The catch: Gosling is an LAPD officer, Stone is a moll, and Sean Penn’s Mickey Cohen would probably not think twice about killing them both.

Directed by Ruben Fleischer (“Zombieland”), “Gangster Squad” — which is based on Paul Lieberman’s seven-part Los Angeles Times series “Tales From The Gangster Squad” — was initially locked into an October release date, but was moved to “TBD” in favor of Ben Affleck’s “Argo.” Still, discounting this one as anything other than an early Oscar player seems foolish. In addition to Penn (seemingly using Leonardo DiCaprio’s leftover makeup from “J. Edgar”), Gosling and Stone, the cast includes Josh Brolin, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi, Robert Patrick and Nick Nolte. That’s a great roster and all, but let’s focus back on Gosling and Stone.

“You want to take me away from all this,” she purrs. “No ma’am, I was just hoping to take you to bed,” he retorts. Swoon! Get these two a remake of “Bringing Up Baby,” stat.

Kellogg’s has teamed with Sony for a special marketing campaign tied with the upcoming release of the 3D reboot. Android users will need to download Kellogg’s Amazing Spider-Man Exclusive App and then they can scan codes on specially marked boxes of Kellogg’s brand cereals to access the three new clips.

Of course, the clips have made their way to the Internet already. And although a little grainy, the videos reveal three scenes from Marc Webb’s upcoming superhero pic.

In the first, Peter Parker (Garfield) seems to be sleeping on the subway when he is abruptly awoken and leaps onto the ceiling. It would seem that such a strange scene must be in a dream for Parker to get away with such a leap on a crowded subway without his Spider-Man mask.

In the second, Spider-Man shows off his sense of humor while beating up a bad guy. A slightly more light-hearted version of Parker fakes a sneeze while releasing his webs to catch the guy who is up to no good.

In the final brief scene, Parker has to deal with the challenges of everyday life that can come with being a superhero. Even brushing your teeth can be difficult, it seems.

The Amazing Spider-Man is set to debut July 3. It also stars Emma Stone, Denis Leary, Rhys Ifans, Martin Sheen and Sally Field. The film centers around a teenage Peter Parker, who attends Midtown High School, and has his eye on a classmate, Gwen Stacy (Stone).

Watch all three new clips below:

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We caught up with The Amazing Spider-Man leading lady and the film’s director Marc Webb at WonderCon 2012 in Anaheim, Calif., where they revealed one of Stone’s favorite hobbies while filming the superhero flick (which hits theaters July 3), the aforementioned pillow fights. And listen up, fanboys: Stone may or may not have a special outfit she dons for the occasion!

So what did Stone have to say about the cast and crew’s pillow fights?

When asked about what the cast and crew did for fun while making the highly-anticipated film, Webb lists, “Dance party, massage circles, softball,” before Stone reveals her love for pillow fights. “The pillow fights were the best!” she enthuses.

Stone loves pillow fights so much that she apparently has a special outfit she wears! “You had the best pillow fight outfit,” Webb says. “It was unbelievable!”

Stone’s response? “Well, what can you do? I’m a lady that likes pillow fights. Who doesn’t?”

Have we mentioned how much we love her?!

While Stone avoided any talk of romance between herself and on-screen and off-screen beau Andrew Garfield, she says, “I think Andrew’s a great actor, so it was great to be his costar. It was very exciting!”

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But I was happy she didn’t, because I find it annoying when actors fabricate a “geeky” persona just to appease fanboys. And who really cares whether she grew up reading “Spider-Man” or not? It’s a ridiculous “prerequisite” to begin with! What’s important is that Stone is a good actress, and (in the estimation of many) a terrific choice for the role of Peter Parker’s high school sweetheart Gwen Stacy in the upcoming reboot.

And anyway, she did her research.

“I was learning the story of Gwen Stacy before I auditioned,” she told me. “And then once I was cast, I was like, ‘oh my god, there’s 50 years worth of stuff to get through!’”

