At the Venice and Telluride Film Festivals, Jesse Plemons stunned critics and audiences with his performance in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Bugonia, a darkly comic and unsettling thriller co-starring Emma Stone. Adapted from the Korean cult classic Save the Green Planet!, the film follows Teddy (Plemons), a conspiracy-driven beekeeper who kidnaps Big Pharma CEO Michelle Fuller (Stone), convinced she is an alien plotting humanity’s destruction.
Plemons admitted he was both intimidated and deeply moved by the script. “Like an explosion… I laughed so much, I was so moved,” he said, recalling his first read. By the second reading, however, the project felt heavier and scarier: “I loved the part so much… To try and do it justice was intimidating.”
To prepare, Plemons immersed himself in internet conspiracy theories, recognizing the disturbing timeliness of the character: “There are so many Teddies out there in varying degrees… it was fascinating.” He drew inspiration from Naomi Klein’s book “Doppelganger”, which helped him explore the character’s childlike rage and deep pain.
Teddy’s obsession leads to extreme measures: shaving Fuller’s head so aliens can’t track her, chaining her to a bed, and even torturing her when she resists. Their intense dynamic culminates in a tense dinner scene over spaghetti and meatballs, which Plemons described as “as much fun as you can have as an actor.”
The actor praised newcomer Aidan Delbis, who plays Teddy’s rifle-toting cousin. “Aidan is the MVP of the movie,” Plemons said emotionally, noting how Delbis’ presence and authenticity elevated the project.
Working alongside Emma Stone, Plemons had only limited rehearsal time due to overlapping promotion for Kinds of Kindness. Despite the demanding pace, he said the relentlessness of the shoot helped him stay grounded in Teddy’s descent: “You have to look at what awful thing is coming next.”
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Up next, Plemons will appear in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (2026) opposite Florence Pugh, taking on the role of Plutarch Heavensbee, once played by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. Having worked with Hoffman early in his career on The Master, Plemons called the experience “one of the best classes I’ve ever taken.”
With Bugonia, Plemons proves once again that his range is limitless — shifting from tender vulnerability to disturbing menace in a performance that critics say could be one of the most memorable of the year.
Source: indiewire.com
