement, is set at the height of the COVID pandemic in May 2020 and follows “a standoff between a small-town sheriff and mayor that “sparks a powder keg as neighbor is pitted against neighbor in Eddington, New Mexico”.

In a more humorous memory from Covid-19 lockdown, Pascal said “the only thing he could watch” to “protect” himself from the algorithm was the filmography of ‘Twin Peaks’ actress Lara Flynn Boyle.

“There were several seasons of David E. Kelley’s ‘The Precious,’ and it was all on Hulu and I watched that”, he said, eliciting a laugh from the room. “That and reality shows about airports, like old A&E, people just losing their shit at the airport or trying to move their house in boxes but using Southwest Airlines instead of a shipping company and stuff like that. I was educating myself”.

‘Eddington’ is set to arrive in cinemas on July 18.

Reader Comments

P
Priya K.
Interesting how social media algorithms work globally! Even our Indian platforms show similar rabbit holes - one video about Ayurveda leads to extreme health claims, then suddenly you're seeing flat earth theories. Stay woke, folks! 🤯
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Rahul S.
As someone who works in IT, this algorithm manipulation is scary accurate. In India, we see this with political content too - one nationalist video and suddenly your feed becomes an echo chamber. Hope the movie shows this danger properly.
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Ananya M.
Emma Stone is such a versatile actress! But honestly, during COVID lockdown I also fell into weird YouTube holes - went from watching cooking videos to alien theories in 3 days 😅 Western or Indian, social media plays with all our minds similarly.
V
Vikram J.
The COVID setting makes this extra relevant for us Indians. Remember all those WhatsApp forwards about "kadha" cures and 5G conspiracy theories? This film might help people understand how misinformation spreads. Looking forward to it!
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Sneha P.
While the concept is interesting, I hope they don't stereotype all conspiracy theorists. Some alternative viewpoints have merit - like how Indian traditional medicine was mocked initially but now being studied seriously. Balance is key!
K
Karan D.
Pedro Pascal watching airport reality shows is the most relatable thing I've heard today 😂 During lockdown, I binged all those Indian railway documentaries on Discovery. Algorithms may be dangerous, but sometimes they give us perfect timepass!

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