Also stopping by for a brief chat was director Marc Webb (“500 Days of Summer”), who assured us fans would be very happy with Andrew Garfield’s portrayal of the title character.

“Andrew cared so much about Peter Parker and Spider-Man that it became obvious,” said Webb. “And he’s an actor that has such emotional range – he can be deep and he can be funny.”

But her rather tame opening monologue with a Spiderman-costumed Andy Samberg (and her real Amazing Spider-Man co-star Andrew Garfield) was not the least bit indicative of what was to come.

Now, on to the hotter news. In “Technology Hump,” Stone and Samberg played hosts of a show for techies who have an odd fetish of watching gadgets like digital cameras and Android phones, um, hump (seriously).

Then, in “Bridal Shower Gifts,” while Kristin Wiig played a bubbly bachelorette, Stone transformed into Wiig’s frumpy, husky-voiced co-worker who brought quite a few inappropriate “gifts” to the occasion.

And those weren’t her only notable performances.

Stone also played a contestant on the “Secret Word” game show in which she faced off against Wiig’s overdramatic Mindy Elise Grayson character, as a Miss America winner who makes out with her own ventriloquist dummy during the game.

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So we hotfooted it over to a super-secret location, where we quizzed the beautiful actress and her Oscar-winning co-star Viola Davis on the brilliant new movie, what it was like travelling back to 60s Mississippi and working with an all-female cast.

The Help charts the story of determined Southern society girl and aspiring writer Eugenia ‘Skeeter’ Phelan – played by the lovely Ms Stone – who embarks on the risky task of writing a book about the African American maids which serve her friends.

Written from the point of view of characters Aibileen, Minnie and others who work for the white Mississippi families – and put together in total secret – the book tells of the many hardships the women go through, but threatens to turn the town upside down…

WATCH the interview here…

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“You’re looking for spice, Jacob’s got it,” the actress says of her Crazy, Stupid, Love costar’s lothario character in a behind-the-scenes interview included in the film’s DVD and Blu-ray package, out Tuesday.

“He’s got a whole rack,” Stone continues. “He’s paprika, you know? He’s allspice.”

In this exclusive sneak peek at the bonus footage, Stone explains her character’s reaction to Gosling’s seductive ways—and surely you don’t mind another look at some steamy scenes from the film, right?!

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Stand Up To Cancer Celebrity Ambassadors Aziz Ansari, Zach Galifianakis, Bill Hader, Ed Helms, Ken Jeong, Jaime King, Seth Rogen, Andy Samberg and Emma Stone – along with Star Wars alum Samuel L. Jackson – each Use the Force for Good as they recreate classic Star Wars scenes to raise awareness for cancer research.

“I don’t see women as catty and competitive all the time,” Emma Stone tells iVillage. In fact, the 22-year-old actress (who plays a progressive young writer in the movie set in the South of the 1960s) says there was nothing but love between the females on set.

And costar Viola Davis, 45, couldn’t agree more. “It’s so fabulous in this movie, none of that (cattiness) happened,” says the actress. “You have people from such different backgrounds and races and age groups, and none of that happened.”

“Women work a whole lot better as teammates than enemies,” Stone adds “We really do.”

Watch our exclusive video interview to find out why Stone was “shocked” to learn about the violence of the Civil Rights movement while prepping for the role and how she’s often mistaken for being older than she really is.

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“I still don’t know if I could be Skeeter,” Stone told OnTheRedCarpet.com in a recent press junket. “I knew I wanted to play Skeeter from reading the script and reading the book. I knew that I understood facets of Skeeter, but it was Tate who gave me that opportunity. I don’t think there has ever been a day where I felt ‘I know I can do this for a fact,’ that’s never been something in my [head].”

In “The Help,” Stone plays Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, an aspiring writer and college graduate who was partially raised by a black maid in 1960s Mississippi. She decides to write a book from the perspective of “the help,” with the help of Aibileen (Viola Davis), Minnie (Octavia Spencer) and their peers.

