A still from the film Bugonia Emma Stone as Michelle Fuller, Jesse Plemons as Teddy Gatz, and Aidan Delbis as Teddy's cousin Don in a still from Yorgos Lanthimos's Bugonia (2025), a film about two conspiracy-driven young men who kidnap a powerful CEO, believing her to be an alien threat to Earth. (more) What Does “Bugonia” Mean? The ancient ritual behind Yorgos Lanthimos’s Oscar-nominated film Written by Urnesha Bhattacherjee Associate Editor, Britannica India Urnesha Bhattacherjee Fact-checked by Britannica Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Britannica Editors Last updated Apr. 1, 2026 •History Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos’s black comedy film Bugonia (2025), starring Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, follows two young men who convince themselves that a powerful corporate CEO is an alien in disguise. They believe that kidnapping her is the only way to save the world. Their reasoning develops through a chain of pseudoscientific ideas and conspiracy theories. The title, which screenwriter Will Tracy has described as intentionally ambiguous, evokes at once an insect, a place,...

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