Leading lady Emma Stone was ‘so desperate to be movie star she did a PowerPoint called Project Hollywood at 14’
The 28-year-old plays an ambitious young actress trying to crack Tinseltown in a story not too far from home
STEELING herself to make the pitch of her life, Emma Stone confidently stood in front of the intimidating audience and began her thoroughly researched PowerPoint presentation.
So convincing was the young actress that her seemingly outlandish “Project Hollywood” proposal was immediately rubber-stamped and set into motion.
But Emma was not selling a movie idea to hard-nosed studio bosses or pressing for a sought-after role.
Instead, this was how 14-year-old Emma went about convincing her parents to allow her to move hundreds of miles from her suburban home in Arizona to Hollywood, where she believed she could be the Next Big Thing.
Amazingly they agreed, and soon after, Emma and mum Krista moved into a small flat in Los Angeles.
There she feverishly set about activating her plan for Hollywood domination — while working in a dog biscuit bakery to earn extra cash.
Amazingly it worked, and at 28 she is now considered one of the world’s hottest film stars.
Her Hollywood career has already earned her an Oscar nomination for acclaimed 2014 film Birdman.
And this week it was revealed that her song-and-dance turn in new screen musical La La Land is in the running to win her a Golden Globe, and has also made her favourite for the Best Actress Oscar.
Fittingly, in La La Land she plays Mia, an ambitious young actress trying to make it in Tinseltown. Back in the real world, Emma herself is renowned for winning over directors and shrewdly picking the right roles, often against her agent’s advice.
A veteran Hollywood source told The Sun: “Emma has established a reputation as one of the toughest young actors in the business.
“Headstrong and determined, she knows how to get what she wants.
“For instance, she was gutted when she had to pull out of playing Sally Bowles in Cabaret on stage in London in 2013 because it clashed with filming The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
“A year later, when the production opened on Broadway, she made sure she was the star.
“Her agents were desperate for her to star in the recent Ghostbusters reboot but she turned it down. But she had the last laugh — it flopped.
“Her team also had huge reservations about her making Birdman. That film ended up earning her an Oscar nomination and winning the best picture Oscar. So you see, she is one smart cookie.”
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It also seems Emma has avoided the infamous Hollywood pay gap and has talked of how she has been paid the same as her male co-stars in her big films.
And miraculously for the movie industry, Emma has apparently managed to leapfrog her way to the top without making a single enemy.
Friends talk of how she has cast a spell over Hollywood, with even the most reserved of stars — many of them male — gushing about her abilities, sometimes with toe-curling results.
Ryan Gosling, who stars with her in La La Land — their third outing as screen sweethearts — said: “Emma Stone is just like constantly opening Christmas presents. There’s nobody like her.”
Even more smitten was Emma’s Amazing Spider-Man co-star Andrew Garfield, who ended up dating her for four years.
The normally reserved British actor gushed: “Throughout shooting, it was wild and exciting. I couldn’t help but try to stay with her, keep pace with her and not let her get away.
“Like an animal preying on a smaller animal . . . but a wily smaller animal.”
The pair split last year but have since been spotted strolling in London together, looking happy and relaxed.
And this month Brit actor Andrew was asked which actor or actress he would take to a desert island and he answered: “Emma Stone. I love Emma.”
In 2011 Jim Carrey was widely mocked when he posted a bizarre YouTube video in which he addressed Emma: “I just wanted to let you know that I think you’re all the way beautiful.
“Not just pretty, but, you know, smart and kind-hearted. And if I were a lot younger, I would marry you, and we would have chubby little freckled-faced kids.”
The video went viral and was dubbed “creepy” on social media but Emma, ever the diplomat, responded by saying how Jim was a “comedic genius”.
Another clear sign that Emma’s career was on the up came when she caught Woody Allen’s eye.
He has cast her twice in recent years and she has been dubbed his latest “muse” — a role previously occupied by Mia Farrow, Diane Keaton and Scarlett Johansson. The veteran director simply said of Emma: “Her face is worth the price of the admission.”
As well as casting a spell over male admirers Emma has made plenty of female friends too, including Taylor Swift and Jennifer Lawrence.
She became friends with Jennifer after Woody Harrelson, who has worked with both, passed Jennifer’s number to Emma because he thought they would get on. They did — to the extent that Emma took Jennifer as her “date” to the La La Land premiere.
Jennifer recalled: “She texted me. I replied, ‘F*** off!’ And we’ve been really good friends ever since.” Growing up in Scottsdale, Arizona, Emma — whose real name is Emily — suffered from anxiety as a child.
She only discovered an effective therapy when she started at a youth theatre.
Her mind was soon set on an acting career but after she dropped out of school and moved to Hollywood, her plans didn’t immediately fall into place.
She said: “I went up for every single show on the Disney channel, auditioned to play the daughter in every single sitcom, and ended up getting none.”
Being turned down for the role of cheerleader Claire Bennet in hit sci-fi drama Heroes in 2007 was her career rock bottom. Emma eventually landed a couple of TV guest roles, including sitcom Malcolm in the Middle, and also provided the voice of an animated dog.
But later in 2007 she was cast in teen comedy film Superbad — which set her on her way. Her role in the 2012 Spider-Man reboot and its sequel two years later catapulted her into the box office big league.
Even so, when she was 19, just as her career was taking off, her mum Krista was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The young star shuttled between LA and Arizona as often as possible to be with Krista through her 18-month treatment — and afterwards they got matching tattoos of birds’ feet — designed by Paul McCartney, because they both love his song Blackbird.
As for the future, Emma’s film roles include playing ground-breaking tennis star Billie Jean King in the movie Battle of the Sexes, released next year.
Emma was coached to play tennis for the role by Billie Jean herself.
She will also play the 101 Dalmatians villainess in live-action remake Cruella, and will appear in The Favourite, a period drama about Queen Anne, both set for release in 2018.
At the 2012 Oscars Ben Stiller jokingly warned Emma: “I get it, you’re new, but perky gets old fast with this crowd.”
That doesn’t look likely to happen to enterprising Emma any time soon.