When Entertainment Tonight asked Stone about the Oscar buzz, she joked, “Oh, is that what that is? I thought that was a fly. Well, it hasn’t even come out yet, so I hope that people just come to see the movie and enjoy it.”

“The Help” is based on a 2009 novel by Kathryn Stockett. It also stars Bryce Dallas Howard of “Twilight” fame, whose character acts snotty around the “help.”

Emma Stone has cemented herself as the summer’s hottest actress, appearing opposite Ryan Gosling in “Crazy, Stupid, Love” and dumping Justin Timberlake in “Friends with Benefits.” The 22-year-old actress will also play Peter Parker’s blonde love interest Gwen Stacy in “The Amazing Spider-Man,” opposite her rumored boyfriend, “The Social Network” actor Andrew Garfield.

Emma Stone and her equally in-demand fellow actress Olivia Wilde were named beauty ambassadors for Revlon cosmetics on Wednesday. Their first campaigns will appear in early 2012, according to People magazine.

Emma Stone rose to fame with the teen comedy films “Superbad” in 2007 and “Easy A” in 2010, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination.

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Emma Stone looked beautiful at The Help premiere last night in LA, and she stopped on the red carpet to chat with us about fellow young celebrities Selena Gomez and Taylor Swift. Selena has listed Emma as a Hollywood figure she looks up to, explaining “I feel like she is doing really great, fun roles, but also roles that display her talent.”

We asked Emma last night what she thought of Selena seeing her as a mentor and she smiled and responded, “That is very sweet!”

We also asked her if she’d ever do a duet with her close friend Taylor Swift. Emma’s revealed that she’s been in a VH1 singing competition before, and so we were curious if she’d use her pipes alongside Taylor’s. “Oh, I doubt it. My voice isn’t that great!” laughed Emma.

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But if you’ve ever sat in the darkening theater, clutching your popcorn and praying to the gods of All Things Film-Related, “Please, Celluloid Gods, please let them NOT HAVE SCREWED THIS UP!”… well, guess what, Emma Stone knows just how you feel. Even when, as with “The Help,” she’s actually in the movie.

As an actress, she said, “When you read the book, you have a vision of those characters too. So not only are you saying, ‘How am I going to play that character… but who’s gonna play Celia?’ Because I love Celia, and if she’s played wrong, I’m going to be so mad.”

Oh yeah. This girl gets it. And, she added, “I definitely understand being protective of the characters and the material.”

Of course, getting to be a part of the movie-making process for one of your favorite books is a pretty sweet gig—which brings us to the next question: How do Emma and her “The Help” co-star Bryce Dallas Howard choose which films to act in?

Bryce cracked up, saying, “When someone casts me! Everyone thinks it’s a choice!”

But while we take a moment to be profoundly grateful that, unlike professional actors, we don’t have to re-apply for our careers of choice every six months, Emma offers some insight.

“It depends on the time in your life, kind of, too. There are characters I’ve played before that I can’t imagine being able to play now—I don’t know if I’d be able to get to that same place—and vice-versa.”

Fair enough. But listen, Emma? We’re just saying, we love “The Help.” And if it’s played wrong…well, you understand. YES YOU DO.

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Our own Ashlan Gorse recently sat down with Stone and her The Help costar Viola Davis, and the two did not hold back. From romance to Spider-Man, the ladies shared all. But Emma revealed one thing we never would have dared ask…

As it turns out, the cast met quite the challenge while filming the flick down in Mississippi: comfort food. So how bad did things get?

“They took my costumes out twice,” Stone quietly revealed. But she wasn’t the only one. “Oh heck yeah! It was everyone.” And who’s to blame them, what with all that lemon pie, caramel cake, fried chicken and biscuits sitting around. But still, have to say the ladies of this stellar cast have never looked better.

And that topic was just the beginning. Check it out as we put Emma on the spot about who her girl crush is—Christina Hendricks or Catt Sadler—how it feels to be a part of something huge like Spider-Man and what she has to say about those Andrew Garfield dating rumors.

