As you know, I really like Emma Stone. I prefer her as a ginger, but I didn’t hate it when she went blonde (presumably for her role in the Spiderman reboot). She’s the July cover girl for Elle Magazine, and it seems like they did the photo shoot before she went back to ginger. Which is fine. But she’s a really attractive young woman, and these photos… well, how difficult is it to take a really flattering photo of her? I didn’t even recognize the cover shot – she looks like Rachel McAdams smelling a fart. There are better photos of her in the Elle slideshow, which makes me wonder if she pissed someone off at Elle for them to use this bad, neckless shot for the cover. Anyway… her interview sounds charming too:

On having braces and wearing glasses while growing up: “And I sucked my thumb until I was 11, so I had this expander in. I was a good-looking kid. I never felt, like, dorky. I was just like, ‘Yup, these are my braces. I’ve had them forever.’”

On not being recognized as easily in public with her new look: “I mean, I haven’t been around very long. I can’t expect everyone to have seen The House Bunny. Oh God. I am having such waves of internal embarrassment, which now I’m admitting on a tape recorder. This is so one of the things I should keep in my head.”

On her obsession with Farmville: “I got to level 42, and I wasn’t doing anything else anymore, so I had to stop.”

On taking up baking in part to control her nervous energy: “It’s very controlled. You know, if you put in the same amount of whatever is in the recipe, it will come out all right.”

On her career: “It’s so funny how different life could have been. I went to so many auditions. I remember my audition for Heroes. I went in right after Hayden Panettiere. Now here we are in this rented house. It feels like it just happened.”

On wanting to be believable in her roles: “I like to look like a person. It drives me crazy when you see women in movies playing teachers, and they have biceps. It totally takes me out of the movie. I start thinking, Wow, that actress playing this part really looks great!”

On declining to talk about her relationship with her former boyfriend, Kieran Culkin: “You have to keep some things sacred…”

On whether celebrity relationships have a shorter shelf life: “I don’t think that’s true. Maybe. But there’s a fair amount that do work….I’m optimistic.”

[From Elle]

She’s so funny. I giggled several times just reading the excerpts. “I can’t expect everyone to have seen The House Bunny.” Classic. Especially considering too many of her contemporaries go on and on about how famous they are and how devastating it is being so incredibly famous. Emma is such a breath of fresh air.

Also – I had no idea she dated Kieran Culkin! It’s not even something I knew at one point and forgot. I never knew it. What the hell? I wonder if Emma, Kieran, Mila Kunis and Macaulay ever double dated. I imagine Mila and Emma would get along really well. That friendship needs to happen!

Photos courtesy of Carter Smith/ELLE.