Kristen Stewart knew she wanted to be a director when she started her acting career at the age of nine. At 35, her feature directorial debut The Chronology of Water is out in the world, and now it’s up to audiences to digest, figure out how they connect with what she’s offering up, and sit with the experience. The story follows Lidia (Imogen Poots), a young woman in the 1980s who turns to competitive swimming to escape an abusive childhood. Throughout the years, Lidia explores sexuality and love, pushing the boundaries of addiction, and discovers her own voice while pouring her thoughts and feelings onto the page as a writer.
Stewart knew she wasn’t the actor to play Lidia, so she embarked on the process with Poots, whose performance she describes as “a revolution.” More than just director and actor, the duo were partners and collaborators in the creation of the art that they’re now sharing with others. It’s a process that excited Stewart so much that she is ready to jump back in and direct her next project as soon as possible.
During this one-on-one interview with Collider, Stewart discussed why she felt she had to bring the story of The Chronology of Water to the screen, feeling happy and lucky to get to do what she loves, how deeply she was inspired by Poots’ performance in the film, how she knew the film was ready to release into the world, her hope that she can direct again before returning to her next acting role (she already has a couple of those lined up too), her experience making Full Phil with filmmaker Quentin Dupieux, and believing she’s a better director than she is an actor. In addition, Stewart reveals her Prime Video series, The Challenger, where she will play astronaut Sally Ride, has been given the green light.
Collider: I’m going to be digesting this movie for a long time, so thank you for that.
KRISTEN STEWART: It is to be metabolized. Thank you for watching it and eating it.
I’ve talked to a lot of actors who have said that they wanted to direct, but that it had to be something they felt like they had to do. Why did you feel like you had to do this? What made you feel like it was something you could do?
STEWART: I don’t think that I could direct a plot-driven, straightforward story. The directors that I’ve loved working for ask and never answer questions. And this book really invites you to consume it and to make it a part of your own body and your own story. The shape of it so lends itself to a cinematic language. It’s a dream state. It exists in a synapse neurological experience, like the way that you recall your life, the way that your memories live in your body forever, the way that you have to reorganize and sort them out in order to know who you are. The fact that who you are is actually in your hands to define is something that takes an entire life to figure out. You never really arrive at a landing point. I read the book and I was just like, “This is an opportunity to make a movie about every girl.”
Despite the synopsis and the details of what happened to Lidia Yuknavitch, there is an atmospheric oppression. Language wasn’t even designed for us, the masculine and feminine. It’s a pretty crushing thing to hold. Our systems were designed to alienate us and to keep us quiet. And so, whether or not you’ve had the horrors of certain trespass, certain abuse, there are aspects in the film that are particular to Lidia, but I think if you take out the detail, it’s infused with this invitation to know yourself and to get to know yourself and to listen to your inner voice in order for you to survive. When I read it, I was like, “This is Tarkovsky, this is David Lynch, this is Lynne Ramsay. These are all the filmmakers that make poetry.” There’s nothing prescriptive about this movie, other than it just gives you a hand to step into self and understand that selfhood is fucking yours. I don’t think we’ve all been raised to believe that.
I don’t know what it’s like to be an actor who decides they want to direct. But as a dancer, I knew that I didn’t ever want to become a choreographer, much like I’m sure there are actors who are happy acting and never want to try their hand at directing. Did you get to a point in your acting career where you felt very driven by that desire and need to try directing, or was it something that felt like more of a gradual decision?
