THE SCENE…
A hotel on the outskirts of Los Angeles, all pink and blue and prototypically ’50s. Everything is preserved in its original condition. There’s a diner with a chrome jukebox and red banquettes; the kitsch hotel rooms have bed covers trimmed with big coloured roses.
Everything about the place oozes the gritty glamour of golden-age America, until a black Hummer pulls into the picture outside. A door opens, the deafening sound of a new-wave song is coming from the radio... and Kristen Stewart appears. It’s a very rock’n’roll arrival – just what you’d expect from the actress who played the legendary Joan Jett in 2010’s The Runaways.
Petite, feline, lean, the 26-year-old moves like a cat in the wild – especially with that piercing stare of hers. “Intense” is the word that springs to mind when you try to describe her. Intense in the way she answers questions, choosing each word with care. Intense when she talks about her principles, taking nothing lightly.
It’s this impassioned character that has impressed both directors and her audience. After the success of the Twilight series – which made her a global superstar – and her highly publicised break-up with Robert Pattinson, Stewart has gone back to independent films such as 2014’s Clouds Of Sils Maria, directed by French filmmaker Olivier Assayas. Once a teen idol, she’s transformed into an acclaimed actress – the kind everybody wants. The proof? This year, she adds Woody Allen’s Cannes highlight Café Society, Assayas’ Personal Shopper and Ang Lee’s Billy
Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk to her CV. Outside Hollywood, Stewart has seduced the fashion world, too. Karl Lagerfeld has fallen under her spell and, for three years now, she’s been an official Chanel muse. Last year, she played Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel in a short film directed by Lagerfeld himself, and now she’s the face of Chanel makeup’s Eyes Collection campaign. Yep, life’s pretty good for Kristen Stewart right now, and she knows it. You’ve collaborated twice with director Olivier Assayas, in Clouds Of Sils Maria and now in Personal
Shopper. You play a personal shopper, a character that echoes your role in Sils Maria, where you were the assistant to a star. What’s the deal with Assayas? He doesn’t want you to be a movie star? [Laughs] It’s hard to say. Olivier doesn’t speak a whole lot of his work. He is incredibly economical with his explanations. He really loves to have you think for yourself. It’s his way of directing. He stirs something up and sees what happens, like if he was just a catalyst for a thought process that he wants to capture rather than control. The movie seems to address many other subjects…
The personal shopper aspect is quite remote. It is really a ghost story, about a girl who is mourning the loss of her brother in Paris. You can see it as this trippy, dreamy meditation on loneliness. It shows how our sense of reality is based on our personal experience, and how everyone’s reality is different from others. The character also has massive identity questions: she hates herself and what she is doing but she’s drawn to these beautiful clothes. There’s something that she finds creepy in her job but she’s just obsessed. She shops for other people but she resents them and hates them. It’s like, “Why are we here? What do we stand for?” It sounds like a very unique character to be playing.
I felt unbelievably isolated during the shooting, because the character is so incredibly cut off. And she has this heart-murmur problem, so she is always one second away from death. Even the small scenes that weren’t very emotionally charged were hard to shoot. I was exhausted, man! I was so depleted. You can see it on my face. You watch the movie and that’s a look you don’t get with makeup. I look horrible!
But that didn’t bother you?
No, not at all. It was fun at the same time. That extreme state is something I’m looking for. During my career, without wanting to sound too dramatic – but I’m definitely dramatic, I am an actress after all – I’ve fallen, I’ve known a few lows. But it’s okay with me; nothing makes me feel more alive than that. I don’t envy people who tell me: “Oh God, you think too much, you take things too seriously. You should breathe through, just relax.” No, I don’t want to breathe through! I feel the most alive when I have the impression that I’m going to die on a movie or that something is just killing me in thought. If I wasn’t doing movies, I would definitely seek that state through some other way. Acting is hard – it’s a bitch. Sometimes you ask, “Why do I do this to myself?” But I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“THAT EXTREME STATE IS SOMETHING I’M LOOKING FOR... I’VE FALLEN, I’VE KNOWN A FEW LOWS. BUT IT’S OKAY WITH ME; NOTHING MAKES ME FEEL MORE ALIVE THAN THAT”
You play guitar, you write poetry and you’re a big fan of rock’n’roll. Do you plan to write songs or even pursue music as a career in the future?
