Emma Stone found eerie links between ‘Bugonia’ and CEO killer Luigi Mangione

True crime fans have long wanted a documentary on Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. For this, they even picked a suitable star, Dave Franco, to play the 27-year-old, now imprisoned. That wish may feel partly answered with Yorgos Lanthimos’ new movie ‘Bugonia’. At the Telluride Film Festival, Emma Stone, who stars in and also produces the project, spoke about the eerie parallels between her film and the Mangione case.

According to Emma, Brian Thompson was shot and Luigi Mangione was caught just after ‘Bugonia’ wrapped filming in 2024. In the movie, Stone plays a ruthless healthcare CEO kidnapped by a low-level employee, played by Jesse Plemons. When Mangione was arrested, one of the first suggested motives was his grudge against the United Healthcare CEO. While his exact motive was never disclosed, reports linked it to his broader anger at the US health insurance industry and its claim denial practices. Similarly, in the film, which was shot before these events, the employee is a conspiracy theorist who believes Stone’s character is an alien sent from the Andromeda galaxy to destroy humanity. He kidnaps her, tortures her and blames her for bringing chaos into the world. That’s how the story begins.

“What’s really crazy, after we had shot the film - I live in New York - we heard someone was shot up the street. It was a healthcare CEO. You know, because Luigi. You guys heard about this?” Stone said during an interview at the Telluride premiere. Stone pointed out that Mangione himself had made comments about healthcare companies failing families, with people losing their loved ones. “It was wild, because we had all just been in a basement filming together, talking about these issues and the bigger meaning of everything. It keeps hitting you that the world is so deeply fraught and terrifying in so many ways,” she said.

‘Bugonia’ premiered at the Venice Film Festival before showing at Telluride and received positive reviews that called it violent yet gripping. The film is a dark comedy adapted from the 2003 Korean cult classic ‘Save the Green Planet’.