Kristen Stewart: ‘I’ve probably made five really good films, out of 45 or 50 films’

Spencer premiere, 78th Venice International Film Festival, Italy - 03 Sep 2021

While Kristen Stewart has matured a lot, it occurs to me that how we view and experience K-Stew has changed a lot too. Meaning, she still says things which could be read as “bratty” or unprofessional, but they’re not coming out of the mouth of the 21-year-old star of the franchise about sparkly vampires anymore. She’s 31, she’s lived more, she’s broken out of certain franchise molds and so we experience her sh-t differently. Kristen is promoting Spencer, a film which will likely earn several awards in the coming awards season. Kristen is clearly proud of the film and she seems to be engaging in a lowkey Oscar campaign for it too. As she confessed to the Times (via Yahoo), she’s not always so proud of the films she makes.

Speaking to The Sunday Times, Kristen said that knowing whether a film will be good from the script is “a total crapshoot,” meaning it’s risky or uncertain.

“I’ve probably made five really good films, out of 45 or 50 films? Ones that I go, ‘Wow, that person made a top-to-bottom beautiful piece of work!'” she continued. Asked which of her films count as the “good” ones, Kristen responded saying, “I love Assayas’s movies,” referring to director Olivier Assayas who she made Clouds of Sils Maria and Personal Shopper with.

As for the rest, she said, “I’d have to look at my credit list. But they are few and far between.”

Opening up about the films she regrets, Kristen added, “That doesn’t mean I regret the experience [of making them]. I’ve only regretted saying yes to a couple of films and not because of the result, but because it wasn’t fun. The worst is when you’re in the middle of something and know that not only is it probably going to be a bad movie, but we’re all bracing until the end.”

Responding to a question over whether she’ll name them, Kristen explained, “No! I’m not a mean person — I’m not going to call people out in public. But it’s like starting to date someone and going, ‘Woah! I don’t know what we’re doing!’ But when you’re in the middle of a movie you can’t just break up.”

[From Yahoo]

“I’ve probably made five really good films, out of 45 or 50 films?” would be read so differently if we didn’t already have so much history with K-Stew the Celebrity. And she’s right, she’s trying to explain the real phenomenon of trying to pick the right script and the right project only for it to turn out horribly. Her Assayas’ movies are Personal Shopper and Clouds of Sils Maria, both of which were critically acclaimed (and she won a Cesar award for one of those performances). She’d probably put Spencer on the list, which leaves only one or two films she’s proud of…Still Alice, maybe? Panic Room? Definitely not the Twilight franchise.

78th Venice Film Festival 2021

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

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37 Responses to “Kristen Stewart: ‘I’ve probably made five really good films, out of 45 or 50 films’”

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  1. Lightpurple says:

    Oh, Kristen, your performance in Spencer is good but the film is not.

    • Selene says:

      When I saw it, I thought the opposite. It had a great theme and wonderful symbolism, but Kristen can’t act to save her life. The film is Kristen with a wig on, so little of Diana’s mannerisms and ways.

      • GrnieWnie says:

        my God, did we see the same movie? I didn’t even see Kristen in the character. At all. I thought she was great!

        I also really liked her in Personal Shopper.

    • Duch says:

      I thought both the film and her performance were really good. The film is a captivating dreamscape, and KS does a great job of capturing the spirit of Diana. I especially liked her contrasts of dealing with PC/ RF, and how she is with her sons.

  2. Esmerelda says:

    This is probably the case for a lot of actors. But she works a lot, like Nicole Kidman, or Charlize Theron. DiCaprio and Daniel Day Lewis might have a better art/crap ratio, but the do very few movies. At least she takes risks. I like that – and in her generation, I like her a lot more than the supposedly mega-talented J-Law.

    • Div says:

      Yeah I was going to say I think this is pretty typical of most actors who work a lot. The other names that jumped in my head were Charlize and Jessica Chastain. Charlize is an amazing actress but she’s made a lot of “somewhat good, but not really good” films…I can only think of a handful that are really excellent. It does seem like a bit of a gamble for actors who work all the time.