I really love to play guitar. I have been doing it for years on set to kill time. I also just started playing drums and I have to admit I’m pretty good at it! [Laughs] I would love to have a band, but singing doesn’t really attract me. I’m not a very showy person. What I love is finding the right word. There’s nothing more satisfying than finding the perfect expression but it’s difficult to do, especially when you’re writing a song. The problem is that I don’t write simply. The things I find are complicated and expansive. When I play guitar, I’m so ADD... it goes in all directions. I want to find someone to work with and sing with me. It would be fun.
You gravitate towards French indie movies, typical examples of cinéma d’auteur. Do you feel a close connection to the country?
My most fruitful artistic relationships have been with French people. My favourite producer is Charles Gillibert, who got me three of my best roles, with Olivier Assayas and Walter Salles. He really cultivates something in me. He reads everything I write. But I also give a lot to Olivier to read. And then there’s the relationship with the Chanel people... Oh, that sounds so snobbish and Parisian! [Laughs] But it’s true. There’s a loftiness to ideas in France that I like. People don’t need to define the grey areas of life in order to market it. There’s a risky, curious nature to the art that’s made there. Some of my favourite actors are very drawn to French cinema, like Sean Penn or Jodie Foster.
You were born in Los Angeles, but has anyone ever told you there’s a French side to your personality?
Yes, actually. I was in France a few days ago and one of my friends over there told me, “You really suit Paris and it really suits you!” It sounds totally cheesy, but it’s true. I feel good when I’m in Paris and really productive. In Los Angeles, I’m more sedentary, but when I get to Paris I hit the ground running. I don’t want to miss a moment. It is really stimulating.
Do you feel like you’ve now reached a pinnacle in your acting career?
I feel really lucky. Most people my age are still trying to figure out what they like and what to do with their life. I’m very proud to be associated with these directors [Lee, Assayas and Allen] because they’re incredible. I feel so pushed, so encouraged. And also so blown out… In the past two years, I’ve worked on quite a few movies and it all happened in a very condensed period. A few years ago, if one of those movies had come along every year, that would have been enough to keep me going. Right now, my only problem is slowing down a little and not letting circumstances lead me. Acting is very addictive and you can’t stop working. If I wanted, I could have the next five years scheduled.
You’re the face of Chanel’s new makeup campaign, for the Eyes Collection, which is a perfect fit because you’re known for your love of a smoky eye…
I gravitate towards a lot of contrasting looks. I love wearing no makeup at all and getting a raw, direct effect. But when you find the right makeup, it can enhance that and bring that rawness to the surface. I like it when makeup can do that. By adding darkness you can see more light.
What do you love about this new collection?
The colours are so cool. Red is not typically the colour you put on your eyes, but there’s something really alive and kind of bloody about it. A lot of old-school actresses use it, even in scenes where they’re not supposed to cry, when they want to get that edge. You don’t necessarily notice it, but it draws everyone’s eye to your eyes.
You tend to shy away from the limelight, but often it’s something you can’t avoid as part of your job. Do you see wearing dark eye makeup as a way to protect yourself from the world?
Of course. When I’m tired or feeling defensive or not in the mood, I’ll choose that option. You don’t always feel like going out and saying, “Hey, everybody!” To have that desire seems crazy to me. Sometimes when there’s a red carpet, my makeup artist will say, “You should really go clean tonight, the outfit really calls for it. It would be cool.” And I’m like, “No, I can’t handle it. I think we just have to go [with the] fuck-off eye!” “Fuck-off eye, really?” “Yeah, fuck-off eye!” [Laughs]
You don’t have a reputation for being very selfconscious about the way you look or dress. What do you like about working with Chanel?
Since I was a small girl, I have always loved being a part of a story. I like bringing a character to life and being understood and conveying feelings to other people. This allows me to come closer to them, which is the greatest thing about making movies. With Chanel, I have the feeling I’m doing a little bit of the same thing and helping them tell a story. And we have a good working relationship, maybe because Karl Lagerfeld surrounds himself only with people who really love fashion – it sounds cliché to say so but it is the truth. In this business, you can be quite on the surface, but, here, there’s a real depth.
