Twilight adventurerEmailPrinter friendly versionNormal fontLarge fontDonna Walker-Mitchell
April 19, 2009
Kristen Stewart
Photo: Matt Sayles/AP Photo
Latest related coverage
View The many faces of Kristen Stewart
When 당신 see the name Kristen Stewart 당신 probably think Twilight, right?�But do 당신 remember her in Panic Room?
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Kirsten Stewart is Hollywood's reluctant star, refusing to follow in the predictable footsteps of Paris, Britney, Lindsay and the industry's other leading pretty young things.
Screams from frantic, obsessed young female 팬 of last year's blockbuster vampire 판타지 film Twilight follow Stewart when she steps out in public but instead of inciting the frenzy 의해 attending red-carpet events and nightclub openings, the 18-year-old with the gorgeous green eyes chooses to stay at 집 and read abook.
Her Los Angeles 집 is not a mansion in the Hollywood Hills despite her pocketing $US2million ($2.7million) for Twilight and a reported $US4 million for the sequel, New Moon, set for release in November.
집 is comfortable in suburban LA, where she lives a regular life with her Australian scriptwriter mother, Jules, 텔레비전 producer father, John, and older brother, Cameron.
But this is not a shy, sheltered teen. Stewart is as wise and tough as a Hollywood veteran.
"Kristen has a great bullshit detector," the writer-director of her new comedy Adventureland, Greg Mottola, tells S.
When Stewart arrives for this interview in a Beverly Hills hotel, a stylist has not scoured the racks of nearby Rodeo Drive's designer boutiques for a jaw-dropping Dior creation. Stewart is dressed casually in black skinny jeans and a grey, loose-fitting T-shirt.
"This is me," the actress says, jokingly rubbing her hands down her thin 168-centimetre frame.
Stewart also swims against the tide of Hollywood when it comes to breakfast, venturing where most refuse to go.
"I actually don't mind Vegemite," she says, laughing. "I know most Americans can't stand the smell, taste 또는 look of it but I like it."
Stewart, of course, can thank her Maroochydore-born mum for an early introduction to the iconic Australian spread. Born in Los Angeles and raised in the US, the actress names Noosa Heads as one of her favourite places on the planet. The Queensland resort town is where she holidayed with her family and learned to ride a surfboard.
Stewart's Australian heritage also inspired the name of her dog, a border 콜리, 콜 리 named Oz.
"I 사랑 Australia and we have a lot of great family and 프렌즈 down there. I can't wait to get back," she says.
Time for a holiday is a rare commodity for Stewart these days. The success of Twilight, based on the best-selling Stephenie Meyer novel, has Hollywood studios clamouring to sign her to their 다음 film. Twilight cost a relatively frugal $US37million to make and ended up cashing in worldwide with $US377million in box-office earnings.
The recent DVD release in the US has added 더 많이 than $US100million to the tally.
In Twilight she plays the female lead, Bella, a teenager who falls in 사랑 with irresistibly good-looking vampire Edward Cullen, portrayed 의해 England's teen heart-throb, Robert Pattinson.
"It feels so good to have something 당신 사랑 be received so hotly," says Stewart, who became just as entranced 의해 Twilight after 읽기 the novel as its millions of teenage (and adult) fans.
"But the physical manifestation of the success, from the screaming 팬 to the box office, is just crazy.
"The 팬 are just so enthusiastic and I am so excited to do New Moon. I'm so ready to get on to the 다음 one."
당신 can trace Stewart's rise in Hollywood back to a similar entry point as many young actors the 디즈니 studio lot.
As a 10-year-old she had a role in 디즈니 movie The Thirteenth 년 but that's where the comparisons between Stewart and Disney's top-tier creations, Miley Cyrus and Hilary Duff, end.
Instead of starring in a child-friendly 텔레비전 series with spin-off albums and merchandising, Stewart gravitated to heavy, independent roles, her first being 2001's The Safety Of Objects, a film starring Glenn Close and Patricia Clarkson, where she plays a tomboy raised 의해 a troubled single mother.
It set the tone for some dark and difficult roles. In her nine-year career, Stewart has played a stripper, a rape victim, a diabetic and a schoolstudent struck 의해 a degenerative muscular disease.
The big Hollywood films studios are now tempting her with do not 옮기기 her but she is wise enough to realise the success of Twilight and the power of her name can get the small passion projects she loves made.
Stewart shot independent feature The Cake Eaters two years ago, a film co-starring Bruce Dern and this year's best actress Oscar nominee for 겨울왕국 River, Melissa Leo, and directed 의해 Mary Stuart Masterson. It had sat onthe shelf with the prospect of never beingseen.
When Twilight was released last 년 and became a worldwide phenomenon, The Cake Eaters suddenly had a release date. And, capitalising on Stewart's new-found success, posters promoting the film are dominated not 의해 Dern 또는 Leo: they simply show Stewart's face.