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At the Los Angeles premiere of Stone’s latest film, The Help, which is already gathering quite a bit of award season talk, Emma played off the early buzz with her trademark humor.

“Is that what is? I thought there was like a fly,” Emma jokes playfully mock-searching for the creature at the source all that “buzzing.” Stone laughs it off, saying in all seriousness she is really “glad,” and hopes “people go see the movie and enjoy it.”

Co-star Viola Davis admits she appreciates the favorable reception of the film but “[doesn't] know what to do with” talk of Oscars in their future.

The Help stars Emma as Skeeter, a young aspiring journalist in 1960s Mississippi looking for a story angle that disturbs her, “particularly if it bothers no one else.” She turns to her own experience growing up with “the help,” looking to tell the point of view of Aibileen (Viola Davis), Minnie (Octavia Spencer) and their peers. From there, the women build an unlikely friendship around a secret writing project that breaks societal rules and puts them all at risk.

Also starring Bryce Dallas Howard, The Help arrives in theaters today, August 10.

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“Stone-verkill! Yes! Coined a word,” Stone exclaims, laughing. “I’m always worried about Stone-verkill. I have to live with me every day. I’ve had to listen to my voice way too much the past week. I probably shouldn’t do anything ever again.”

That self-deprecating sense of humor and irresistible charm is part of why the 22-year-old actress has become such a hot Hollywood commodity, with her biggest role having just finished filming (in next year’s superhero reboot “The Amazing Spider-Man”). In “The Help,” opening Aug. 10, Stone leads a fantastic cast of actresses in writer-director Tate Taylor’s adaptation of the bestselling book by his longtime friend Kathryn Stockett.

The story centers on African-American maids in highly prejudiced 1963 Mississippi who finally have a place to voice their life experiences, thanks to a book by Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan (Stone). The movie co-stars Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer as the maids who serve as Skeeter’s most prominent sources, and Bryce Dallas Howard as the community’s most unbridled racist who refuses to share a bathroom with her maid.

At the Elysian Hotel, Arizona-native, New York-dwelling Stone talked about becoming Southern for “The Help,” releasing her rage while weightlifting and going back to high school for “Spider-Man.”

You put a lot of work into your Southern accent for “The Help.” How do you think it turned out, and how often do you accidentally slip back into it?
I don’t know how it turned out. I worked really hard on it. It was incredibly difficult for me because it’s like patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time, and I’m not that coordinated. I slip back into it whenever I’m around [Mississippi native director Taylor].

What sounds were the hardest?
All the “wh’s.” (In Southern accent) “White.” “Where?” (No accent) That was difficult for me. (Back to Southern accent) “What?”

When you were filming “The Help,” how aware were you of how much things have or haven’t changed?
We were shooting in Greenwood, Miss., and it was the only place I think in the world that we could have made the movie accurately. Just the location alone, you could feel the history and you could feel the difference, but it’s all so informed by how recent this all was. It’s a strange balance that’s being struck in Mississippi right now. Really, really wonderful people, but you’re on the Tallahatchie River six miles from where Emmett Till’s body was found, and it’s kind of impossible to forget that while you’re making it. So I definitely became more aware of how far we’ve come and how far we still have to go.

RedEye reader @blairjanis wanted to know: How much of a person’s character is shaped by the times they live in?
I think a pretty damn fair amount. I believe that nurture outweighs nature so much of the time in human beings. It’s hard to tell because you don’t really know what your nature is until you get really angry and you’re kinda primal. [Laughs.] I think that it affects us hugely in ways that we don’t even realize. I will probably check my phone within the next 20 minutes. If this were 20 years ago I wouldn’t even have a phone to check, and that’s keeping me connected to all these people that I speak to back home, which is maintaining relationships that I wouldn’t have been able to maintain throughout the day 20 years ago. It’s shaping the way I maintain relationships with people and the way I speak to people. That’s talking about the technological aspect of our time, but I think that the cultural aspect of our time, you either go with it or you fight against it.