Karl Lagerfeld can have the image of someone who’s cold and formidable. What’s it like working with him?
It’s true he has that austere image. There’s something about him that is very untouchable. But when you work with him, he puts that away. He’s very nice, talks to everyone. I’ve got the sense that his main desire is to pass on information; he is really such a well of knowledge, especially with us youngsters. Every time I’m around him, it feels like he wants to teach us things. He talks about artists, details, facts that we
don’t know about. He will say, “You should read this book…” or “You remind me of this person…” It’s not all fashion-oriented. He’s just a truly driven artist.
You’ve said that being in the spotlight is hard, especially after you and your Twilight co-star Robert Pattinson split and it was the subject of huge publicity all over the world. Do you still feel that way now?
I’ve grown accustomed to it, but it’s not necessarily easier. Celebrity is very life-altering, even though I wouldn’t want to seem like I’m complaining. It’s quite an obvious statement to say that, but it drastically changes the way you navigate your life day to day. I don’t take it personally anymore, like I did before. Once you recognise that the whole celebrity thing is an industry – a money-grabbing industry ruined by people with sociopathic tendencies who don’t care about other people’s feelings – it’s okay!
You don’t hide your relationships, or at least you don’t try to keep them secret. Do you think that the industry, and the public, are more accepting of “celebrity relationships” than they might have been in the past?
Yes. I think there’s an apparent fluidity to our generation that’s more accepted; it’s newly acquired and really awesome. Also, because I’m quite unafraid and indifferent to gossip, it makes things easier. It isn’t a problem for me, so it doesn’t seem to be a problem for others. That’s good. But I don’t want that subject to start defining me. People project so many things on me; it’s like an ongoing comment book that I’m a part of. Some people think they know about celebrities, but they don’t know a thing. Nobody has any idea what I’m doing with my life. I don’t hide, and I’m photographed constantly, but at the same time I don’t give anything away. I’m the last person who is going to package a message and deliver it to the masses to be consumed.
You don’t want to be put in a box. You don’t want to be worshipped as a huge star or as a romantic idol, the way you were during the Twilight years. But you don’t want to be seen as a rebel or an indie actress either?
My position towards fame is an ambiguous one. Some people are obsessed with being famous and that’s something I don’t understand at all. But I appreciate the value of being a celebrity and being able to reach so many people. You get close to humanity in general and that’s awesome. I definitely wouldn’t want to make movies that are not seen by everyone. It’s the same for acting. When I act, it’s me. I’m not hiding behind characters. I really want to show myself – bare my fucking soul – and find the different levels of myself that I don’t know, and then put them into movies. But at the same time I don’t want to show my private life, only my feelings.
“SOME PEOPLE ARE OBSESSED WITH BEING FAMOUS AND THAT’S SOMETHING I DON’T UNDERSTAND. BUT I APPRECIATE THE VALUE OF BEING A CELEBRITY AND BEING ABLE TO REACH SO MANY PEOPLE. YOU GET CLOSE TO HUMANITY AND THAT’S AWESOME”
What is it that you love so much about this job?
Sometimes when you read good literature, you have the impression that you could have said it or that it’s something you’ve thought for yourself but never said out loud; like exploring yourself. Acting is a little bit the same. When you play a character, you can pretend to have the experiences she has, as though you’ve had them. And you learn from them in this really incredible way, without having to go through that actually. It’s like being allowed to live multiple lives within one.
What initially made you want to become an actor?
My mother is a script supervisor and she would take me with her to sets. There would always be a few kids walking around and I thought, “How are they allowed to participate in this and not me? I want to do that in any way that I can.” I love the atmosphere on set. There’s a collective effort to preserve, nurture and take care of something. I love being a part of that.
You have previously talked about famous people learning to say no. What do you mean by that?
Finding yourself in any creative environment should always feel positive. I have never done good work feeling like I was forced. I always say to kids who are trying to become actors, “You don’t have to do anything that you don’t want to.” Of course, it can be good to be pressured, to have a big responsibility, but at the same time, it is yours, you are deciding to do it.