RomanianKrisbian: August 2014

KRISTEN STEWART, The rebel.

At 24, she has already known a huge amount of fame by being the star of blockbusters.She's had her first loves under the spotlight of paparazzi. And she's discovered the curse that Hollywood gives to those who do whatever they want. After two years of not speaking to the media, the sullen actress is making a come back - obviously - where we weren't expecting her, in a French film by Olivier Assayas, and she takes the opportunity to discuss with Ingrid Sischy, the confusing similarities between this fiction and her reality.

How many people can brag about having wolves hybrid as pets? It's the case of Kristen Stewart, troubling premonition for the one who was Bella Swan in the "Twilight" series, the old-fashioned teenager but romantic, the laughing stock of her high school who falls in loves with a buff vampire and whose best-friend turns into a werewolf on occasion...
Actresses who have the guts of breaking the Hollywood mold don't grow on trees in the United States. When you're lucky enough to croth paths with them, you've got to jump at the opportunity. Particularly when this actress grew up in Los Angeles, with two parents working in the cinema and television industry - because that's how Kristen Stewart ended up on the big screen. She's not a "little rich kid", protected by the cocoon of celebrity and/or a huge amount of fortune, enclosed in a Beverly Hills mansion, surrounded by a perfect high hedge. Kristen Stewart's childhood, in the substantially less glamourous San Fernando Valley, was the complete contrary. Her parents, Jules Mann-Stewart and John Stewart were employed by celebrities. And they knew very well how some of them can make your life a living hell.

When their daughter Kristen, who was wearing the exact same clothes as her brother Cameron, in other words, was dressed like a boy, as in wearing tracksuits, even in class, said she wanted to go to auditions, her mother warned her: "I work with those kids - they are crazy. You are not like them." But as she won't stop doing it after that, Kristen held onto her dream, and, at 11, she gets the role of Jodie Foster's daughter in "Panic Room", the thriller by David Fincher. An inspiring cast. Stewart isn't pretending to be cute, she's more like the kind of kid that you would bring with yourself in adventures. I talked to Jodie Foster about Kristen - who also survived through the tricks of getting famous at a young age - a few years ago, and she defines her with those few words: "Kristen doesn't have the usual personality of an actress. She doesn't want to dance on her grandmother's table with a lampshade on her head."
To say that the "Twilight" films didn't bring in a lot of money would be a euphemism [400 million of dollars worldwide only for the first one]. Needless to say, these films weren't the best. But Stewart never despised them, just like the millions of fans of the books. It would have been so easy for a hipster like her. But Robert Pattinson - her lover off and on screen at the time - and her seemed to have a real respect for the fans of the sage. And for one another as well.
Contrary to France, the United States never hesitate to get on their high horse when it comes to morality, but it went even farther than that. The public was disappointed. And I think that the most interesting part is that Stewart herself was the most disappointed in herself. No one would have ever expected her to end up in that kind of common situation. But the truth is, it's precisely this burning humanity that sets her apart from this other horde of falsely cheerful actresses, and incredibly redone that obstruct the pages of magazines. Even if "On The Road", the adaptation of Kerouac's novel, that she loved a lot, came out in the US around the same time, she has more or less disappeared from radars since. In the interview that you're about to read, she remembers: "I came down from this giant wave and I wanted to shelter myself a little bit. That I would come back later."

The moment has come. After not less than five films shot that will come out in the next few months, beginning with "Sils Maria", the mediation of Olivier Assayas on the cinema industry and the ultra modern celebrity, the actress was more than busy. In Assayas' film, she proves that she can make fun of herself. The fact that it's a French film isn't a coincidence. As many Americans before her - From Gertrude Steing to James Baldwin, stopping by Nina Simone, who chose France to find the road to freedom -, Stewart found her own on the other side of the Atlantic. While we're at it, you might realize that something is different in this article: it's an interview, in the tradition of those like "Playboy", or the conversations that Andy Warhol used to love so much when he launched the magazine "Interview" and that he wanted to "remember everything from the horse's mouth", as he said. That's how I met Kristen Stewart for the first time. She was barely 12 years old, she was just starting and I was the redactor in chef of "Interview". I remember thinking: "This kid really has things to say." It hasn't changed. And while this interview isn't like the usual Vanity Fair France interview, rules are meant to be broken. Kristen Stewart is a real rebel. To describe this rebellion, she uses an image that I find funny: "I put my boxing gloves on with 'no' written on them." So we broke the rules, we put on our gloves with 'yes' on them and we went on the boxing ring to cross swords, laugh and talk.

Kristen Stewart: What's up?
Vanity Fair: You first! I know how much you love 'red carpet' questions. What are you wearing for this interview?
Kristen: I'm not wearing my pajamas. I'm proud of myself. What time is it, noon?

VF: It's time to talk! You know that we've changed the usual way we do interviews just for you?
KS: Cool. I love reading interviews of people that I find interesting. When they play the game for real. You can't cheat. I know that you love it! Go ahead, it's your thing!
VF: We haven't seen you much these past two years. But you're going to make a lot of noise with all these movies to come. I've seen the first yesterday, "Sils Maria" by Olivier Assayas. Frankly, I didn't think I'd love it so much. I thought I would get bored and it's the total opposite. I was transported. It's a real reflexion the limitations on Art and life with one another. Sometimes I even wondered if you had inspired the screenplay.
KS: It's kind of crazy. Sometimes you have to look for the character. This one was on my knees, I had a lot of fun playing it.