Kristen talks to Vogue France at the Biarritz Film Festival

Google translated.

Long associated with a certain Hollywood image, Kristen Stewart has for several years chosen a path free from its constraints, guided by curiosity and the need to forge her own voice. A devoted actress of independent cinema, she has found in France a space of freedom that complements her taste for experimentation, as well as her evolution towards directing. In 2025, she unveiled her first feature film. Entitled * The Chronology of Water* , it is an adaptation of the eponymous memoir by American author Lidia Yuknavitch . A visceral, feverish, and incandescent work, it premiered at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section, then at Deauville, where it received the Revelation Prize, and finally at Biarritz, where the fledgling Nouvelles Vagues film festival is celebrating its fourth edition this year.

Following her collaborations with Olivier Assayas ( Clouds of Sils Maria, Personal Shopper ) and Quentin Dupieux (whose new feature film, Full Phil , will soon be released in theaters), Kristen Stewart continues her special relationship with French cinema – a connection that notably led her to become the first American to win the César Award for Best Supporting Actress. A friend of Chanel , a major partner of the Biarritz Film Festival , she is currently dedicating her early summer days to highlighting the new voices of contemporary cinema. This provides an opportunity for a conversation about youth, its desires, and its artistic concerns.

You are chairing the jury of his Nouvelles Vagues festival. What does that mean to you?

First of all, I'm looking forward to getting to know this jury, because I helped put it together and I'm really proud of each and every one of its members. I think they're all artists who have something to say, and I'm eager to hear them. But to get back to your question, I believe that being president of any jury is almost a symbolic role. It's more about embodying the festival's intentions to the public. In a way, I'm its spokesperson.

Do you enjoy this role?

Yes, of course. Words matter enormously. Sometimes it takes time to find the right ones. Right now, I feel like they're carrying me, so I'm happy to share them.

This festival champions new voices in cinema.

Yes, and more specifically, those of filmmakers who refuse to conform to an industry that distances them from who they are. I think making dangerous films protects us, while making "safe" films puts us in danger. A film that takes no risks is a film that renounces itself. It only perpetuates the expectations of those who think only of profit. A film isn't made to please everyone. It should never seek consensus. It's precisely its rough edges that make it essential. As soon as you try to smooth them over, you lose what makes it alive. You should always be able to say to yourself: "I know it's a little crazy. I know it might make people angry. But I still think it's essential to say it." It's a matter of honesty. Living a lie is the best way to erase yourself, and then to self-destruct.

Hence, in your opinion, the importance of watching films together and comparing points of view?

In fact, there's something very vibrant about sitting in a darkened room… You're with your friends, but also with many strangers. Our emotions overlap, clash, deconstruct each other, and then reconstruct each other. You form an opinion, then completely question it after a discussion, because you think: “Ah, I hadn't seen things that way.”

For several years, you have maintained a special relationship with French cinema, notably through your collaborations with Olivier Assayas and Quentin Dupieux. What have you found in French cinema that you haven't found anywhere else?

Absolute independence. And true creative autonomy. I obviously can't speak for all French filmmakers, but I get the impression that here, they don't ask themselves: "What do people want to see?" But rather: "What do I want to do?" You see what I mean?

So, it is this freedom to start from one's own desire that seems essential to you?

Exactly. We need to create from the inside out, rather than asking ourselves, “What might people buy?” And in France, there's also public funding that supports this vision. A society is more balanced when everyone can express themselves. It's essential not to silence artists, filmmakers, writers, and thinkers. Every time I've worked on a studio film, big or small, we've been asked to change something simply because some guy in a suit didn't like a detail or thought the film would be more successful if my hair were longer, blonder… And I think to myself, “There you have it. That's fascism. That's 1984. ” And I refuse to be a part of it.

At the opening ceremony, Isabelle Huppert said that cinema was “the art of first times”.

I love this idea. It's given me a lot to think about. Because ultimately, we do things over and over again… but we have to manage to give the feeling of a first time. And I believe we can always recapture that feeling.

Do you remember the first film that made you feel that cinema could be totally free?

It happens to me all the time. It even happened during this festival.

Really? That's good to know.

Yes… but I can’t tell you which film it is.

I suspected as much… So we'll have to wait until the end of the festival to find out. And if you could relive it all for the first time, which would you choose?

My God… Maybe I should eat some ice cream. Right now. Because it's really very hot.

