Emma Stone with a shaved, blood-spattered head. Jesse Plemons wrestling with fake hair. Yorgos Lanthimos, the ever-eccentric maestro, presiding over yet another film that cements his status as a true auteur.

The special Los Angeles event for Bugonia had all the makings of a headline—and then Dakota Johnson grabbed a microphone.

On Friday night, Johnson stepped into a new professional lane: panel moderator. A role she accepted, she joked, with minimal qualifications and maximum self-awareness—while simultaneously submitting a playful audition for Lanthimos’ next project.

Johnson admitted she had watched Bugonia—a story about two conspiracy-obsessed men who kidnap a powerful CEO they’re convinced is an alien bent on Earth’s destruction—twice in the previous 24 hours. Still, she repeatedly warned the audience she was “the wrong person” for the job.

“This isn’t going to be a good interview,” she deadpanned. “I’m not good at this. I don’t know why they asked me, but here we are.” Laughter erupted.

Scrolling through questions on her phone, she inevitably hit the obvious topic: Bugonia marks the fourth collaboration between Lanthimos and Stone, following The Favourite, Poor Things, and Kinds of Kindness.
“Are you aware,” Johnson teased the director, “that there are other actresses? Really talented ones? Possibly even very close to you?”

Stone jumped in, mock-shocked. “What! No, right?” She turned to Johnson: “Go ahead—make your pitch.”
Johnson reminded Stone she already had. “I did, and it didn’t work. Remember? You were there.” Stone burst into laughter.

Johnson also applauded Stone’s bold look in the film. “Who on Earth looks that beautiful with a shaved head covered in blood?” she asked.

Plemons then chimed in with his own follicular saga. Playing a conspiracy theorist required him to wear a full head of fake hair—something that became an ongoing joke with the director.
“There was a stretch when I first put it on and every time George saw me, he just laughed,” Plemons recalled. “I wasn’t sure that was a good sign.”

As the chaotic, comedic conversation wound down, Johnson confessed: “I regret doing this. I will never do it again. [Emma] warned me, but I had already said yes. Is there anything you’d like to say before this disastrous interview ends?”
Plemons insisted, “It really wasn’t that bad.”

Lanthimos, dry as ever, added: “I think you’re the third-best moderator we’ve ever had.”
Johnson blinked. “That’s a huge compliment. I’m coming with you on tour.”