Emma Stone has explained why she pushed to perform her first ever nude scene while starring in new Yorgos Lanthimos film The Favourite.

Stone, who plays the role of Abigail Mashan in a love triangle between England’s Queen Anne – played by Olivia Colman – and Sarah Jennings Churchill, played by Rachel Weisz.

The Favourite synopsis

“In the early 18th century, England is at war with the French. Nevertheless, duck racing and pineapple eating are thriving. A frail Queen Anne occupies the throne, and her close friend Lady Sarah governs the country in her stead while tending to Anne’s ill health and a mercurial temper. When a new servant, Abigail, arrives, her charm endears her to Sarah. Sarah takes Abigail under her wing, and Abigail sees a chance to return to her aristocratic roots.”

At one point during shooting, Stone took the decision to push her role to new limits as she suggested the idea of removing her clothing. The scene, which shows Stone’s character topless, was suggested by the actress: “I had the sheet up around me,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “And as we were shooting it and we did a few takes, I said, ‘Can I please just be [naked]?’ I think it’s going to give Sarah something to look at when she sees that I’m not just under the sheet covered up. Olivia was like, ‘No, don’t do it!’ Yorgos was like, ‘Are you sure that’s what you want to do?’ And I was like, ‘Absolutely.’ I chose to do it. I was like, this makes sense to me. It’s an absolute [Stone flips the bird] to Sarah.”

While stone detailed how the decision to perform her first nude scene was an empowering one, she did explain some discomfort as the film repeatedly uses the word ‘c* t’, saying: “I’ve been around Brits long enough the shock has worn off, but hearing the word ‘c *t’ a bunch, I was like, ‘oh my God’. It’s the most offensive word.”

Stone’s co-star Weisz added: “In England, we say it all the time. If I’m with another Brit, we’ll say, ‘So and so is being such a c**t’, and laugh. It’s an old English word. Shakespeare used it. Or maybe Chaucer.”

Laughing at the conversation, Coleman explained that “you can hear their (Americans’) sphincter tighten when that word is uttered,” before adding “But, as a woman, I’ve got one, so I’m allowed to say it. And it’s such a wonderful combination of consonants. It’s a fantastic word. I’m told in America not to use it, but that just makes me want to say it all the time.”