After all these years, are there still experiences you would like to have for the first time?

This just happened to me. I had two truly transcendent experiences in the last month. I was filming a movie with Panos Cosmatos called Flesh of the Gods , with Wagner Moura and Esmé Creed-Miles , who is also on the jury for the Nouvelles Vagues festival . The three of us act together. We started with the script, and then the shoot evolved into a completely organic creation, where our sensibilities intertwined. Together, we crafted a kind of magnificent nightmare.

What is the film about?

It's about self-discovery. It's a fantasy, a vampire film, a heartbreak story… all of that at once. It's profoundly sad because it confronts what it means to be alive: the sorrow it entails, but also the pleasure… and the close connection between the two. Then, suddenly, everything shifts toward a form of absolute transcendence. I've never felt so powerful. There's a scene near the end of the film that I might never have experienced if I hadn't been asked to play it. It's an incredible gift to be able to pretend to experience something… and then discover that this experience ultimately becomes real for you. You think to yourself, “Now I know.”

Perhaps this is the most precious thing that cinema can offer: transforming the imaginary into a real experience.

Absolutely. And then there was this other experience. At the end of filming, after that feeling of having completely pushed ourselves beyond our limits, the whole crew went to a rave in Cologne. I'm not really someone who goes clubbing… In Germany, it's a very particular culture. There are a lot of films about this European electronic scene, like Eden [by Mia Hansen-Løve , released in 2014, about the Parisian house community and the birth of French Touch], which I love, but I'd never really understood what it was all about. And there I was, surrounded by thirty-five or forty people who had become my best friends in three months, with this almost sacred feeling of love and connection… The music started, and I thought, “My God… I'm a raver. That's it, I finally understand.” At thirty-six, dancing with my team, in total abandon, right after feeling like I'd reached a huge milestone… it was extraordinary. It made me want to make films all my life.

That looks incredible.

Yes, it was absolutely crazy. I couldn't believe how beautiful it was. I don't think I've ever had so much fun in my entire life.

Speaking of abandonment, you also became a director. What do you think of the current state of cinema, particularly with the arrival of new voices and new perspectives behind the camera?

Everything is starting to crack. Those who hold the keys to the castle are mostly very wealthy white men, many of whom have never experienced anything worth passing on or anything that could truly teach others. So why should they be the ones to decide who deserves power, space, or opportunity? Why should they be the only ones making these choices? They are destroying the world. The system is crumbling. And that's precisely what's exciting because it means we now have the opportunity to build something new. And I have a feeling that this change is already happening, all around us.

Source

Video: Kristen's interview with Vanity Fair France at the Cannes Film Festival for 'Full Phil'

 

Click on image for full view.

Source 

Kristen talks to Variety at the Cannes FIlm Festival about 'Full Phil' and more

Kristen Stewart was ready to sign on to Quentin Dupieux’s “Full Phil” before she even read the script.

The Oscar-nominated actor and director had long been a fan of the French filmmaker — known for his absurd and surreal style — and was curious about his DIY approach, often shooting projects quickly and on a microbudget.

“I love his movies. They just don’t look or feel like anyone else’s, and those are the types of directors that actors are so lucky to be able to follow,” Stewart tells Variety from an airport lounge in the Canary Islands — where she’s currently shooting Panos Cosmatos’ vampire thriller “Flesh of the Gods” — before heading to Cannes for the “Full Phil” premiere. “He holds the camera at all times. You are with him, connected completely. He knows how he’s going to edit it by the end of the day. If he’s missing a shot, he gets it. He’s beyond an auteur, he’s like a mastermind.”

Debuting in the Midnight Screenings section on Saturday night, the hour-and-20-minute “Full Phil” follows an American father-daughter duo — played by an on-form Woody Harrelson and Stewart — who take a trip to Paris in an attempt to reconnect. Their plans are quickly deterred by protests, a nosy hotel employee, an obsession with a ’50s horror movie and an endless stream of French cuisine, with each obstacle more ridiculous than the next.

“That’s the Quentin Dupieux special because he shoves a lot into that short period of time,” Stewart says. “His movies are kind of like sucker punches, but sweet ones.”

Below, Stewart speaks more about finally working with Harrelson, eating an obscene amount of food while filming, her disdain for the U.S. studio system and more.

You just started filming “Flesh of the Gods,” a vampire thriller co-starring Wagner Moura. How’s it going?

