Emma Stone on the 'Total Garbage' Advice She Got from a Sexist Studio Exec Early in Her Career

Emma Stone is speaking out about the power of women in Hollywood.

On Thursday, the Poor Things star received the 2024 Palm Springs International Film Awards' Desert Palm Achievement Award for an actress, for her performance in the Yorgos Lanthimos-directed film.

During her acceptance speech, Stone, 35, recalled some advice she got from a sexist studio executive early in her career, in which he said, in so many words, that women only had a limited time to have a career in the industry.

"When I first moved to L.A., I went to one of those general meetings that they sometimes send you to, and an executive told me that for male actors, it's a marathon, not a sprint," said the actress. "And in his eyes, for women, it was a sprint, not a marathon. And that was 20 years ago."

"And I realize that advice is total garbage because the majority of the women that I look up to in this industry, many of whom are in this room, have proven that as time goes on, life and work only get more interesting and more fulfilling," Stone added.

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Mark Ruffalo and Willem Dafoe, two of Stone's costars in Poor Things, presented her with the award. Cate Blanchett received the same award last year for her performance in Tár; she went on to receive an Academy Award nomination at last year's Oscars ceremony.

“Emma Stone continues to exert influence as one of the most important actresses of this generation, whose performances are always exceptional no matter the role. In her latest film Poor Things, Emma delivers a burning intensity and character bound for liberation,” the festival's chairman Nachhattar Singh Chandi said in a November press release regarding Stone's award.

“There is no one better suited for this role," Chandi added at the time.

Poor Things revolves around the maturation of Stone's character Bella Baxter, a woman who is revived shortly after her death by Dafoe's scientist character, Dr. Godwin Baxter. Bella is brought back to life with the brain of an infant, but she quickly relearns speech and seeks more out of life than the insides of Godwin's home.

"Hungry for the worldliness she is lacking, Bella runs off with Duncan Wedderburn (Ruffalo), a slick and debauched lawyer, on a whirlwind adventure across the continents," an official synopsis for the film reads. "Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation."

"This role was unlike anything I had ever read or anyone that I had ever read about," Stone said in her speech Thursday. "She's a woman who is immune to external expectations and impervious to judgment and shame and playing."

"Bella was challenging because I had to try to unlearn those aspects in myself, and it's also what made her an absolute joy to play," she added.

Stone is also nominated for Poor Things at the upcoming Critics Choice Awards and Golden Globe Awards; at the Globes, she is additionally nominated for her performance in the Showtime television series The Curse.

Poor Things is in theaters now.