Kristen talks 'Lizzie' and more with the Tribune

Ten years ago, Kristen Stewart became what she calls "oddly famous." The California native had started working in films when she was 9 but it was the "Twilight" series that came along almost a decade later to generate more than $3.3 billion in box office sales and send her stardom skyrocketing.

The one question Stewart kept getting asked was what she planned to do after "Twilight." What she did was keep making movies ranging from big budget tales like "Snow White and the Huntsman" to her recent work in the independent-style production, "Lizzie."

In "Lizzie," Stewart plays Bridget Sullivan, the housemaid in the home where the father and stepmother of Lizzie Borden (Chloe Sevigny) are brutally murdered. More than a century has passed since the crimes were committed, but Borden continues to be an iconic figure in creepy American history.

"It's hard to think of your life as a trajectory," Stewart says. "It's easy for an outsider to kind of gauge on what seems to be the most significant happenings in your life and use those as touchstones. I was working rather consistently on smaller independent movies before I did 'Twilight.'

"I kept getting questions about how it felt now that I had all this success and would I be taking advantage of that. Or, did I feel like I couldn't live the way I wanted to and do independent movies anymore. Nothing really changed for me professionally except for an immense amount of access. It's easier to get a project greenlit."

Stewart's approach to her career is to ignore all of the outside chatter and focus on projects that interest her in some fashion. In the case of "Lizzie," it helped that while she liked the script, Stewart was the very first person considered to play Sullivan. Her casting was critical for director Craig William Macneill and writer Bryce Kass.

The moment Sevgny and Stewart started working together, it was clear that they had the chemistry needed to play the two women who bonded over their circumstances. There has been a lot of fact and fiction related to Lizzie Borden. It was critical that what is presented in "Lizzie" has been verified as much as possible.

"Lizzie's what would be considered then as having dysfunctional sexuality. That detail seems to be consistent enough that it must be is rooted in some truth," Stewart says. "Considering her housemaid, whom she apparently was close with, was the only other person at the house during the two hour period when the murders happened and she didn't hear a thing. And she was washing the same window for two hours.

"So I am pretty certain they were in cahoots."

Kass describes Stewart and Sevigny working together as a "once-in-a-lifetime partnership between two gifted performers at the height of their power." Macneill adds that Stewart was so prepared to play the role that she brought more levels to the character than were in the script.

That's natural acting abilities as Stewart has never been a big fan of doing a lot of research and rehearsal. In the case of "Lizzie," there was very little information on Sullivan so Stewart's approach was to get an understanding of the time period and what women would have been going through in terms of social and economic oppression. The one thing she was concerned about in her performance the most was making sure that her Irish accent was believable.

This approach has been the norm for Stewart who has been acting for 18 years in such films as "Panic Room," "Adventureland," "The Runaways," "On the Road" and "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk." Stewart became the first American actress to be awarded France's Cesar Award in the Best Supporting Actress category for her role in Olivier Assayas' "Clouds of Sils Maria."

Her selection of roles has been a different process each time. There have been some films that Stewart knew immediately  after reading only a few pages she wanted to do. Other times, it has been the actors or directors involved with the project who prove to be a lure creatively.

"As soon as I start reading a script and I start to get nervous and worried that it is going to be made properly, because I want it to be preserved and taken care of, that's when I know I have enough vested interest to do something as ludicrous as being an actor in a movie," Stewart says.

Stewart finds it difficult to evaluate where she was 10 years ago compared to today and where she thinks she will be in a decade. For her, it all comes down to the same forces that have been inside her before, during and after that period that made her "oddly famous."

"I am so happy to be working with who I am working with. I am also really happy that my interest has never dwindled. I am still as obsessed with making movies now as I have ever been. Even more," Stewart says.

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