We’re in week one, so we’re just all hands on deck right now. We’re just like, fucking knee deep and having an incredible time. Panos is the shit. We’re just like, lost in his psychedelic dreamscape.

Tell me about how you first got involved in “Full Phil” and what drew you to the project.

I heard [about Dupieux’s process] and I was just like, “Oh my God, I’m dying to work with him.” And it’s kind of new for me. His wheelhouse is grounded and tender, but definitely surrealist and occasionally broad. Also I was like, totally in love with Woody and have been forever. As an actor, I just admire him so much and he’s such a nice guy. It’s a really sweet story, a father and daughter trying to reconnect and doing all the wrong things in order to achieve that but in such an absurd and kind of devastating, sardonic, fucked way. I was like, “Oh man, I really think that could be a great movie.” And I just wanted to work in Paris and I wanted to meet that director. I’m pretty obsessed with him.

What was it like working with Harrelson and playing his daughter? Was this your first time meeting him?

We’ve been trying to work together for years, and it just never lined up. I had a pretty out-of-the-blue hang when I was a teenager with him. We were talking about another film and he came and took me to a vegan spot in the valley and we had a really nice time. Like, we just became friends even when I was kind of a kiddo. When I heard he was doing this movie, I just — sometimes you don’t have connections with people, sometimes you can’t fathom like, “Oh, I could be your kid” — but with him, it was such an easy fit. And we drive each other kind of crazy in real [life], so it’s perfect. He reminds me of my dad in some ways. Sometimes I’m like, “OK, stop yelling at Woody” — I’ll realize I’m being like, “No! You don’t understand!”

You two are basically arguing the entire film. How much of that was in the script and how did you establish that father-daughter banter?

It all comes from Quentin. He has a young daughter, and I think he is looking into the future sort of petrified. I mean, he was gleefully encouraging me to be as bratty as I possibly could because I think he was just trying to create his worst dream. Also, Woody’s character Phil, he’s really just got blinders on. And it’s so sad and endearing to see somebody so desperate in reaching out for love, but doing it in all the wrong ways. He’s a total fucking narcissist, but then at the same time they still have this history that he wants to draw from. To have real, transparent conversations with your family, especially with your mother and father, it’s just tough. He needs to actually see her as a human being that is not of him. That’s the thing, some narcissistic fathers — I don’t even mean this as disparaging, but it’s an epidemic really — they love you in so far as they can kind of claim you. It’s like their pride is related to the fact that they’ve created you. And you’re like, no! I am me! I am not you.

You are also non-stop eating food throughout the film. Were you actually eating and how did you do that?

It was the hardest part of the entire job, because we also never stopped talking. I was running lines for weeks being like, “Oh cool, I can do this, this and this.” And then I was like, “I can’t get a word out of my fucking mouth, considering he wants me to never have it empty!” Logistically it was a struggle also working with renowned French chefs who really didn’t understand the filmmaking process and wanted it to taste really good. And I was like, “You guys are going to kill me! I need this to be like, cauliflower as fuck or I’ll die.” It’s honestly an incredibly grotesque and honestly hilarious and very real kind of metaphor. I mean, we’re walking around the streets of Paris eating donuts and they’re rioting and we’re like, “Where are we going for dinner?” So the food really mattered, and I walked uphill a lot and I just ate a lot. There was no way around it. We only did very long takes, so there was no spit-bucketing. There were no cutting points. Every once and a while, I would be like, “I have to [stop].” The bites were never big enough. He would literally come over to me and make a certain sort of piggy face and I would realize I wasn’t eating enough and be like, “Oh God, OK, I’ll do more on this one.”

You’ve talked a bit before about how difficult it is to make a film in the U.S. now and your desire to work more internationally. How did your experience on “Full Phil” underscore that feeling?

I’m just so sick of the rules and I’m so sick of the system. It is not designed for artists to express themselves. We’re just really under the thumb of different priorities that don’t align with real dream-making. And I don’t mean to wax poetically because I mean this so very literally, I just don’t think that it’s possible to create sort of radical, vital work under capitalistic parameters. Especially like, most of the people in charge are a bunch of bros that have come up under a bunch of other bros and those people don’t really identify with the type of things that I personally want to say, that the people I align with want to say.