  3. OriginalRose says:

    I thought The Runaways was a great movie and she was good in it…I also liked her as Snow White

  4. Mimi says:

    I’ll admit I haven’t seen a lot of her movies. Twilight turned me off. But in the past year I’ve seen underwater and happiest season and loved them. Panic room is also rly good IMO

  5. vs says:

    “Kristen is clearly proud of the film and she seems to be engaging in a lowkey Oscar campaign for it too.” — lowkey? this is everything except lowkey

    Waiting to see the new Frances McDormand movie, she has been the best actress over the past few years……I know she has already won a lot but she is that great!

  6. Am says:

    I feel like I’m taking crazy pills every time someone talks about this bland woman being a sensational talent. Like she’s matured into it.
    (Also why is she afforded the opportunity to learn to act in the spotlight?)
    Every time I see her films she is wooden and aloof. Sometimes the movie works for that. Most times not.
    Maybe I just don’t get it.

    • Tessa says:

      I had to double-check to make sure I am not the one who wrote this. 100% this. There are exceptional actors who will never get to make even 1 movie, but here she is, still learning, needing to look at her credits to remember all the movies she’s done…

    • LeonsMomma says:

      I am a member of the Kristen Stewart can’t act, is overrated and coddled by Hollywood and the press club.
      She was good in “The Runaways” and don’t laugh, the “Charlie’s Angels” remake (she was looser than usual, like she was having fun finally), but as the saying goes, a broken clock is right twice a day.

    • minx says:

      I must be taking the same crazy pills. IMO her acting ranges from mediocre to terrible.

    • Mabs A'Mabbin says:

      I’m on the crazy train too. When I think of her, I get an image of a hipster saltine with a hole for mouths ajar.

    • Elana says:

      It’s funny how Kristin Stewart is so polarizing. To me, as an actor, she’s a dull, stiff, one-trick pony, but any time I express that opinion someone immediately tells me I’m wrong and she’s absolutely captivating or whatever. Most of her fans have mad crushes, and though I can see that she’s quite pretty, I’m just not attracted to women… so I don’t know if I’m missing something or it’s just that people are so horny for her appearance/vibe IRL that they give her a lot of credit. Honestly, I WISH she was a better actress.

      • Driver8 says:

        Imo, she looks like she just walked out if a trailer park. Nothing wrong with trailer parks, she has a very bland, common appearance to me.

    • GrnieWnie says:

      I felt that until I saw Personal Shopper and there was a scene in the movie where she was afraid and the viewer was tense and I remember thinking my God, she is really good actor.

      I also heard her talk about what she thinks is good acting (in a very French way). It’s almost the opposite of method acting…the acting should be entirely natural. It made me appreciate her approach more. Sorry, hard to explain how she was describing her approach, I just remembered this philosophy from my French cinema classes when she was talking about it.

  7. GRUEY says:

    I don’t mind this comment. It seems true. All work is like this, more or less.

    • Kristen says:

      Yeah, I agree. Plus if she were to say that all 50 films she’s made were really good, it would sound pretty arrogant.

  8. Krystina says:

    I loved her in “Happiest Season”. I thought it was a well-made movie. And Dan Levy was in it, which made it even better, lol.

  9. Div says:

    She clarified this in another interview, but I thought it made sense the first time. She’s not saying the other films are necessarily bad-her quote basically is saying she thinks around 5 have every aspect being ‘really good.’ And I actually think that’s true for a lot of celebs—a lot of celebs have ‘good’ films but only a handful of really good, nearly perfect movies on their resume. And she’s saying whether it’s good, bad, or really good…it’s kind of a crapshoot…which I agree with?