STEWART: I’ve wanted to direct movies since I was nine years old. I became an actor because you can’t direct movies at nine years old. The reciprocal relationship that you have with filmmakers that really do it for the right reasons, they’re stunning actors and they’re scene partners. When it’s the best, you’re mirrors of each other. I don’t find a huge distinction between image creation and being the image. I’m so obsessed with process, as an actor, I always want to know where the camera is. I always want to serve the perspective. I’m not somebody who loses myself and I don’t know where I am, and then they call cut and I go, “Oh, right, we’re on a movie set.” I’m on a movie set all the time. It did take this particular piece to break the seal, but now it will never take me another eight years to make one film. I think there are certain barriers and fallacies in place to keep the grandiose, really macho bravado thing that surrounds the director’s status. I’ve wanted to do this forever. I’m probably not supposed to curse in this, but I feel like a pig in shit. I’m just rolling around because I’m so happy and so lucky to be here.
I can’t imagine another description, so swear all you need. Had you ever thought about playing Lidia, or did it always feel like someone else needed to play her for you to direct this?
STEWART: I didn’t want to deprive myself of that relationship. I didn’t want to have it just with me. I didn’t want to scream into an echo chamber. I wanted to meet someone. When I met Imogen [Poots], I felt like I’d known her my entire life, like, “Where have you been my whole life?” We’re both 35. We’ve both been acting for such a long time. I wanted to place my hand on her solar plexus and be like, these inner inklings, these things that we have twisted ourselves into pretzels to avoid because they’re not palatable, or they’re not the way actors, actresses specifically, are supposed to be. You turn a certain age, you enter your mid 30s, and you suddenly can hear yourself in a new way, and I just didn’t want to do that alone. I wanted to see someone crack themselves open and figure out how to breathe together.
All of this sounds really conceptual, but it’s the only way that I can think about it. Mutual recognition allows you to exist, and that is art. Until you say something, until you vocalize something, it just stays within this cage. I really wanted to set someone on that path of self-discovery and be inspired by it. And also, texturally, I’m not right for the part. She’s this soulful, sensual, stunning woman. I’m like the sharpest arrow. I was not the right person for the part. She’s a genius. I think her performance is a fucking revolution, what she did with her body, how she expressed herself, her lack of vanity, how stunning she is in the movie. She plays 17 to 40, and you believe her the entire time. She has such immense integrity. I can’t believe what Imogen was able to do in this movie. It blows me away every time. I could watch it every day.
Had you ever shared that kind of experience with a filmmaker, yourself, as an actress? It seems like this is such a singular experience.
STEWART: I feel the same way. I’ve had incredible experiences with directors. Like I said, when it’s great, they’re scene partners. They become siblings to you. But this felt like a seminal chapter in our lives. We make a lot of movies. Imogen has made a lot of movies. She’s the best thing in every movie she’s in. No movie is ever made the same. The process must change in order to have an identity. This one felt like we were making life memories. This was like a chapter. More than a chapter, it was like a tentpole. It’s like a stake in the ground. When I look back, it’s so defining. I think that me and Imogen will be talking about this in 25 years like it was yesterday. I don’t know. We gave each other keys to our own creative castles, and now we get to live there. It’s such a gift, an unbelievable gift.
When you finished this and had the cut where you wanted it, did you know you were finished? Was that very clear to you? Did you have to have someone pry it out of your hands?
STEWART: Oh, interesting.
How were you with that?
STEWART: At some point, you just run out of time. It’s like, “Okay, the movie is done.” But I will say, I didn’t want to submit to any festivals. I was really tooth and nail, like a psycho animal, holding onto this thing and not showing any of my producers. I wouldn’t let anyone in the room. I was on such a bizarre, squirrely path, creating this jigsaw puzzle of emotional connectivity. There’s no plot in the movie. Sure, things happen. She’s a swimmer. She suffers at the hands of her father. But it’s really not about any of that. It’s about writing, and it is about reiterating, and it’s about style as well.
At some point, the movie stood up, and it had a name, and it had a face. I felt like it was ready to go to school without me. It was like having a kid and being like, “Okay, you have to go out into the world now. I think I’ve dressed you right, but you have to speak for yourself.” It started speaking for itself. I just went, “Oh, man, the sentence is over.” Basically, we threw this movie at the Cannes Film Festival and actually got in by the skin of our teeth. It was shocking because, a week prior, I was like, “Festivals don’t matter. Nothing matters. The movie doesn’t even need to come out. It just needs to exist.” And then, it did. We got very lucky and ended up at the best film festival in the entire world. I’m still like, “I can’t believe we’re here.”