You know, the three movies that go to Cannes and do well, they get bought by the studios that I somewhat admire that do well at distributing them and winning fucking Oscars. And that’s cool. But it’s like, totally not enough. And what, are we going to like, wait to be chosen like a fucking golden ticket? Like, “I got the golden ticket! I can make one fucking movie!” We need to make more work. There needs to be more work, more output, more connection and less fear and less fucking bureaucracy and also less making billionaires more fucking billionaires. It’s driving me insane. We spend so much money, we just like hemorrhage money making stuff in a system that honestly is not designed for us. Like we can’t shoot in L.A., it’s absolutely impossible and it’s where our fucking entire business was born. There’s no way to play the game anymore.

The studios aren’t really even in Cannes this year!

It’s OK, because guess what happens when things break or die? It’s good, I think. Especially because I’ve been working since I was 9, I see a horizon that doesn’t resemble anything that I’ve seen before. It’s so new because our industry is so utterly devastated. And so I think actually, there’s so much hope in that. We just have to grab it.

You were here last year with your directorial debut “The Chronology of Water.” How do you reflect on that moment now, especially the experience of trying to get distribution for the film?

Oh gosh, it’s been such a gauntlet, that one. I’ve just designed the record art for releasing our soundtrack, and so it’s truly now the last creative thing that I have to leave on the table for that movie and fully move on. The two next films that I want to make are very, very clear to me. I want to make one by the end of the year after I work on this Amazon show and then next year I’m going to be shooting in April this other thing that I have in mind. This is what I want to do and it’s completely changed my life realizing that particular project, really just pushing it all the way. And so I feel like I’ve lost so much fucking time. I’m like, it’s been one year and I’ve acted in three more movies. What?! I love every director I’ve worked for, I absolutely love my job, it’s why I love directing. But at the same time, I just can’t fucking do that anymore or I’m never going to make my [own movies].

Speaking to the whole how do you get stuff seen and share it with people who actually care, don’t hold me to anything … But my goal is to make something for really nothing with my friends before the end of the year and put it on fucking YouTube. And seriously, whatever money we make from that will be what I spend on my next one and there will be a trickle-down effect. I just don’t want to talk to these bros anymore. And by the way, I’d be lucky to have anything I worked on be distributed by like, A24 or Neon — people who, by the way, I am friends with. Like, these are my homies. It’s just that I don’t want to make… I love Hollywood, I love big movies, [but] I don’t think I’d be very good at making them. I want to make weird shit. And I’m fully OK doing that in a kind of insulated, bizarre way. But I don’t want to do the thing where I wait five years for someone to give me $1 million to make something. I’m going to make it fucking tomorrow. Because also like, what the fuck. I’ve been working for a long time — I’m just going to sit here doing the same thing over and over amassing wealth? No. It’s a ridiculous way to live your life.

I have to ask — at Cannes last year, Kim Gordon told us that there was a biopic series you two were working on together at some point. Is that still in the works?

She wrote a memoir that’s one of my faves, it’s called “Girl in a Band.” And I think that they were trying to think of some beautiful anthology approach to doing her life story but kind of in an episodic, elliptical way with different directors. But I think that changed and Kim’s working on conceiving the best approach. They were talking to me about it for a second, and I think that’s actually how I met Kim a few years ago. She came up to me at a Chanel afterparty thing once. She kind of floated over like the punk rock Joan Didion and said, “Hey, sorry I can’t really hear in here, but it’s really nice to see you.” Just like the warmest, coolest — she really feels like energetically godmom stuff. I mean, I would love to be a part of that project, but I’m not sure actually what they are doing with it. I do know someone’s taking care of it though, which I’m really looking forward to.

Source

'Flesh of the Gods' adds Esmé Creed-Miles, Roland Møller & Alba Baptista to the cast and starts production

 

The 80s-set vampire thriller Flesh Of The Gods, starring Kristen Stewart and Wagner Moura, has started production in the Canary Islands, Spain, with the second half of the shoot scheduled for Cologne, Germany. 

Esmé Creed-Miles (A Head Full of Ghosts), Roland Møller (Citadel) and Alba Baptista (Voltron) have newly joined the cast of Panos Cosmatos’ (Mandy) buzzy genre pic, which was previously pre-bought by A24 for domestic.

Stewart and Moura will portray Raoul and Alex, “a married couple in glittering ’80s L.A. who descend each evening from their luxury skyscraper condo and head into an electric nighttime realm. When they cross paths with the mysterious and enigmatic Nameless and her hard-partying cabal, Raoul and Alex are seduced into a glamorous, surrealistic world of hedonism, thrills and violence.”

