Emma Stone Wins Best Actress at Venice for La La Land as Nocturnal Animals Snags Grand Jury Prize
Emma Stone just boosted her award prospects big time.
Stone, 27, won the Volpi Cup for best actress at the 73rd Venice Film Festival for her starring role in the Hollywood-set musical La La Land, swiftly earning her a place among this award season's top contenders.
She headlines an impressive day for American films, with Nocturnal Animals, the Tom Ford-directed film starring Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal, winning the Grand Jury Prize, and Jackie, the biopic featuring Natalie Portman as Jacqueline Kennedy, earning the best screenplay award for writer Noah Oppenheim.
In La La Land, Stone plays an aspiring actress who meets and falls for Ryan Gosling's character, a jazz pianist who dreams of opening his own club. Both sing and dance in the rousingly received film from Damien Chazelle, who previously directed Whiplash.
Stone is currently on her way to the film's premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, and pre-taped her acceptance speech.
"I wish I was back there because Venice and Italy are so amazing and I can think of no better place than Venice to have premiered La La Land. We had such an amazing time and I will never forget it," Stone said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "I have to thank Ryan Gosling for being my partner on this movie, and especially Damien Chazelle for casting me. It was a dream come true."
"It's wonderful to work with somebody you know, trust and respect so much. He's my buddy," Stone previously said of Gosling during a press conference for the movie after the Venice premiere. The two previously starred together in Crazy, Stupid, Love and American Gangster.
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The festival's top award, the Golden Lion, went to The Woman Who Left, the atmospheric revenge drama from Filipino director Lav Diaz.
Ford, meanwhile, came on stage to receive the Grand Jury Prize. Nocturnal Animals is just his second film, after 2009's well-received A Single Man.
He thanked the crowd in Italian, saying, "Italy for me is truly a second home."
