Interview
NEW YORK — Almost precisely two years ago, Kristen Stewart was hunched
in a dark corner of the Tribeca Grand Hotel's restaurant, sipping a
glass of red wine and relentlessly scanning the room.
There was nothing she loathed more than people spotting her, gawping,
and then pretending it hadn't happened. On the flip side, she also
detested that feeling of being openly stared at, which accompanies most
famous people when they're spotted out doing things like eating or
drinking or pumping gas.
On this sunny, breezy afternoon, in the lobby of the Greenwich Hotel to
promote her latest film, Camp X-Ray, 24-year-old Stewart also
repeatedly glances around the room, but she's visibly more relaxed,
easy, peaceful.
"I'm really happy right now, overly happy," she says. "I'm definitely not looking furtively — I like to look around at (things). I feel great. I'm not overcoming fear right now."
In those days, says Stewart, "I was scared of so many things. I was
not overcompensating but just compensating. Now, I really have no
apprehension about anything, which is great. I can get behind all of my
creative endeavors more so than ever before. I'm super happy and
challenged and inspired and relaxed."
She didn't explain or complain, just kept her head down and did
interview after interview, craving a return to her day job just to
retain some sense of balance and focus. But, as they say, be careful
what you wish for. Now, with seven new films under her leather belt,
Stewart feels the opposite: a deep, head-spinning need for a break.
'I still do this'
Financially, she's free to work if and when she wants, thanks to those
years as Bella Swan, opposite Pattinson's Edward Cullen. And while she
says she's never been "very business oriented" or "economically
inclined," Stewart knows that going forward, she can pick and choose
whatever she wants to do, based not on mortgage payments but on artistic
desires.
"Everyone's like, 'You're back to doing indies.' I tried to do an indie between every Twilight movie. I still do this," she says. "Plus,
Twilight initially was a funky indie teen flick. There was something
about it that I thought was really special and great. I'm not trying to
make people think I'm serious or anything. The roles for women in
Hollywood — they're very categorically narrow. When a good script sticks
out as being unique, I jump on it."
And she has nothing but fond memories of Twilight, without any obvious resentment of any ensuing baggage.
"What did I take from it? I want to do good work. We all worked
really hard on those movies, actually. Every moment and every day leads
us to where we are now. Standing up to something so much bigger than me
was a good test of my character and a good introduction to myself. It
was an accelerated growing-up process," she says of being vaulted into superstardom as Bella.
This time, her main release is Camp X-Ray (out now in limited release),
starring Stewart as a wide-eyed army private assigned to Guantanamo
Bay.
Though at first she's faced with political prisoners who seem, to her,
to pose little threat, she comes to understand just how complex the
whole war on terror really is, and how devoid it is of easy answers or
villains and victims.
"I'm definitely not one to get on a soapbox about things I care
about. You can affect change in other ways. That's why doing interviews
about it is funny for me. Dude, I did a movie. I thought it was a
courageous reminder," she sighs. "It is not righteous in any way.
... I was really excited to play an essentially American girl who is
so simple. Exploration for truth and discovery is not what we're known
for. I know it sounds really negative, but I feel it's true. I thought
it was interesting to have this girl, a good person, a sweet person, a
positively inclined girl, who wants to forget herself and wants to be
dignified by something. How do you condemn anyone who wants to serve our
country? The denigration of that notion was really interesting."
Life in — and out of — the light
After rebuffing the drunk advances of her boss, Stewart's Amy Cole is
trapped in a situation that slips out of her control, with both implied
and obvious hostility directed at her. All the while, she has to be a
pro with the condemned, loathed prisoners under her care.
As a famous person, has Stewart felt that judged herself?
"Actually, yeah," she says. "I never made that connection.
Sure, I feel that. It's silly. (Outside judgment) is so transparently a
projection. It's so insular. It has nothing to do with me. It's
everyone else's hangups."