The film is written by Andrew Kevin Walker (Se7en) based on a story by Cosmatos and Walker and has some new production partners. Pic is being produced by Hyperobject Industries, Augenschein Filmproduktion, Nevermind Pictures and XYZ Films. XYZ Films and YouRoc are financing, in association with IPR.VC and Vixens. XYZ will continue dealmaking at the Cannes market. Domestic rights are handled by CAA Media Finance and WME Independent, with XYZ Films handling international sales.

Flesh of the Gods marks the fourth collaboration between Cosmatos and XYZ, as they produced the recent Miley Cyrus film Something Beautiful, which will debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival last year. They also have Nekrokosm in development with A24. 

Creed-Miles will next star opposite Daisy Edgar-Jones in Georgia Oakley’s Sense and Sensibility for Focus Features and Working Title. She recently wrapped production as the lead of Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s A Head Full of Ghosts opposite Rebecca Hall for Lionsgate. Last year she co-starred in Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut, The Chronology of Water.

Danish actor Møller’s breakout performance was in the Oscar-nominated war drama Land of Mine. He’s also known for  Atomic Blonde, Papillon, Skyscraper, The Commuter, Riders of Justice and the Amazon spy series Citadel.

Baptista will next be seen in the Amazon feature, Voltron, starring opposite Henry Cavill, Sterling K. Brown for director Rawson Thurber. She is best known for Netflix series Warrior Nun.

Esme Creed-Miles is repped by WME, Independent Talent Group and Omni Artists. Roland Møller is repped by CAA. Alba Baptista is repped by UTA and Brillstein Entertainment Partners. 

Source

Wagner Moura replaces Oscar Isaac opposite Kristen in 'Flesh of the Gods'

EXCLUSIVE: Fresh off his first Academy Award nomination for The Secret Agent, Wagner Moura has inked a deal to star opposite Kristen Stewart in Flesh of the Gods, a vampire thriller from Mandy helmer Panos Cosmatos that A24 has newly boarded as U.S. distributor.

Moura takes over a lead role from Oscar Isaac, who we’re told exited due to a scheduling conflict.

First announced during the summer of 2024, as part of the Cannes Market, Flesh of the Gods follows Raoul (Moura) and Alex (Stewart), a married couple in glittering ’80s Los Angeles who descend each evening from their luxury skyscraper condo and head into an electric nighttime realm. When they cross paths with the mysterious and enigmatic Nameless and her hard-partying cabal, Raoul and Alex are seduced into a glamorous, surrealistic world of hedonism, thrills and violence.

Pic is written by Andrew Kevin Walker (Se7en) from a story by Cosmatos and Walker. Adam McKay and Betsy Koch are producing for HyperObject Industries, alongside Jonas Katzenstein and Maximilian Leo for Germany’s augenschein Filmproduktion, and Stewart and Maggie McLean for Nevermind Pictures. XYZ Films is handling international sales and financing the project in association with IPR.VC.

Moura made history with The Secret Agent by becoming the first Brazilian nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, as well as the first Brazilian to win a Golden Globe for acting and Cannes’ prize for Best Actor. Released in the U.S. by Neon, the film from Kleber Mendonça Filho had him playing Marcelo, a technology expert who becomes entangled in a high-stakes political conspiracy amid the final years of Brazil’s military dictatorship.

Breaking out a little over a decade ago with his turn as Pablo Escobar in Netflix’s Narcos, which brought him his first Golden Globe nomination, Moura has also recently been seen in Alex Garland’s A24 film Civil War, as well as Apple’s crime drama Dope Thief opposite Brian Tyree Henry. Next up, he’ll be seen starring in Louis Leterrier’s Netflix sci-fi horror flick 11817, opposite Greta Lee, as well as in the drama The Last Day, opposite Alicia Vikander. He is repped by WME and Johnson, Shapiro, Slewett & Kole.

Source

Video: Kristen's interiew with Collider she talks 'The Chronology of Water' and more

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.

Source

Elizabeth Olsen joins Kristen and Oscar Isaac in 'Flesh of the Gods'

Image: Deadline

EXCLUSIVE: Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Elizabeth Olsen has joined Kristen Stewart and Oscar Isaac to co-star in vampire thriller Flesh Of The Gods from director Panos Cosmatos (Mandy).

