Emma Stone Shocked By “How Many Agents You Have to Talk To” As ‘Poor Things’ Producer
24.02.2024 - 20:01
/ deadline.com
Producers for nine of the 10 nominees for Outstanding Producer of a Motion Picture at the PGA Awards spoke at a breakfast panel about their films Saturday.
Emma Stone called herself the newest producer on a panel that included Oppenheimer producer Charles Roven, Past Lives producer Christine Vachon and The Holdovers producer Mark Johnson. Stone’s first producer credit was the 2018 Netflix series Maniac.
Producing Poor Things, in which she stars as a woman created from a reanimated body, Stone said what surprised her the most about producing was “how many agents you have to talk to. Whoa, it is very interesting to be on the other side of it now. It’s a lot. Agents are great, but whew.”
Vachon backed Stone up from her experience, which includes Go Fish and Kids. In her context, Vachon said she liked producing films for first time directors like Past Lives’s Celine Song, because they provide a counterpoint to some of the negatives of the industry grind.
“Usually a first-time director is telling the story they’ve waited their whole lives to tell,” Vachon said. “It is impossible to be cynical on that set. I really feel like cynicism is one of the No. 1 creativity killers. It’s very hard in this business to avoid for obvious reasons, i.e. agents, etc.”
As producer of Barbie, Margot Robbie had unique negotiations with Mattel, the toy company that produces Barbie dolls. Robbie said Mattel and studio Warner Bros. were uncomfortable with aspects of Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach’s script. Robbie said she and her fellow producers went page by page with all parties involved to fight for the film, which became the year’s biggest box office hit.
Robbie plays Stereotypical Barbie, based on the most common blonde iteration of the