Kristen Stewart on Woody, 'Twilight,' Why She's Glad She's Not in 'Huntsman: Winter's War'
Jessie Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, and Woody Allen filming ‘Cafe Society’ in New York’s Central Park in October 2015 (Photo: Steve Sands/GC Images)
The 2016 Cannes Film Festival kicks off May 11 with a dash of ‘40s glamour courtesy of its Opening Night premiere, Café Society, Woody Allen’s new period comedy. The director and co-star Jesse Eisenberg will be walking the red carpet alongside Kristen Stewart, who returns to the French Riviera after earning some of the best reviews of her post-Twilight career at Cannes in 2014 for her role in Clouds of Sils Maria. In advance of Café Society’s debut, Variety has made her the subject of its new cover story, featuring the actress in a wide-ranging conversation that touches on her blockbuster past and her art-house present, as well as her always-fascinating personal life. Here are five things we learned about Stewart, from her favorite Twilight movie to why there’s no Snow White in The Huntsman: Winter’s War to working with Woody Allen.
Related: Kristen Stewart Wins Supporting Actress Honor at France’s Cesar Awards
She’s perfectly happy not to be Snow White in The Huntsman sequel
After the success of Snow White and the Huntsman, Universal decided in 2014 to move forward without Stewart on the sequel, a movie she had said she was “excited about” in a December 2012 interview with Indiewire. While many pointed to lingering fallout from the breathless tabloid reports in summer 2012 of a romance between her and Snow White director Rupert Sanders, a Hollywood Reporter story cited budgetary concerns as playing a more important role in the studio’s approach to her option for a second film, reporting that “Stewart was not assured of a role in the sequel even before there was any hint of scandal,” given her roughly $10 million salary plus other payments tied to the film’s earnings.
Kristen Stewart in ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’: Watch the trailer:
Ultimately, the studio chose to forge ahead with the Huntsman-only sequel for Chris Hemsworth, released in April as The Huntsman: Winter’s War, only to see it struggle mightily at the box office. Stewart now says she had an inkling that the project was doomed. “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.” Stewart adds that Universal did make an initial overture about a brief cameo in the sequel, and she claims to have considered it, though the movie’s woeful grosses don’t have her regretting that missed opportunity: “So now I’m like…‘Thank God.’”
Related: But Where’s Kristen Stewart? A Brief Timeline of ‘The Huntsman: Winter’s War’
The first Twilight is her personal favorite
The Twilight Saga played out over five movies, but for Stewart, the Catherine Hardwicke-directed original—which grossed nearly $200 million, and turned Stewart and Robert Pattinson into pop culture superstars and tabloid regulars—is the one that matters. “The next ones, we were trying to satisfy something that was less specific,” Stewart remarks about New Moon, Eclipse, and the two-part Breaking Dawn. (Hardwicke famously declined the chance to continue with the franchise, and was replaced by a revolving door of directors including Chris Weitz, David Slade, and Bill Condon.) “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 had her doubts about working with Woody Allen
Acting in a Woody Allen movie has been a springboard to Oscar glory for actresses such as Cate Blanchett, Mira Sorvino, Penelope Cruz, and Diane Keaton. But Stewart initially balked when the Café Society opportunity came her way, concerned over the longstanding sexual-abuse allegations surrounding the director, which had flared up again in 2014 in the wake of an open letter published by his adoptive daughter, Dylan Farrow. She aired her concerns with her frequent collaborator and Society co-star, Jesse Eisenberg. “At the end of the day, Jesse and I talked about this,” she tells Variety. “If we were persecuted for the amount of s— that’s been said about us that’s not true, our lives would be over. The experience of making the movie was so outside of that, it was fruitful for the two of us to go on with it.”
‘Cafe Society’ with Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg: Watch the trailer:
She almost put Allen to sleep on set
Once the Café Society shoot began, Stewart got into a comfortable rhythm with Allen, and his “shticky” sense of humor. The director used a baseball analogy to poke fun at the way his star behaved between takes. “I told her she walked like a relief pitcher coming in from the bullpen,” Allen tells Variety. He also tended to give her two main pieces of direction: “That felt fake” or “Speed it up, I’m falling asleep.” According to Stewart, he wound up using the slow takes anyway, which confused her at first. “You’re like, ‘F—, are we making the one un-Woody Allen Woody Allen movie?’ But ultimately, I think we made one that was very much back to his quintessential style.”
What she really wants to do next is direct
One of Stewart’s first major roles was playing Jodie Foster’s daughter in David Fincher’s 2002 thriller, Panic Room. And now she’s hoping to follow her onscreen mom’s evolution from child actress to director. (Foster’s latest directorial effort, Money Monster, will screen at Cannes.) Stewart makes it clear she won’t be accepting another role until she calls “Cut” on a short film she’s been hoping to make for a while. “I grew up on a movie set, and before I was an actor, I wanted so badly to be part of this feeling, where everybody was protecting this treasure,” she explains. “Everybody would do stupid shit and work too many hours and sacrifice their lives to discover something. I felt that protection, and I know the possibility that it exists. I want to be responsible for it so badly.”
Kristen Stewart and Nicholas Hoult in ‘Equals’: Watch the trailer:
