Emma Stone stars as Michelle in director Yorgos Lanthimos' "Bugonia," a Focus Features release.

"Bugonia," a black comedy thriller from Emma Stone and "Poor Things" director Yorgos Lanthimos, debuted at the Venice Film Festival with extended praise.

The festival audience gave the film – which also stars Jesse Plemmons, Alicia Silverstone and Aidan Delbis – a six-minute standing ovation, according to Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. The movie follows Michelle (Stone), a high-powered CEO who becomes the target of two conspiracy-obsessed young men, who kidnap her after becoming convinced she is an alien intent on destroying Earth.

While the film festival circuit is well-known for a lengthy standing ovation, that's not to suggest the applause was out of habit. According to the outlets, the Venice crowd was transfixed during the Thursday, Aug. 28, screening.

The Venice Film Festival audience's reactions to the film ranged from "stunned silence" and "bouts of laughter" to "covering their eyes and gasping" at the movie's "gorier" scenes, the outlets reported.

The film has been generating early buzz for the dramatic transformation Stone undertook. At one point in the movie, the actress shaves her head on camera. In her September issue cover story interview with Vogue published on Aug. 11, the two-time Oscar winner, 36, raved about the haircut, but admitted she burst into tears before filming the scene. She was thinking about her mom, she said, who lost her hair while battling breast cancer.

Meanwhile Silverstone, who previously worked with Lanthimos on the 2017 psychological thriller "The Killing of a Sacred Deer," told USA TODAY that she has been a fan of Stone and Plemmons "for so long," adding: "Even though I have a very small role in that film, I am just so happy to be there with them."

'Bugonia' movie trailer

'Bugonia' movie release date

"Bugonia" will be released in theaters Oct. 24.

Contributing: Brendan Morrow

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Emma Stone's new movie 'Bugonia' gets 6-minute standing ovation at Venice, reports say

Reporting by Taijuan Moorman, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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