In The Cake Eaters she plays Georgia, a teenager trapped in a body racked 의해 a muscular disease that causes her to walk unsteadily and mumble when she speaks. The US's best-known film critic, Roger Ebert, described the performance as "remarkable".
"If it was not for Twilight, I'm not sure The Cake Eaters, a film I dearly love, would have seen the light of day," Stewart reflects.
"We made it 더 많이 than two years ago."
Another independent film, Welcome To The Rileys, stars The Sopranos' James Gandolfini but it is Stewart's performance as a 거리 youth forced to become a stripper that is generating the most attention.
"Now people are saying: 'Let's see Bella in a stripper movie,"' Stewart laughs.
The 다음 movie Australian audiences will see Stewart in is Mottola's Adventureland. (Mottola's last project was the ribald 2007 comedy Superbad.)
Adventureland is set in a rundown amusement park in 1980s Pittsburgh and again Stewart was attracted to a dark role. She plays Em Lewin, a 대학 student with a very damaged upbringing.
"Yeah," Stewart smiles, noting the trend.
"Em is fairly damaged. She has an odd number of hang-ups. It's too much for her. Any time 당신 don't like yourself people won't treat 당신 well. She feels like anything she touches is just going to get messed up because she has been messed with so much.
"Do I feel sorry for her? Sure. Anybody who has issues they can't get over and 당신 see potential in them and want it to come out, I feel for them."
Em's troubles continue when she has an affair with the amusement park's married manager, played 의해 Ryan Reynolds.
Reynolds, a tabloid and paparazzi favourite after leaving musician girlfriend Alanis Morissette in June 2006 and dating and marrying screen siren Scarlett Johansson soon after, knows what it's like to live in the public eye.
He is impressed with how the low-key Stewart is handling the post-Twilight media storm.
"There's nothing I 또는 anyone can tell her that she doesn't already know," Reynolds says.
"She is a pretty wise soul."
Mottola agrees.
"Orson Welles once said his favourite actors make the act of thinking dramatic and I think she does that," he adds.
"I see things flash across her face and I want to know more. She draws me in. She is smart and very serious, especially for someone her age. I just find her really, really interesting towatch."
Stewart is content to juggle the Twilight spotlight and the dark, broken people she loves to portray in independent roles.
She is also not ready to leave the comfort and stability of her parents' home.
"No," the actress says.
"No plans to 옮기기 any time soon. I'm really tight with my family and besides, I think it would be a little weird to have a big, sprawling place all on my own."
April 19, 2009
Kristen Stewart
Photo: Matt Sayles/AP Photo
Latest related coverage
View The many faces of Kristen Stewart
When 당신 see the name Kristen Stewart 당신 probably think Twilight, right?�But do 당신 remember her in Panic Room?
.Advertisement
Kirsten Stewart is Hollywood's reluctant star, refusing to follow in the predictable footsteps of Paris, Britney, Lindsay and the industry's other leading pretty young things.
Screams from frantic, obsessed young female 팬 of last year's blockbuster vampire 판타지 film Twilight follow Stewart when she steps out in public but instead of inciting the frenzy 의해 attending red-carpet events and nightclub openings, the 18-year-old with the gorgeous green eyes chooses to stay at 집 and read abook.
Her Los Angeles 집 is not a mansion in the Hollywood Hills despite her pocketing $US2million ($2.7million) for Twilight and a reported $US4 million for the sequel, New Moon, set for release in November.
집 is comfortable in suburban LA, where she lives a regular life with her Australian scriptwriter mother, Jules, 텔레비전 producer father, John, and older brother, Cameron.
But this is not a shy, sheltered teen. Stewart is as wise and tough as a Hollywood veteran.
"Kristen has a great bullshit detector," the writer-director of her new comedy Adventureland, Greg Mottola, tells S.
When Stewart arrives for this interview in a Beverly Hills hotel, a stylist has not scoured the racks of nearby Rodeo Drive's designer boutiques for a jaw-dropping Dior creation. Stewart is dressed casually in black skinny jeans and a grey, loose-fitting T-shirt.
"This is me," the actress says, jokingly rubbing her hands down her thin 168-centimetre frame.
Stewart also swims against the tide of Hollywood when it comes to breakfast, venturing where most refuse to go.
"I actually don't mind Vegemite," she says, laughing. "I know most Americans can't stand the smell, taste 또는 look of it but I like it."
Stewart, of course, can thank her Maroochydore-born mum for an early introduction to the iconic Australian spread. Born in Los Angeles and raised in the US, the actress names Noosa Heads as one of her favourite places on the planet. The Queensland resort town is where she holidayed with her family and learned to ride a surfboard.
Stewart's Australian heritage also inspired the name of her dog, a border 콜리, 콜 리 named Oz.
"I 사랑 Australia and we have a lot of great family and 프렌즈 down there. I can't wait to get back," she says.
