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Expanded Q&A: Kristen Stewart of “Twilight”

Kristen Stewart during the recent ”Twilight” press conference in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Associated Press photo) 

Kristen Stewart made her film debut at the tender age of 11 in 2001’s “The Safety of Objects,” opposite Glenn Close, Dermot Mulroney and Patricia Clarkson. For those who don’t remember that one, the following year, she played Jodie Foster’s daughter in the thriller “Panic Room.” She also has appeared in the films “Cold Creek Manor,” “Catch That Kid” and Zathura.

But it was her standout performance in the drama “Into the Wild” that compelled director Catherine Hardwicke to cast her in the starring role of “Twilight.” In the film version of Stephenie Meyer’s much-loved book, Stewart plays Bella Swan, the awkward new kid in school in the tiny town of Forks, Wash. Her life seems ordinary, until she falls in love with a gorgeous vampire named Edward (Robert Pattinson). Encounters with ruthless vampires, friendly werewolves and other weirdness follows.

Stewart was 17, Bella’s age in “Twilight,” when she was cast in the role, but has since turned 18. She is home-schooled and is finishing the 12th grade.

During recent roundtable interviews during a press junket at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., Stewart was twitchy – constantly shifting and shaking her foot vigorously – but fielded questions about the books, the role and coping with the fervent and opinionated “Twihard” fans.

Here is an edited version of the interview:

Q: Were you a fan of the books? Did you relate to Bella?
A: I wasn’t a fan of the books. I didn’t know about them.  I stick to used bookstores. I just never saw them. How do I relate to her? She’s the vessel – you experience the whole story through her. You very much project yourself onto her, you put yourself on her, so whatever aspect of your personality … Bella was very, very close to myself. There weren’t any distinguishing characteristics that were different. I really just had to be an impulsive … like, I was playing this girl who gets caught up in this extravagant situation.

Q: Did the first love and passion ring true to you?
A: Yeah, I think everybody, even if they haven’t had some life-altering love affair with someone …

Q: What about the not-fitting-in aspect?
A: She thinks she doesn’t but she totally does.  I think when you first start having crushes on people – I first started having crushes at 5. So it starts young, that’s a really innate thing about human beings.

And heightened emotion goes on when you’re this age, maybe because you trust yourself more, and that’s really why I love Bella. She really trusts herself. She’s really strong. And you haven’t become cynical about what you feel because you haven’t been hurt yet.

Then again, an 80 year-old woman can fall head over heels in love with somebody.

Q: You’ve been selective about your roles: how do you choose?
A: The way I choose characters and projects is not a calculated thing. Sometimes you do a project that really does have a message and really does speak to people or is the type of movie that you want to do. I feel I have to do it, if I read the script and I don’t bring this character to life they die on the page and nobody gets to experience them the way I did. Even if somebody else does it and does a really great job, people won’t get what I got and I won’t get to live through it and that’s hard.

So I feel like if I’m compelled to do the movie there’s a reason for it, and there usually is, like after you do the film you go, “Yeah that was good for me to do,” but when you’re choosing projects, follow instincts.

Q: This is arguably your biggest movie, with a huge fan base. How are you dealing with it all?
A: I’ve done so many movies that haven’t seen the light of day, and I’m really glad that I’m proud of this movie and it’s not something I did just to have people finally see my movie. All these interviews would be going so terribly bad if I didn’t like this movie.

In terms of the pressure from the fans, I care about the book just as much as they do, and separate from them, I didn’t really know about them until really more towards the end of the movie.  And even when I found out about it I made sure that I kept tunnel vision. I read the book, I can’t know any less than they know about her, and there was no reason to get specific details from them or you’d be playing everyone else’s Bella.

Q: Did you read online about the casting of you and what they said?
A: Yeah, it’s kind of amusing. And anyone who says they don’t read their stuff online is lying.

Q: What did you read that was bizarre?
A: Like I walk funny. I think that’s hilarious. Stuff like that. “She walks funny, she’s just not right.” They all see themselves as Bella. Maybe not all of them, but it’s fine. What have I read about myself online? That I’m hated. It’s so weird to think people put so much energy into despising you so wholeheartedly that they literally take time to go onto message boards and talk about you. It’s weird.

Q: Any weird fan encounters?
A: It’s really interesting to see a hundred of them come by. We had to do a signing in Rome and there were so many fans. A couple of them, peppered in there scarcely, would come by with this look of disdain, just hatred.

Q: Because you were in the movie and they weren’t?
A: Yeah, totally. I’d get this look from them like they want to get across that they don’t like me in a very short amount of time. They have one second to put that piece of paper in front of you or their book and say, “Just sign it, OK? Don’t write anything else besides your name.” Or they’ll come up very quietly like, “You’re really enjoying this process, well enjoy it some more.”

Q: Does that backlash change your feeling about acting? Or does acting overcome that garbage?
A: It’s something I have to do, you know. The whole being critiqued and criticized and put under a microscope is fine, I guess, because people are interested.

But I don’t presume to know anything about anything. So it’s so funny when these girls have such distinct opinions about things. Wow. Who made you goddess? I don’t put too much stock in my own opinion because I don’t put too much stock in other people’s opinions. But the acting part, I have to do it.

Q: Why?
It’s not like I’m passionate about acting, I hate that word anyway. It’s another word for lying.  It’s just been, so far, the one outlet that I’ve found that I can utilize the most. I write, but I only write for myself.

Q: You’re still writing?
Q: Yeah, but I’ve really regressed, I don’t know why. I was really confident when I was a little kid: “I’m going to be a writer, I’m going to go to Yale.” Now, I’m not going to school and nobody is going to read my writing. It’s just chicken scratches in a notebook.

Q: You started young in the business. What’s the toughest part of growing up in it?
A: I haven’t had too many problems. I had to stop going to school because I worked too much and my teachers resented me a lot. I got so much out of home schooling. I really loved home school. Independent study is for me.

Q: Did you miss the social aspect?
A: No, because I had this other; the business is not just adults, and age is a relative thing with me. I don’t miss being around kids. Kids typically make me really uncomfortable. But put me in a room with 150 extras and I’m uncomfortable. Plus, I know what it’s like to go to school. I went to public school up until seventh grade.

Q: What is it about vampires that makes them so enduring?
A: Everyone is attracted to things they don’t know. They’re dangerous and at the same time alluring, and for girls especially, they’re like a test, like you’re testing yourself: “I can touch the fire, and I’ll be fine.” I think it’s just they’re classically sexy and alluring. Other than that I really don’t know why. They’re immortal, so who knows what they’ve seen.

Q: Why has the “Twilight” series connected with people?
A: It’s such a first-hand account, experience, that it’s like you’re doing it yourself, and at the same time it’s voyeuristic, like you’re reading somebody’s private thoughts. You’re not supposed to know what people are fixated on, and in this, that’s the whole story. It’s a very epic, high-stakes, ultimate love story, and that is fundamentally what drives us to do everything in life.

I hate quoting the poster but if you’re gonna live for something that’s (love’s) the only thing you could live forever for. If you’re alone you just want to die.

-BAM

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