GLAMOUR: You’re one of Glamour’s new faces of Hollywood. Do you feel like one?
EMMA STONE: [Puts on a mock glamour face and breathes in a sexy voice.] Hell, yeah. [Laughs.] That’s really flattering. I just like to keep working and being able to pay my bills.
GLAMOUR: You got a Golden Globe nomination for Easy A. What were you thinking when that happened?
EMMA STONE: I didn’t expect it at all. And I got to sit next to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie [at the ceremony], so…
GLAMOUR: You did?
EMMA STONE: My mom was with me; she was my date. She was saying things [to them] like, “Do you have kids? Let me tell you something.” I was like, “Mom, you know they have kids. It’s Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. You are aware they have kids.” It was so awesome.
GLAMOUR: Moms can get away with that stuff! What’s the best advice she has given you?
EMMA STONE: Oh, my Lord. She is the greatest person on earth. She always helps me deal with things as they happen instead of planning them all out ahead of time. But that’s one of 600 billion pieces of advice she’s given me. [Laughs.]
GLAMOUR: As the story goes, you wanted to leave high school and move to L.A., and begged your parents with a PowerPoint presentation. You were obviously very driven. Were you also terrified?
EMMA STONE: I had massive anxiety as a child. I was in therapy. From 8 to 10, I was borderline agora-phobic. I could not leave my mom’s side. I don’t really have panic attacks anymore, but I had really bad anxiety. There was a lot of fear, but it was also very exciting.
GLAMOUR: Of all the careers you could have picked, this was the craziest, no?
EMMA STONE: But it got me out of that. It made me feel great. I started doing improv the year after my tough two years. It helped.
GLAMOUR: Did you finish high school?
EMMA STONE: I have my GED—my “good-enough degree.”
GLAMOUR: [Laughs.] Do you think you’ll go to college?
EMMA STONE: There’s so much I’m interested in that I didn’t discover in high school. For The Amazing Spider-Man, because Gwen is a scientist, we went to a lab in San Diego, and we were learning about biology. And I’m fascinated! Because I never went to biology class in high school. [Laughs.]
GLAMOUR: You once said that if you weren’t an actress, you’d want to be a journalist.
EMMA STONE: I really like grammar. And spelling. I was a spelling-bee kid. I’m hard-core about grammar.
GLAMOUR: What if a guy you’re dating is a bad speller in an e-mail? Does that bug you?
EMMA STONE: It’s tough. Really tough. The wrong “you’re”? The wrong “they’re”? Doesn’t that bug you? Because…ugh…I hate it.
GLAMOUR: What do you look for in a guy?
EMMA STONE: Honestly, I cannot put a finger on it. One guy could do something that I would find deplorable, and [with] another guy I’d find it charming…. It depends on the person. The one thing that needs to be there is that indefinable spark of sorts. But I’m 22 years old….I have no idea what I’m talking about. [Laughs.]
GLAMOUR: You’re playing Ryan Gosling’s love interest in Crazy, Stupid, Love.
EMMA STONE: Yeah, ugchh. [Makes a sarcastic grossed-out face and laughs.]
GLAMOUR: [Laughs.] You also have The Amazing Spider-Man coming up next.
EMMA STONE: It’s different than anything else I’ve done. There’s a lot of blue screen. The other day I was reacting to a thing that wasn’t there. It’s like being a kid in a refrigerator box.
GLAMOUR: Is there anyone you’d be a wreck meeting?
EMMA STONE: Diane Keaton. [Meeting her] is like going underground at Disneyland: “You’re so magical, and now I know you!” Steve Martin, too. The Jerk is my favorite movie.
GLAMOUR: You really have an old comedy soul.
EMMA STONE: I’m just a product of my parents. They watched SNL and all those movies.
GLAMOUR: You seem really fit. Do you feel pressure to measure up to the skinny Hollywood standard?
EMMA STONE: Aw, boy…I’d be crazy to sit here and tell you that I’ve never thought about it. [But] I never can beat myself up about it. I definitely am not restrictive. [Laughs.] You’re a human being, you live once and life is wonderful, so eat the damn red velvet cupcake.
GLAMOUR: Amen.