Isaac and Stewart will portray Raoul and Alex, a married couple in glittering ’80s L.A. who descend each evening from their luxury skyscraper condo and head into an electric nighttime realm. When they cross paths with the mysterious and enigmatic Nameless (Olsen) and her hard-partying cabal, Raoul and Alex are seduced into a glamorous, surrealistic world of hedonism, thrills and violence.

The film is written by Andrew Kevin Walker (Se7en) based on a story by Cosmatos and Walker, and is produced by Adam McKay and Betsy Koch of Hyperobject Industries and Gena Konstantinakos and Isaac for Mad Gene Media.

Domestic rights are co-repped by CAA Media Finance and WME Independent, with XYZ Films continuing international sales at this week’s Cannes market. No date yet for start of shoot as schedules get aligned.

The movie returns Stewart to her vampire roots after the global sensation that was the Twilight franchise.

Olsen is is known for playing Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and the Disney+ series WandaVision. She made her breakthrough in the critically acclaimed indie thriller Martha Marcy May Marlene, and has also starring in Wind River, Ingrid Goes West, and Godzilla, among others.

Flesh of the Gods marks the fourth collaboration between Cosmatos and XYZ, as they produced the upcoming Miley Cyrus film Something Beautiful, which will debut at the Tribeca Film Festival in June. They also have Nekrokosm in development with A24.

Upcoming titles from XYZ Films include Banquet, starring Meghann Fahy and directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia; the SXSW thriller Hallow Road, directed by Babak Anvari and starring Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys; and The Trip starring Jason Segel, Samara Weaving, Juliette Lewis and Timothy Olyphant, which is currently in post-production.

Olsen is repped by CAA, Brillstein and Sloane, Offer.

Source

Kristen talks 'Love Me' and more with The Playlist

 

What is “real”?” It’s a question many of us have certainly asked ourselves, maybe while daydreaming. How do we define reality? Are our personalities formed organically from ourselves? Or are they a simulacrum of our experiences, our environments? How can we expect someone to love us if we cannot find the truth about our own personhood? These are the heady questions the new romance “Love Me” explores. It would be easy to call “Love Me,” starring Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun, a rom-com.

It is very funny, but if you’re walking in for an easy date night romp between two of our great living actors, be prepared to spend time parsing out the Big Questions. This isn’t your typical girl-meets-guy, and they fall in love. Oh no. “Love Me” finds Kristen Stewart’s buoy and Steven Yeun’s satellite having their meet-cute at the end of the world. 

The buoy, “Me,” as she calls herself, gains sentience after a quick internet scan. Desperately seeking connection, she lies to the satellite (“Iam”) that’s been left behind to scan for lifeforms on a dead Earth and says she’s a living being. As the two strike up a friendship and then a relationship inside a nebulous virtual space created by Me mapping their personalities onto a long-dead influencer (Deja) and her husband (Liam), those Big Questions begin to surface. Is Me really her own “being?” Or is she simply a construct destined to exist solely as a replication? Where does the truth of Me begin and the fallacy of Deja end? Is what they’re experiencing truly love? Or is it something Me’s created and forced Iam to adhere to?

Husband and wife directing duo Andrew and Sam Zuchero’s feature debut finds a lovely balance between existential head-trip and delightfully charming. As much as it forces you to ask yourself how we create, well, Us, it’s also a lovely two-hander full of big laughs and an even bigger heart. Who better to explore that than Kristen Stewart? Stewart, an actress who finds worlds of truth in every role she attacks, is perfect for sinking into something so head-spinning. Whether it’s giving a best-of-its-decade performance in something like “Personal Shopper” or getting down and dirty with some action-horror in the very underrated “Underwater,” Stewart brings a kind of lived-in depth to her work that you rarely find with most mega-famous stars. She can play a world of emotion in one glance, she can hold her own with screwball-comedy patter and is always so in control of her craft in ways that feel uninhibited. 

Stewart has a way about her where she often seems to be searching for the right thing to say within her performances; she accesses this interiority in even her most out-there roles. Here, as a water buoy grasping for humanity, she’s spectacular. Every pause while Me tries to understand her place in all of this, every manic burst of energy as she discovers a new aspect to “living,” it’s all so considered while never once losing sight of the truth. 

What is truth, then? Authenticity? To find out, Brandon Streussnig sat down with Kristen Stewart for a brief chat about what it means to be “Real” when the word of our moment constantly circles back to “Fake.”

