In an extensive new interview with Variety, Kristen Stewart goes deep on her apparent career reinvention. “Twilight” now behind her, the actress has turned away from blockbuster fare in favor of art-house projects like “Still Alice” and Olivier Assayas’ “Clouds of Sils Maria.” It’d be difficult to argue against that new trajectory — Stewart became the first American actress to win a César (France’s equivalent to the Oscar) for her performance opposite Juliette Binoche in “Sils Maria” and is in two different movies premiering at the Cannes Film Festival this week: Woody Allen’s “Café Society” and Assayas’ “Personal Shopper.”
Read seven f-bomb-filled highlights about the short film Stewart’s directing, her post-“Twilight” career and the sequel she wasn’t invited back for below.
Her new career path isn’t by design.
“I didn’t carve out some path. I didn’t fight hard to be taken seriously. As much as the ‘Twilight’ series shaped and defined me for other people in a grand way, for me it wasn’t something I had to get away from. It was just a long experience on a movie that I liked.”
She reminds “Panic Room” co-star Jodie Foster of herself…
“I know this sounds like I love myself so much. But she really reminded me of myself as a child. She had all the joy of being a kid, but it was really like being with an adult.”
…and Woody Allen of classic movie stars.
“If this was 1944 or 1935, she would have been one of those drop-dead-beautiful movie stars. She would have been in the pantheon of classic actresses like Rita Hayworth or Elizabeth Taylor.”
She’s not bored on red carpets; she’s nervous.
“The amount of tumultuous growing up I’ve had to do in front of everyone is awesome. For somebody who is super-sensitive and cagey, it’s the perfect place for me to be thrust into, because I’m like, ‘Oh my f—ing God. Now I have to live in a f—ing bounce house and stand and say, ‘No, I deserve to be here.”‘”
She found out about the “Huntsman” sequel from a press release.
“I was like, ‘OK, cool.’ We hadn’t spoken in a long time, but I didn’t know we had broken up.”
…but she didn’t mind not being invited back for it.
“I read a few scripts. None of them were good. None of them were greenlight-able. And I had a meeting with Universal about the places where the story could go. Maybe Chris was more into it. I actually don’t f—ing know.”
She wasn’t crazy about the “Twilight” sequels either.
“There was a fear that drove why we were there. There wasn’t a cohesiveness. I think they ended up OK, because there was still individual passion. They are a little splattered against the wall — but they are trying.”
She never expected to win the César and had only a vague idea of her acceptance speech in advance.
“If I won, then I’d go up there and say, ‘Sorry, I don’t speak French’ in French and thank Olivier and Juliette, which I think I did. Maybe?”
For more, watch the “Clouds of Sils Maria” trailer:
Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Festivals newsletter here.