Do you know what you want to direct next? I know you said you don’t want to take that many years to do another one, but do you know what it will be?
STEWART: I’m champing at the bit.
Do you have more than one possibility in mind?
STEWART: Three. There is one where expediency is baked into its ethos. It needs to be buoyant, and it needs to happen fast. There’s one where the whole thing is not laden. It’s about the barriers that keep people from making films and from telling stories and from being themselves in every capacity. Therefore, I think that one will probably go first. And then, there are a couple of others. I’m holding all these balloons in my hand, and I’m like, “I don’t know which one is going to float away, but I think it’s this one.” I can’t tell you about it yet. I’m so bad at this too. I’m always like, “Can I tell you the title?”
You also have Full Phil, which I find interesting because Quentin Dupieux, is a unique filmmaker. I’ve spoken to him a couple of times and I find him fascinating. He also seems to have a very unique approach to his work. What made you want to do that film and play that character? What was it like to work with someone like him?
STEWART: Okay, so he’s more impatient than I am. We’re both Aries. He’s this very tall, hulking, big baby, but a genius. It’s so hard to keep up with him. He gets bored, like that. His movies are so astute and precise, but there’s just nothing precious. If something’s not fun, he’s past it. The one that I did with him is dialogue loaded. As soon as you say something, he’s like, “Moving on.” And you’re like, “I don’t know, maybe I could do that better.” And he’s like, “No, I want it to be fresh. We’re done.” I’ve never seen a process [like that]. He edits his films, he holds the camera, he’s his own DP, he writes, he composes. He was born to do this. Working with Quentin, he works with the same actors, and I’m really hoping I might get to be one of those people that’s entered the circle because it is an incredible summer camp to be a part of. His crew is just so connected and so reverential and so loyal. It just feels like, if he asked me to jump off a balcony, I would have done it.
His work is so interesting. And after seeing this film (The Chronology of Water) and then learning that you were doing that film with him and knowing that you’re teamed up with Woody Harrelson in it, I just feel like I need to see whatever that is.
STEWART: Oh, cool. I’m so glad to hear that. I agree. When I heard about it, I was like, “Please, me?” Charlotte Le Bon is in it as well. She’s a filmmaker and she’s now my favorite actor. We shot the movie over two and a half weeks, but it feels like such an immense, seminal [experience]. It was a biggie. On my list of films that I’ve gotten to help make, that one sticks out like a really beautiful sore thumb.
Do you know what you’re going to be shooting next? Do you already have something lined up, as far as acting?
STEWART: Oh, gosh. I’m scared of that. The pressure and responsibility of being an actor is so much more intense than directing your own thing, because it’s yours. You know what I mean. I know exactly where I’m going. I’m down for things to get sullied by fate, because you always pick up the pieces and find new gifts of surprise and experience and whatever. But working for a director that you love and being like, “I don’t want to drop your ball,” and they’re constantly passing it to you. So, yes, there are a couple of things that I’m attached to, that I’m terrified of, but that I’m excited by. Flesh of the Gods and The Challenger are the ones that are percolating and potentially going to pop off. I really hope they do.
The Challenger has gotten a green light, which is huge. I’m shaking in my boots. But I get to play Sally Ride, and the story is incredible. The team is just so inspired and trustworthy. I think I’m in the safest hands, but you’re not an actor because you want to be safe. I really think I’m a better director. I don’t know. Acting is so scary. Even that question, I was like, “Oh, God, yeah, I am attached to a few things, I guess.” And I really want to make my next movie. I want to make it before I go back to work as an actor. I like answering the call, but I want to make the call. It’s so much more fun.
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