Your work often finds such authenticity in every role you take on. What are the challenges of playing something so inauthentic, even beyond the robots and into the performance of influencer culture? How do you approach that kind of artifice?

I mean, artifice can be more revealing than when somebody is, you know, under the sort of impression that they are trying to express a truth. I think there is something inherently difficult about that. That’s why we have art. It’s tough to identify what the truth is. It’s such a transient thing. It’s not black and white. And I feel like when we were doing some of the more seemingly inauthentic stuff, we were stepping away from any scathing perspective. Because I think “fake” is… bad. 

Like our culture, our experience is really inundated by this question of authenticity. And it’s the worst fucking thing. If you were like, “Hey, you’re fake,” I would be like, “Hey, fuck you.” (laughs) Like that’s the worst thing you can call someone is that you’re fake, lying, or falsely representing. When we were doing the Deja/Liam stuff, I stepped more into really liking her. Thinking of this kind of unaware, almost naive desire to help people believe in themselves, it felt like she was screaming into a void and self-defining. 

When I say she, I know it’s a little silly. We’re talking about a person that we made up. (laughs) But I could tell that specifically about just scrolling the internet.; I don’t know that you can ever really be… not real. There’s a reality to everything. 

To that point, how do you find the freedom to search for that kind of authenticity on screen, whether it’s a performance like this or anything else? 

Usually, it’s filmmakers with whom you surround yourself. It should feel like an invitation, like a possibility. Being “allowed” is a generous gift; not everyone is good at giving it. I think I’ve gotten good at identifying when that’s there. I really just loved Sam and Andy [Zuchero]  upon meeting them and reading their diving board of a script, which I thought was bold because it’s not proclaiming to know tons. It’s just- like I said, it felt like an invitation. 

And Steven [Yeun], too. If you’re working with the right people, that person is a trooper. He will go anywhere with you, and I also feel like I want to keep up with him. Yeah, I think when you find yourself on set, and you’re locked in or something, like locked in your body, not feeling ready to sort of crack- oh, it’s the worst thing ever. You’re like, oh no, fuck, what am I doing here? (laughs) But yeah, I will say I’ve been fortunate lately. I haven’t had that experience in a really long time. Yeah, the right people and “bedfellows,” and you’re good to go. 

This might be my own galaxy-brain sort of thinking, but I think whether it’s “Personal Shopper,” which is personally my favorite movie ever made–

Oh my god. 

Oh yeah, huge favorite (laughs). So whether it’s something like that, where it’s grief manifesting into ghosts, or “Love Lies Bleeding,” where love can manifest into genuine strength, or even here, in “Love Me,” where the love between Me and Iam manifests into genuine humanity, however, you want to define that, what draws you to these esoteric or existential ideas? 

It’s cool if the general consensus is that it’s more fun. That it’s more fun to grapple with ideas than to be prescribed (sighs) capitalist nonsense (laughs). Things are fully driven by people just wanting to make fucking money. You know what I mean? That’s the difference. I’m drawn to things that feel curious and audacious, and I’m definitely drawn to filmmakers that are aware of where the fuck we’re at and the acknowledgment of that. 

Hell yeah. 

Oddly, I think “Personal Shopper” holds hands with this movie because, in the end, there’s this question of what is real and how experience and perception define that. And we are all fucking lonely and isolated in our bodies and our consciences. And I think there is something to the sort of spiritual, mystical element. I hadn’t thought about those two movies back to back. They’re so fucking different, obviously, but they ask similar questions. And they don’t prescribe that. They absolutely urge you to think for yourself. And that is not marketable. (laughs) That totally makes sense. People crave sturdy ideas. It feels good to know stuff, but it’s also just ridiculous. 

You mentioned that the filmmakers gave you more freedom to explore. You’re working on your first feature as a director. Working behind so many talented filmmakers, I wonder how that prepared you to take that on with “The Chronology of Water”? 

It’s so funny. On bad days or days where I feel lost or out of control or like I can’t wrangle a vibe, which is the job (laughs), I ultimately picture these people’s faces and hear their voices in my head. I literally hear and see Pablo [Larraín] tearing his fingers through his beard, saying, “Keep it together. Keep it together. Keep it together.” And I’m like- I have had the most spiritual experiences kick-started by people who can create an environment in which you are yourself and can sprawl, which is not easy to do. 