Dressed in a white crop top, which she repeatedly yanks down,
ankle-length black pants and beaten-up sneakers, her sheared hair
mussed, Stewart is a funny, self-effacing, yet totally earnest presence.
It's hard to reconcile the diminutive brunette sitting across from you
with the mammoth celebrity whose fans devour any and every detail
about her life.
The fame thing, says Stewart, is what it is. "I'm also not that
uncomfortable with it because I've gotten used it. I am really
traversing this and getting stronger every day. I'm better at this than I
ever have been. I like being uncomfortable. I like standing up to
things," she says. "The last few days have been good, really
good. I just got off a two-year stint of filming, so I haven't had to do
(press) for a long time. It wasn't so loaded. It was nicely civilized
and good."
Stewart just wrapped her latest film, the futuristic Equals, starring
Nicholas Hoult and directed by Like Crazy's Drake Doremus. The project,
she said, tore her up emotionally, and necessitated what she long
thought she needed: a break to just be Kristen, the person. She won't
read a single script.
"I'm taking some time off because I've been working for two years.
I'm an actor and that's my art form, and because I started that so
young, I've always felt intimidated and insufficient when I think about
other forms of art I want to create. I'm going to take so much time
off," she says. "I'm going to buy a live-work space in downtown
LA and I'm going to make some (stuff) with my hands. Literally, I made
that decision a few weeks ago. I'm making a short film. I'm making a
bunch of (stuff). I don't know how I'll put it out. But I'm not going to
hold it so preciously close to me. I write all the time."
And she might even do the seemingly impossible: go out and hang out with
friends without the paparazzi following her. She takes the good with
the bad, knowing that having to hide in plain sight is simply part and
parcel of being famous.
"I started working as an actor so young. One thing that will stay
with me forever is, I really love work. I love hard work. I'm somewhat
OK with the isolation. At times I realize, that's so not normal. It's
weird but it gives me the opportunity to do what I love," she says. "I
do wish it was a bit more normal. Plans are just difficult. You have
to be ready to change them any moment. If you walk into a place and
there are weirdoes there, you leave."
The other thing, admits Stewart, is that she's always looking over her shoulder. "I've gotten better about that. Whatever. If everyone is staring at me, that's fine."
Kristen Stewart loves her cropped hairdo. And we do mean, loves it.
It’s easy. It’s functional. And it requires minimal maintenance.
“I’m going to play with this for a while. At some point I’ll grow it
out because then I have more options for parts. I don’t like wearing a
wig. I hate wearing wigs in movies. It feels fake to me,” she told us.
In all, it’s been a pretty great few months for Stewart. While in New
York promoting her drama Camp X-Ray, she met her icon, Patti Smith, at a
party. And yes, even Stewart gets hugely star-struck.
“She walked up to the table. She’s so rad and completely open. I
don’t think she’ll care. She was like: ‘It’s a full moon and I heard
you’re in town and I really like you and I thought I’d come out and try
to find you and here you are.’ And I was like, ‘Oh.’ She’s a huge
inspiration to me. Her body of work is all over the map and I find that
really inspiring. It’s like kismet. I can feel it. She was like, ‘What
are you doing? Are you happy? What are you making?’ I was like, ‘Do you
want to do something together?’”
Fittingly, Stewart is now re-reading Smith’s Just Kids.
“You read that book and all you want to do is go outside and forget
you have a job and take a sketch book and a journal and observe,” she says.
She cannot even imagine sharing her life with followers.
“What would I tweet about? Who are you talking to? What are you
saying? Imagine sitting here right now and thinking, ‘That’s a good
thing to say to the world?’ I can’t even understand it,” she told us.
But Stewart is out there. You just don’t know it.
“I have a private Instagram so I can keep in touch with my friends
because I’m always away. That’s not social media. We have a shared photo
stream,” she says.
Robsten Dreams | Source | Via- igtbu & ksd
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