Hey, even if it was a mistake, Emma Stone will take it.
The two-time Oscar winner was answering questions during a press conference for her upcoming film Kinds Of Kindness at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival over the weekend, when a reporter from Kazakhstan stood up and addressed her in a way that made her visibly delighted.
“My questions go to Emily Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos, so Emily...” the reporter asked the film’s star and director, Yorgos Lanthimos.
Thinking that the journalist had made a mistake with the actor’s name, Yorgos quickly corrected the reporter by saying “Emma” — only for the woman herself to jump in and say: “My name is Emily, thank you. Very nice.”
Although it’s unclear if the reporter really knew the Easy A star’s actual first name, or inadvertently used a similar-sounding name, Emily is in fact her actual name — and the reporter’s timing in addressing her as “Emily” was exquisite.
Only a month ago, the actor made headlines after Nathan Fielder referred to her as “Emily” instead of “Emma” during a joint interview for the Hollywood Reporter to promote their Showtime series, The Curse.
When the outlet asked if she would like it if more people referred to by her real first name, the La La Land star gave a resounding yes.
“That would be so nice. I would like to be Emily,” she said.
Emma/Emily has explained in the past that although her birth name is Emily Stone, she had to change it while earning her Screen Actors Guild card because there was already an actor named Emily Stone in the union.
But the reason why she chose “Emma” as her stage name may not be entirely because it sounds like “Emily”.
She implied to Jimmy Fallon in 2018 that her childhood obsession with the Spice Girls — and love for band member Emma Bunton aka Baby Spice — may have had a tiny influence.
“Growing up …I was super blonde — and my real name is Emily — but I wanted to be called ‘Emma’ because of Baby Spice. And guess what? Now I am,” she said with an embarrassed laugh.
“It wasn’t necessarily because of her, but yes, in second grade, did I go up to the teacher on the first day and ask her to call me Emma? Yes I did,” she added.
“Was it because of Emma Lee Burton from the Spice Girls? Yes it was. So…”