So what happens when you get angry?
Blind rage. I also find out that I’m filled with rage when weightlifting. Who knew? It’s all bubbling right under the surface. I do not feel like a rage-filled human at any other point in time, but when I’m weightlifting, I’m a lunatic.

What are you benching right now?
Nothing. I am not benching anymore. [Laughs.] I want to make it through my days, man.

This summer we’ve seen “Bridesmaids” and “Bad Teacher,” and people are talking a lot about women in comedy. Mila Kunis was on the cover of GQ saying some people don’t find women funny and some just see them as attractive. She’s also not wearing much on the cover. What can you do to be seen as funny and attractive without having to minimize one or the other?
I think you just have to be totally and completely yourself. Mila’s a friend of mine and I think she’s awesome and she’s one of the most beautiful human beings on the planet, and incredibly funny, so you choose your own path. There’s no one you can emulate in any sense. I think Tina Fey said, I’m completely paraphrasing, but the basic idea of what she said was you really can’t follow anyone’s specific career path, you kind of have to make your own. And I believe that to be true the most in this business, in any business, in any life, you have to follow your heart and do what’s right for you in your life. If you’re comfortable being done up and also being funny, then why not get done up and be funny? And if you’re not comfortable with it, then don’t do it.

Some people say, “How can she say this about attractiveness vs. comedy and then pose this way on the cover?”
There [are] other elements that come into play too. You realize when you’re shooting for a men’s magazine there’s going to be that skew. It just depends on the thing and the time period and your personal opinion.

At one point your goal was to host “SNL,” and now you’ve done it. When will you join the cast full-time?
Oh my God, I. Will. Do it right now. If you will let me. Do you cast the show?

I do. They just gave me that power.
Great! Can I be in the cast please?

Yes!
Great! Perfect. Then right now. I’m ready.

How do you feel about going back to high school for “The Amazing Spider-Man”?
It’s pretty fun. In “Crazy Stupid Love” I’m 27 and in “The Help” I was 23 and then I’m 17 again [in “Spider-Man”] and it was lovely. I like getting younger and younger as time goes on. I’m like “Benjamin Button.” [Laughs.]

How confusing is that for your emotional state?
I don’t know how well I did as a 17-year-old this go-round, but we’ll see.

You seem to be climbing People’s Most Beautiful List, among other lists. Is it true that people become more beautiful as they become more famous?
[Laughs.] What an interesting theory. Um, apparently. I guess that’s a … notion. I don’t know what the hell is going on. [Laughs.]

Plus:
On picking the right roles: “[Doug Wald, my manager], is brilliant, and we have long discussions about all these scripts. He’s been my manager since I was 15, so this whole time I’ve got a real teammate in terms of picking things. It’s also not like I just get my pick of the litter. It’s like a relationship. Like, ‘Wow, I think you’re really attractive. Do you want to date me?’ The answer is either yes or no, and sometimes they do not want to date you unfortunately. The movies are not into you.”
On feedback from strangers: “I try not to put too much stock into anything people say, negative or positive. [Laughs.]”
On the worst thing she’s ever eaten: “I drank some sour almond milk the other day. It was disgusting. It was a horrible, horrible experience. I only took a sip.”
On her iPod: “I’m listening to Noah and the Whale. Have you heard that? It’s pretty good. And that new Fleet Foxes album. I’m listening to this song by Audiobullies called ‘Only Man.’ That’s what pumps me up, if we’re being honest. That’s what really pumps me up right now.

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Not only is she starring in much-anticipated “The Help,” which opens Friday, she’s also in “Crazy Stupid Love,” which is in theaters now, and “Friends With Benefits,” also in theaters now.

As if three movies weren’t enough, Stone is on the cover of this month’s Vanity Fair, as well.

She’s already got drama and comedy covered. She can also add action to her resume with the recently wrapped “The Amazing Spider-Man.” In that one, a franchise reboot, she plays Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker’s first love before he started dating Mary-Jane Watson.

