Kristen Stewart covers the Fall Preview issue of Entertainment Weekly. She’s promoting Spencer, the film where she plays Princess Diana, the film which has already earned Kristen a heap of Oscar buzz across the late-summer film festivals. Every critic has raved about the film and Kristen’s performance, and I can feel Kristen making a conscious choice to wade very carefully into these waters. The waters of Oscar buzz, a real Oscar campaign, planning out her fall and winter with an eye towards Oscar-voter screenings and awards shows. It’s great to see, honestly. Bella from Twilight is all grown up and making the choice to really engage. Here are some highlights from her EW interview:
On her own fame compared to Diana’s fame: “I mean, I’ve tasted… I’ve come near these sort of manic levels of fame and intrusion…Not intrusion. That implies that I’ve been stolen from in this violent way. I have experienced people kind of wanting to come in, but there is no comparison to this particular woman, in terms of that fervent desire to have her and know her.”
She did watch The Crown. Stewart is a fan: “I watched it probably in one night. I think [actress Emma Corrin] did a really beautiful job. I mean, not to say that my opinion matters at all! But I loved her in it, truly.”
Saying yes to the role: “I knew even before I read the script. I was like, ‘You’re not going to say no to this, because who would you be in that case?’ I absolutely would have felt like such a coward. Especially given that I’m such an outsider. I’m not from the U.K., I don’t have any particular investment in the royal family. So I was kind of this really clean slate, and then could absorb her in a way that actually felt very instinctive, you know?”
How Diana didn’t want to be in Sandringham: “It is a fact that sometimes she just didn’t want to come to dinner. And if that’s all you’ve got, if you’re backed into a corner and the only way to bare your teeth is to change your clothes or not come to eat… If you’re so voiceless and never listened to and never asked any questions, you’re going to do things in order to be heard that are very easy to judge.”
Diana’s hidden strengths: “She’s such a strange combination of things that don’t seem to go together. The power she pulls into every room is probably what was so upsetting for people who wanted a sort of demure and quiet figurehead…. She was just tactile and warm and kind of buzzing with fragility that needed to be pacified and salved… There was a fickle nature, obviously, to a lot of the facts. She is, very sadly and very ironically, one of the most unknowable people in history, when all she wanted was to just be closer to people and bare herself.”
She did wear wigs throughout the shoot: “If it wasn’t a wig, we would have had so much less time to shoot… And we were f—ing sprinting. This was not padded or luxe in any way. We were balls to the wall, gunning through it. Which you can feel in the movie 10 or 15 minutes in— once it gets up and starts going, it doesn’t stop, it barrels. It felt that way to make it, too.”
She cares about the Oscar buzz: “You want to win, we’re all animals. Artists want to engage with the world and have larger conversations. Even though it doesn’t seem like I’m somebody who wants to be extremely famous, I still want this conversation to be expansive…. I used to be really intentionally the opposite of precious in terms of choosing projects. For a minute there I was like, ‘I’ll do f—ing anything!’ And honestly, it was a good place to be for a minute. But I think now I’m going to be a little more careful. I think I have a better nose for what’s going to be fruitful for me personally, as an experience, if not necessarily what’s going to thrive out in the world.”
Apparently, she did put up a fight about the wigs – she really wanted to use her own hair and get it styled and colored like Diana’s would have been for this era. But I understand why she lost that fight. I love what she says about caring about awards too, that’s refreshing from an actor. I’m really interested to see what it looks like for Kristen to really participate in a full-throttle Oscar campaign.
Cover & IG courtesy of EW, additional photos courtesy of ‘Spencer’.
that’s a really pretty picture of her on the cover. Her eye makeup is gorgeous.
“no particular investment in the royal family” – me neither Kristen, and yet here I am, every day🤣
I liked what she said about wanting to win. I’m so tired of the actors saying “no its not about that for me” or “its not important.” of course its important. Of course it matters to you. if it didn’t you wouldn’t be in the midst of a full-throated oscar campaign lol.
She may be young enough that I might believe it. I think for anyone who was a young kid or not born in 97, the Diana phenomenon was not a thing for them especially outside of the UK and nothing in that family really got worldwide attention really until the press got wild for Harry and Meghan.
Oh I can believe that she doesn’t really care about the royal family, I’m just laughing because her particular phrasing – about being an outsider, not from the UK , so no real investment – is true for many of us here and yet I’m going to go back to the post about the Queen and Kate for the 10th time today LOL.
Hhhmmm, who said those words first? “You know, because I’m from the States, you don’t grow up with the same understanding of the royal family. And so while I now understand very clearly there’s a global interest there, I didn’t know much about him.” And they didn’t believe her..😔
But in all actuality, few people outside of the UK have any investment in the BRF, its just a fact🤷🏽♀️
BABSORIG: While I agree there is an obsession over the royal family in the UK, it’s not true that few people outside of the UK have investment in them. I’m in Canada and they were always a part of our lives. Our money has the queen’s face on it LOL. My Grandparents came over from the UK and my Dad was born there, so my Nana had the Queen framed up on the wall in the living room. I was Princess Diana for Halloween for a few years in a row in the 80’s as a kid LOL. My friends growing up, whose families weren’t directly from the UK ,also were invested in the royal family.