Time for a holiday is a rare commodity for Stewart these days. The success of Twilight, based on the best-selling Stephenie Meyer novel, has Hollywood studios clamouring to sign her to their 다음 film. Twilight cost a relatively frugal $US37million to make and ended up cashing in worldwide with $US377million in box-office earnings.
The recent DVD release in the US has added 더 많이 than $US100million to the tally.
In Twilight she plays the female lead, Bella, a teenager who falls in 사랑 with irresistibly good-looking vampire Edward Cullen, portrayed 의해 England's teen heart-throb, Robert Pattinson.
"It feels so good to have something 당신 사랑 be received so hotly," says Stewart, who became just as entranced 의해 Twilight after 읽기 the novel as its millions of teenage (and adult) fans.
"But the physical manifestation of the success, from the screaming 팬 to the box office, is just crazy.
"The 팬 are just so enthusiastic and I am so excited to do New Moon. I'm so ready to get on to the 다음 one."
당신 can trace Stewart's rise in Hollywood back to a similar entry point as many young actors the 디즈니 studio lot.
As a 10-year-old she had a role in 디즈니 movie The Thirteenth 년 but that's where the comparisons between Stewart and Disney's top-tier creations, Miley Cyrus and Hilary Duff, end.
Instead of starring in a child-friendly 텔레비전 series with spin-off albums and merchandising, Stewart gravitated to heavy, independent roles, her first being 2001's The Safety Of Objects, a film starring Glenn Close and Patricia Clarkson, where she plays a tomboy raised 의해 a troubled single mother.
It set the tone for some dark and difficult roles. In her nine-year career, Stewart has played a stripper, a rape victim, a diabetic and a schoolstudent struck 의해 a degenerative muscular disease.
The big Hollywood films studios are now tempting her with do not 옮기기 her but she is wise enough to realise the success of Twilight and the power of her name can get the small passion projects she loves made.
Stewart shot independent feature The Cake Eaters two years ago, a film co-starring Bruce Dern and this year's best actress Oscar nominee for 겨울왕국 River, Melissa Leo, and directed 의해 Mary Stuart Masterson. It had sat onthe shelf with the prospect of never beingseen.
When Twilight was released last 년 and became a worldwide phenomenon, The Cake Eaters suddenly had a release date. And, capitalising on Stewart's new-found success, posters promoting the film are dominated not 의해 Dern 또는 Leo: they simply show Stewart's face.
In The Cake Eaters she plays Georgia, a teenager trapped in a body racked 의해 a muscular disease that causes her to walk unsteadily and mumble when she speaks. The US's best-known film critic, Roger Ebert, described the performance as "remarkable".
"If it was not for Twilight, I'm not sure The Cake Eaters, a film I dearly love, would have seen the light of day," Stewart reflects.
"We made it 더 많이 than two years ago."
Another independent film, Welcome To The Rileys, stars The Sopranos' James Gandolfini but it is Stewart's performance as a 거리 youth forced to become a stripper that is generating the most attention.
"Now people are saying: 'Let's see Bella in a stripper movie,"' Stewart laughs.
The 다음 movie Australian audiences will see Stewart in is Mottola's Adventureland. (Mottola's last project was the ribald 2007 comedy Superbad.)
Adventureland is set in a rundown amusement park in 1980s Pittsburgh and again Stewart was attracted to a dark role. She plays Em Lewin, a 대학 student with a very damaged upbringing.
"Yeah," Stewart smiles, noting the trend.
"Em is fairly damaged. She has an odd number of hang-ups. It's too much for her. Any time 당신 don't like yourself people won't treat 당신 well. She feels like anything she touches is just going to get messed up because she has been messed with so much.
"Do I feel sorry for her? Sure. Anybody who has issues they can't get over and 당신 see potential in them and want it to come out, I feel for them."
Em's troubles continue when she has an affair with the amusement park's married manager, played 의해 Ryan Reynolds.
Reynolds, a tabloid and paparazzi favourite after leaving musician girlfriend Alanis Morissette in June 2006 and dating and marrying screen siren Scarlett Johansson soon after, knows what it's like to live in the public eye.
He is impressed with how the low-key Stewart is handling the post-Twilight media storm.
"There's nothing I 또는 anyone can tell her that she doesn't already know," Reynolds says.
"She is a pretty wise soul."
Mottola agrees.
"Orson Welles once said his favourite actors make the act of thinking dramatic and I think she does that," he adds.
"I see things flash across her face and I want to know more. She draws me in. She is smart and very serious, especially for someone her age. I just find her really, really interesting towatch."
Stewart is content to juggle the Twilight spotlight and the dark, broken people she loves to portray in independent roles.
She is also not ready to leave the comfort and stability of her parents' home.
"No," the actress says.
"No plans to 옮기기 any time soon. I'm really tight with my family and besides, I think it would be a little weird to have a big, sprawling place all on my own."