“I love stories that I can relate to and that feel human, that feel like stories I want to be a part of and I want to tell,” Stone said. “It’s so hard for me to put them under an umbrella. … I don’t think any movie is solely a drama or solely a comedy. Any movies that are that have been made, I don’t usually enjoy.”

“Crazy Stupid Love” and “Friends With Benefits” are both playing now.

“The Help” opens Friday.

“The Amazing Spider-Man” is due out next July.

“The Help” is based on the bestselling novel of the same name. The book follows the lives of three very different women — two African American maids and the daughter of a prominent white family — in the 1960s who team up to change their southern town and expose the treatment of African American maids in white households.

Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer are part of the ensemble cast. The actors shot the film away from Hollywood, on location in Mississippi, where the novel is set.

“I felt from the very beginning, from my very first audition, that this was not typical Hollywood,” said Chastain. “The kidness and working with this girl (pointing to Spencer), the second I met her, I knew I had to play Celia.”

Spencer has been friends with “The Help” writer-director Tate Taylor for many years, who, in turn, has been lifelong friends with the novel’s writer, Kathryn Stockett. The actress marvels in the fact that all these friends have been able to see this project through together.

“To get to see Octavia play this role, this really dynamic woman, an amazing character, who she inspired because she’s an amazing dynamic woman, it’s really powerful,” said Chastain.

Their two characters, Celia Foote and her new maid Minny Jackson, forge a deep bond on screen. And it’s obvious the same thing happened with the cast off screen as well.

“I’ve just grown attached to these people, and I don’t know what my life would have been like had I not gotten to do it and certainly I know now what my life wouldn’t be without these women in it. So I’m really grateful for that,” said Spencer.

“The Help” opens on Wednesday, August 10.

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We sat down recently with the stars of The Help, as well as its director-screenwriter, Tate Taylor, and his childhood friend, Stockett, to talk about the process of bringing the beloved novel to life on the big screen.

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But Emma explained last night on Late Show With David Letterman that when the first lady of the United States invites you to join her for a screening of your movie, saying no is just not an option!

But leave it to Hollywood’s latest “it” girl to make a joke about the situation: She told Dave that one thing that would have eased her discomfort was an adult beverage!

“Maybe for the future, alcohol would be nice, Mrs. Obama,” Emma said directly into the camera, showing off her fabulous comedy chops!

“Would it kill you to open up the bar?” host David Letterman added, egging her on.

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Crossing the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton, Stone, slender in a pale pink dress, sports the kind of grin reserved for a summer stocked with three big movies bearing her name.

This weekend, the green-eyed redhead takes on her most adult role to date in Crazy, Stupid, Love as Hannah, a young, driven lawyer who meets a smooth-talking player (Ryan Gosling), dismisses him, and ultimately inspires him to drop his well-honed bravado for love.

“How long has it been since there was a really, really original romantic comedy?” she says of Crazy, Stupid, Love, which also stars Steve Carell, Julianne Moore and Marisa Tomei.

With Carell on board (“He’s the reason why everyone wants to be part of whatever he’s in”), the script “was incomparable to anything,” says Stone, who first made waves in 2007′s Superbad. Big roles including in The Help (out Aug. 10) and The Amazing Spider-Man (out next year) and a minor role in Friends With Benefits (in theaters now) mean she’s quickly learning the ropes of the fame game.

Step 1: Get used to being recognized.

“It’s bizarre when you walk into somewhere, like to a grocery store or something, and the person behind the register says, ‘Oh, your hair’s back to red. That’s what’s weird,’” the smoky-voiced Stone says, chuckling while dipping pieces of pita bread into a hummus platter. “You’re like ‘Yes, yes, it is. Thank you.’”

But even to Stone, her rise feels quick. Raised in Scottsdale, Ariz., Stone, 22, persuaded her mother to move with her to Los Angeles in her teens to try her hand at acting. A role on VH1′s The New Partridge Family was her launching pad, and before long, Judd Apatow— and Superbad— came calling.

