Go bald or go home: LA cinema offers free Bugonia ticket to those who want to shave their heads | Movie
Los Angeles-based fans of Yorgos Lanthimos who want to see his latest film for free are in luck: A cinema on Monday is offering free tickets to a special screening to anyone who is already bald or wants to first have their head shaved in the lobby.
The initiative is an homage to Emma Stone’s character in the film, a high-powered pharmaceutical CEO kidnapped by conspiracy theorists (played by Jesse Plemons and Aidan Delbis) who believe she is an alien and shave her hair.
“Are you bald or would you like to shave your head?” » reads the event post. “Monday 20/10, meet at [the Culver Theater] for a FREE advanced screening of Bugonia – the new fever dream @focusfeatures by Yorgos Lanthimos.
Anyone with hair but wanting both a free ticket and a free haircut must arrive after 6 p.m., when a barber will be on hand to “shave it all off.”
The cinema adds: “It’s real. And yes, part of it will be filmed.” Hopefuls must RSVP as availability is limited and they must be over 18 years old. Bugonia was given an R rating in the United States by the Motion Picture Association.
Lanthimos and Stone’s latest collaboration, following 2018’s The Favorite, 2023’s Poor Things and 2024’s Kinds of Kindness, received warm reviews during festival screenings. In interviews, the actor has evangelized the radical hair choice, telling Vogue that there’s “no better feeling in the world” than a freshly bald head. “The first shower when you shaved your head? Oh my God, that’s amazing.”
Stone then drew a distinction between her own decision to cut her hair for the film and the experience of her mother, Krista, who lost her hair while being treated for breast cancer in 2008. “She actually did something brave,” Stone said. “I just shave my head.”
Jada Pinkett-Smith’s bald head was the butt of a joke by Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars, when he compared her look to GI Jane, played by Demi Moore in the military drama. It’s still unclear whether Rock realized Pinkett-Smith suffered from alopecia, but the joke caused her husband, Will Smith, to come on stage and slap Rock, saying, “Take my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth.” »
This led to Smith – who won the Best Actor Oscar later that evening – being banned from Academy events for a decade.
Bugonia is available in limited release in the United States starting October 24 and in general release starting October 31. It will be released in Australia on October 30 and in the UK on October 31.