    IDK, Kristen sticks her foot in her mouth sometimes but there was nothing wrong with this quote imo-even out of context-and the fact that it blew up a bit made me rme. I feel like during awards season a lot of the media absolutely milks sh*t for clicks. She gave some other quote recently where she was clearly joking and laughing whens she like “I don’t give a sh*t” and then followed it up laughing saying that she was very excited to be considered for the Oscars…but the media ran with the former and not the latter.

  10. VIV says:

    I agree she didn’t pull off a complete immersion, (definitely a couple of ‘KStew’ moments in there, and the first speaking scene… I was *very* concerned for my next couple of hours) but I thought she did well overall conveying the emotions/state of mind in the film.

    Not relevant to Kristen’s performance, but at the credits the woman at the end of my row said to her husband, “this was made by someone who doesn’t like the Royal Family.” Which I thought was funny because what exactly where you expecting from a movie about Diana?

  11. H says:

    I think she said she actually liked making the first Twilight movie as the director, who was a woman, totally understood the concept. The best movie I think she’s ever been in has been The Runaways.

  12. Karisma says:

    “she seems to be engaging in a lowkey Oscar campaign for it too.” how? She’s everywhere doing everything 😭
    I’ve seen Spencer and I don’t understand the hype at all. It was like watching her do a caricature of Diana, she just can’t act.

  13. Sinead says:

    I didn’t like her in Diana at all I thought she was so ungraceful and inelegant in her movements. The whispering accent was awful as well so I don’t understand the hype.

  14. Barbie1 says:

    Her way of asking Olivier for another juicy role? She looks great, love what she is wearing. Can’t wait for the oscars.

  15. Joni Webb says:

    Oh I think you are wrong about Twilight. The first movie. I think she would include it. She always talks highly of the first film and the director. It changed her life snd gave her the ability to pick and choose the movies she has made. I can think of so many that she probably hated but clouds of Sils Maria, Personal Shopper, Still Alice, Spencer and Twilight would be my guess. Panic Room is not a great movie. I would put Call
    Of the Wild W655()5 Again I think she and Charlize hated each other.

  16. WithTheAmerican says:

    She used to *really* annoy me but… I love this Chanel shorts look, her weird orange hair finally being slick, and her dedication to sloppy eye makeup. Most people wouldn’t have the guts to say what she said about the films she’s done.

    I don’t know. She might be winning me over.

  17. Jais says:

    She is interesting, which is not a bad thing. Idk if she just doesn’t word what she means correctly but my first thought was Dwayne Johnson would never.

  18. CJ says:

    Personal Shopper is really good and she is really good in that film. Haven’t seen Spencer yet but I will ‘cause every writer friend whose work I admire loves that film.

  19. Merricat says:

    She was very good in Personal Shopper and Clouds of Sils Maria.

  20. Dee Kay says:

    I really liked her acting in Twilight (but thought it was a bad movie), in The Runaways (bad movie, though), and Diana (good but waaaaaaay too long and after the first forty minutes it got so repetitive and boring). I did not like her acting in Still Alice at all and thought she ruined the part, which many actresses the same age would have slayed, but that was a very good film. In Happiest Season she was just fine, and that’s not nothing (I didn’t like that movie at all, though, her gf was a terrible partner, unethical and gaslight-y the whole time).

    I don’t know what it says about my opinion of KStew that I think she does best in crap or boring movies. Hmmm….

  21. Same says:

    I like her . Her fashion never bores me , her face is amazing and her acting has moments of greatness followed by long periods of mediocrity.

    I don’t get the hate for her getting all the chances etc… she is an in demand actress . I don’t get the Adele hype either 🤷‍♀️

  22. Likeyoucare says:

    Sometime when i watch her acting i wonder does she smell bad?

  23. A.Key says:

    She peaked as a kid honestly, Speak and Panic Room are her best films. Speak is particularly wonderful.

  24. Happydayz says:

    She looks lovely in that top photo. I enjoy her in films.

  25. Ctgirl says:

    She’s so twitchy in every roll that it’s hard to watch her.