Stone quickly went from a supporting player in films like Zombieland and TheHouse Bunny to Hollywood’s most recognizable redhead in last year’s hit teen comedy Easy A.

“I think Judd Apatow is who I owe most everything to,” she says. “I think without that, most of this probably wouldn’t have occurred.”

A blond girl named Emily

One major key to Stone’s success: She ignores her own hype.

Warm and friendly over lunch, Stone recounts her jam-packed year. There were big moments: turning “Spider-Man blond” for the role of Gwen Stacy (she is indeed back to red now), hosting Saturday Night Live and walking the red carpet at the Golden Globes in her first custom-made gown from Calvin Klein Collection.

And there were small ones: drinking bourbon in the Deep South with her co-stars from The Help, taking her younger brother Spencer, 21, to the MTV Movie Awards and burning her arm in her New York apartment while whipping up chocolate-chip pancakes with bacon bits sprinkled in. She relates all of them with gusto.

Stone is a natural blonde, and her real name is Emily, she says as she moves on to a bowl of chicken soup.

“(Emily Stone) was taken at (the Screen Actors Guild) when I registered, so I had to be Emma,” she says. But “everyone at home calls me Emily, people who know me really well,” including her Easy A director, Will Gluck.

Gluck calls her a kindred spirit. “Neither of us can take compliments,” says Gluck, who asked his pal to drop by the Friends With Benefits set last summer to shoot a cameo in which Stone (hilariously) breaks up with Justin Timberlake before he moves on to Mila Kunis.

On Easy A, “we would constantly just yell at each other and say how bad everything was. People would come on the set thinking, ‘Oh my God, they hate each other,’ but it’s just the way we argue, like a brother and a sister.”

Her two Crazy directors had no better luck. “I’d go up to her and say: ‘This is the unfortunate time that I have to tell you I’m really happy with what you did today,’” says John Requa. “And she would make the throw-up face every time.”

Stone reveals she hates praise. “The last thing I ever want is to be coddled,” she says with a shudder. “But I should learn to be a little more gracious.”

During this interview, she is nothing but gracious, although wary of one topic: her love life. Stone declines to discuss whom she’s dating or whether she’s single. “I just figure if I never say anything, it never has to be a thing when anything happens in my life. It’s hard enough dealing with it on my own.”

But scoff at the absurdity of dumping Timberlake? Sign her up. “I went to his concert when I was 13,” Stone says, grinning at the experience. “It was just a real moment to dump that guy.”

When Stone auditioned for Crazy’s Hannah, Gosling says the movie began to make sense to him. “The whole movie depends on who plays that role. My character (Jacob) is supposed to give it all up for her. So when Emma walked in, I thought, ‘Show me someone who wouldn’t give it all up for Emma Stone, and I’ll show you a liar.’”

It was Stone’s quick humor and “God-given timing” that caught the attention of Crazy directors Requa and Glenn Ficarra. “Somewhere living inside her is a 90-year-old vaudeville comedian,” says Requa, who likens Stone to throwback talents such as Lucille Ball and Bette Davis. Ficarra calls her a remarkable improviser. “She’s got a whip-smart brain,” he says.

Gosling calls Stone’s “mind-melting Lauren Bacall impersonation” a highlight of the film. “She did it for me one day by the craft table, and I was determined to get it in the movie somehow.”Stone’s comedic chops trace back to her childhood, when her parents began showing her their favorite comedies and episodes of Saturday Night Live from the ’70s. “The Jerk was the first movie I remember seeing,” says Stone, whose idols are mostly from that era: Gilda Radner, Steve Martin, John Belushi. “My favorite is John Candy in Planes, Trains & Automobiles,” she says.

Next month, Stone trades her polished red locks for The Help’s frizzy-haired heroine, Skeeter, in the film based on the best-selling novel by Kathryn Stockett.