But, there are also many other commonwealth countries where the British royal family is a big part of their lives.
With that said, I do understand how Meghan / Kristen were not that invested, being from the US.
I am from Canada and the only people I know who identify as “royal watchers” are from the UK, or have relatively recent British heritage. They are an after thought for most, if anything many would like us to just remove the remaining ties.
BethAnne, yes I didn’t mean it was an obsession as it is in the UK, but there are commonwealth countries who have a duty to the queen.
I also think we should all leave the commonwealth, as the royals are just a symbol of a bygone era.
I appreciate her honesty on wanting an Oscar, instead of Sean Penn’s “award season is hell season and the worst part of the job” schtick. I hope she does well and I’ll always have a soft spot for her after all the sexism she faced after that affair. It was wrong but the director got off scott free in the press and she was crucified.
I think you can still want to win and also believe award season is hell. You have to meet and greet with tons of people and be on your best behavior. I’d hate it too.
The director got taken to the cleaners by his ex wife and was dropped off projects he had lined up for years. He was also ripped apart in the tabloids as much as a non public figure would be.
Stewart was shamed, but it was great exposure for her. She later spoke how it was good for her. How it helped her end a relationship with RP, find her sexuality and change paths outside of what was expected of her.
So, I have very little soft spot for her. She wants that Oscar and she will play the game as she’s told. Worse, we’re all finding out those at the top are abusers and the games you have to play to get their approval must be so degrading. All for a statue to say you were validated by others.
He was never a good husband to Liberty Ross and this affair was a culmination of that, really. He came back enough to whitewash Ghost in the Shell, in any case. He was also the announced director for the film where Scarlett Johansson was going to play a trans person. I don’t think he’s all that great tbh, to each their own.
I think Stewart has come a long way, and I liked this interview a lot.
@Wiglet Watcher
Yeah, you are vastly underplaying the amount of slut shaming and sh*t she went through. It was straight out of the Scarlet Letter. I also remember the interview and definitely interpreted it a different way…I don’t recall her being like “it helped my career” and more that the consequences made her change her entire life (she basically said something like one can learn from bad choices and bad mistakes).
Anyway, I’m not excusing Kristen’s actions (she definitely f*cked up back in the day) but the backlash was not all equal, as you are implying, or lesser on her. She also got dropped from several projects, got called a tramp by Jay Leno (& it’s not like Jay said that about male Hollywood stars and athletes guilty of the same thing). and there was even like a news special, like a 20/20 thing, on the d*mn thing (it was literally nuts as it wasn’t worth a news special). etc. I even recall like TMZ or something reporting that some deranged Twilight fans like accosted her in public calling her a whore and people laughed about it.
Again, not excusing her mistake, but Jude Law, Tom Hanks (admitted in an interview to leaving his first wife for Rita), Chris Rock, etc. were all guilty of cheating and the media/public backlash was nowhere near severe as it was towards women like Sienna, KStew, Angelina. And that’s not including the fact that the situation itself was kind of disturbing, in that he was her boss and like in his 40s and KStew was like 20/21 at the time at the most and seemed like she was mentally in a pretty bad place (she was giving some bizarro interviews around that time).
One of the best parts of success is when it allows us to do more of what we love. I don’t think anyone would turn down more freedom and power of choice in their lives/career/passions.
Refreshing from her! Maybe she is growing up. I was absolutely shocked by the full trailer, she was actually good (except for the way she moves). I’m in to watch this and in for her growing up,
It’s one thing to have fans, and another thing to be recognized by your peers. If you’re serious about the work, you want to be appreciated for your craft by master craftspeople.
Yep! Avoid all of the articles on this site that cover ‘the family’. So boring and so old school.
The BRF just isn’t that interesting to me. None of them- not one- in my opinion, is particularly smart or funny, or clever or charismatic. Except Diana, I guess, but she’s been mythologized.
Yes, this website has become a BRF central lately. It’s a shame because I used to really like coming here but I don’t care about anyone that has anything to do with the Royal family (expect The Crown, but that is just entertaining fictionalized TV), and articles about them are around half the posts of the day…
Agreed, it’s just too much! Several a day? No thanks/ This is meant to be Celebitchy not Royalbitchy
thank you! as a canadian I loathe the monarchy. off with their heads!
I also like that she admits that she wants to be nominated and/or win. It’s a nice change from the Bradley Cooper school of campaigning (who then went on to say he wished he had been nominated).
She seems far, far more relaxed and matured over the past several years. I’m not sure if it was Kristen or another LGBTQ actor, but it might have been her, that heavily implied that their old agent pressured them not to hold hands with their partner, etc.. If it was her, I wonder if shedding the homophobic agent has helped her feel more open and less nervous.
I love Larrain’s films, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the general public is split on it like they were with Jackie as his movies don’t tend to be very factual and more emotive. I’m also curious about her accent, as the British reviews seem to think she did a surprisingly good job with a RP accent and the American reviewers are the ones who are like “it’s good, but wavers at times.”
KS roles are better now but she is a hit or miss actress. I don’t feel she can convey her emotions very good at times.