LOS ANGELES, Oct 22 — Fans arrived for an early screening of the absurdist sci-fi comedy film Bugonia, on Monday night in Los Angeles with one unique condition — the cinema only admitted bald people.
The film’s distributor, Focus Features, challenged audiences to shave their heads to see Bugonia, starring Oscar-winning actor Emma Stone.
Stone and Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos gained a powerful fanbase after teaming up for Oscar-nominated films Poor Things and The Favourite.
Bugonia will be released in select cinemas on Friday and then across the US on October 31.
In Bugonia, Stone plays a powerful pharmaceutical CEO named Michelle Fuller, who is kidnapped by two conspiracy theorist-cousins who are convinced that she’s an alien — so much so, they shave her head.
With a barber in the foyer, fans like Sam Sherman from Los Angeles stepped up to get their buzz cut to gain entry to the screening.
Fans with shaved heads sit in a cinema hall waiting for a free preview of Yorgos Lanthimos’s new film ‘Bugonia’, in Culver City, California, October 20, 2025. — Reuters pic
“I was already thinking of shaving my head,” Sherman said.
“I saw, like, a post about this and I was like, that’s a perfect excuse because I want to see Bugonia anyway and I get to see it two weeks early or whatever it is, and then I get a free haircut and a free movie. It’s hard to say no to that,” he added.
Matthew Lopez, 29, from Los Angeles, thought the bald screening inspired by Stone’s shaved head was a great idea.
“It’s almost feeling immersive, like, OK, ‘I did it, she did it.’ I can feel some connection to the story,” he said.
For Richard Chong, 36, it was a chance to appease his friends and family.
“I like the director. I think he’s really good, very weird and my friends hate my bowl cut, so this is for them, also my wife, she really hates it,” Chong said. — Reuters