Stone hits her heaviest notes yet playing a young writer in the 1960s exposing the treatment of black maids in Mississippi. What follows is a warm but wrenching story of Skeeter’s growing relationship with two maids, Aibileen (Viola Davis) and Minny (Octavia Spencer) in the face of Skeeter’s racist contemporaries.

Director Tate Taylor, a childhood friend of Stockett’s, was looking for a younger Joan Cusack to play the role. “I could not believe it, she was sitting right there,” he says of meeting Stone. He introduced the actress to the author over dinner. “That’s Skeeter,” Stockett told him.

Stone and Taylor, who was directing his first studio movie, shook off their nerves at a blues club the night before they started filming. “The Help felt like going to summer camp,” she says, “hanging out with the cast every single day, riding our bikes to each other’s houses.”

But the warm environment was countered by the somber tone of many of the film’s scenes. Stone shot The Help “6 miles from where Emmett Till’s body was found 50 years ago and 11 miles from the birthplace of the White Citizens’ Council,” she says. Preparing for the role, Stone began questioning why her public school education about the civil rights movement had been limited to Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks.

“I don’t know how it was so shocking to me to see Eyes on the Prize, the documentary series, to see the things that were happening. It was like, how did I not know this?” questions Stone. “Or how any human being is born still into inequality. I don’t understand how gay rights are being challenged so much. It doesn’t make sense to me.”

She’s proud of the film and what it stands for. “It was exciting to be in a movie like Easy A, with bullying, and it’s exciting to be in a movie like The Help, bringing up discussions of civil rights and what we’re still going through, and what we’re still enduring.”

The biggest moment of Stone’s career is just around the webby corner, when TheAmazing Spider-Man swings into theaters next summer.

Getting the call in the middle of a Mississippi cotton field that she got the part of Gwen Stacy left Stone dazed. “It was like someone goes, ‘Your life changed, bye!’” she exclaims. And the opportunities keep coming: Gluck says he and Stone “have carte blanche to develop something” for Screen Gems after the success of Easy A.

“She’s a real-deal actress,” Taylor says. “Such a mature old soul in such a vibrant little capsule.”

Tell Stone any of this, and her cheeks match her blush-hued Altuzarra dress. “People keep asking if there was a turning point,” she says. “I don’t know if there has been. My family and my friends feel steady. So all that other stuff, if I don’t pay attention to it, it doesn’t feel like anything’s really changed that much.”

The 22-year-old actress has been in the business for a good amount of time but got everyone’s attention with her breakout role in last summer’s ‘Easy A.’ She got a Golden Globe nomination for her hilarious role and soon after the offers started pouring in. She’s in three films this year, including two romantic comedies ‘Friends with Benefits’ and ‘Crazy, Stupid, Love,’ movies that will only help her ascension. Her next big step? Tackling a full-fledged blockbuster, as she will star alongside Andrew Garfield in next year’s highly anticipated ‘Spider-Man’ reboot.

Sky’s the limit for the young lady and if all goes according to plan, she’ll be on that A-list faster than you can say I told you so. Check out her funny recount of her screen test with Andrew and more in the video!

MEDIA LINKS:
Emma Stone Video Archive > Interview Clips > Talk Shows – Conan

“The movie’s just about change — how do we move forward,” says Mary J. Blige, who wrote a special song for the film. “Although there was racism and things like that and it was a time piece, what do we take away from it right now?”

Based on the provocative and moving New York Times best-seller, ‘The Help’ stars Emma as Skeeter, a young aspiring journalist in 1960s Mississippi looking for a story angle that disturbs her, “particularly if it bothers no one else.” She turns to “the help,” looking to tell the point of view of Aibileen (Viola), Minnie (Octavia Spencer) and their peers. From there, the women build an unlikely friendship around a secret writing project that breaks societal rules and puts them all at risk.

Also starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Sissy Spacek, Allison Janney, Mary Steenburgen and Cicely Tyson, the film was directed by Tate Taylor.

‘The Help’ arrives in theaters August 12.