It takes a magic person and somebody who is also sort of insane because to claim that you can do that is egomaniacal. There is something monstrous about being like, follow me. (laughs) But I’ve just seen it work out so often that I think it can be an actual, beautiful, generous act of love if it comes from the right place. 

My favorite directors are people who feel like family to me now, like teachers and mentors, but not in a professional sense, in a life way, like how to live better. Yeah, like Olivier [Assayas] and Pablo, not just because they’re fancy directors. They’re the fancy directors because they are great. So I’m just trying to bring some fucking love (laughs) because then people feel like they can fuck up and try things and discover. 

This is a personal question for me. I recently moved to New York, but I was a lifelong Pittsburgh native. You’ve worked a bit in Pittsburgh. “Adventureland” means a lot to me, and I loved how you guys highlighted Lawrenceville in “Happiest Season.” You can be completely honest because that city isn’t for everyone, but what were your experiences working in Pittsburgh? 

I love Pittsburgh. You guys shred cheese and put it on pizza. (laughs)  I loved our crews. I loved the people so much. I still text my driver, Don, from Pittsburgh. It’s such a warm city- well, it’s actually freezing. (laughs). It’s a little gritty, which I absolutely love. The vibes are good. I fucking love Pittsburgh. I love working there. Yeah, it’s rad. 

It’s the early days, and I’m sure you can’t talk much about this. But I know you’ve been attached to the new Panos [Cosmatos] movie, “Flesh of the Gods.” Is there anything you’re able to say about that yet? 

Oh man, I wish. We are going to make that movie. I think Panos has just done something else. It’s like we’re all waiting for the right moment. It’s an honest endeavor. It’s highly ambitious. I think he has been designing this movie for years. He’s probably still in the thick of that process now. I don’t know precisely when we will go, in full transparency, but it’s not falling by the wayside by any means. It’s just something that might take a second. 

Source

NEW PROJECT: Kristen will star with Oscar Isaac in vampire thriller 'Flesh of the Gods'

Kristen Stewart and Oscar Isaac are set to star in vampire thriller Flesh of the Gods from director Panos Cosmatos (Mandy).

Isaac and Stewart will portray Raoul and Alex, a married couple in glittering ’80s L.A. who descend each evening from their luxury skyscraper condo and head into an electric nighttime realm. When they cross paths with the mysterious and enigmatic Nameless and her hard-partying cabal, Raoul and Alex are seduced into a glamorous, surrealistic world of hedonism, thrills and violence.

The film is written by Andrew Kevin Walker (Se7en) based on a story by Cosmatos and Walker, and is produced by Adam McKay and Betsy Koch of Hyperobject Industries and Gena Konstantinakos and Isaac for Mad Gene Media.

Domestic rights are co-repped by CAA and WME, with XYZ Films handling international sales at the upcoming Marché du Film at Cannes. The film is set to shoot later this year.

Twilight star Stewart was Oscar-nominated for Spencer and most recently starred in Rose Glass’s Love Lies Bleeding, which was released in March by A24.

Golden Globe winner Isaac is in production on Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein and is coming off Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse, Moon Knight, and Dune.

Director Cosmatos is best known for psychedelic revenge thriller Mandy starring Nicolas Cage, which premiered at Sundance and then played in Cannes.

That 2018 film was his sophomore and most recent feature. Flesh of the Gods marks the third collaboration between Cosmatos and XYZ. They also have Nekrokosm in development with A24.

Walker is best known for writing David Fincher’s Se7en, Joel Schumacher’s 8MM, and Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow. He most recently wrote David Fincher’s The Killer.

Oscar winner Adam McKay said: “This director, this writer, these incredible actors, vampires, choice 80’s punk, style and attitude for miles… that’s the film we’re bringing you today. We think it’s wildly commercial and wildly artful. Our ambitions are to make a movie that ripples through popular culture, fashion, music, and film. Can you tell how excited I am?”

“Like Los Angeles itself Flesh Of The Gods inhabits the liminal realm between fantasy and nightmare. Both propulsive and hypnotic, Flesh will take you on a hot rod joy ride deep into the glittering heart of hell,” added Cosmatos. 

Isaac is repped by WME and Goodman, Genow. Stewart is repped by WME and McKuin Frankel Whitehead. Cosmatos is repped by CAA and Weintraub Tobin. Walker is repped by Brillstein Entertainment Partners and Ziffren Brittenham.

Source