Be gay, do crime.
That seems to be a theme of the 2024 box office, between lesbian road-trip comedy “Drive-Away Dolls” and the gritty “Love Lies Bleeding” (in theaters nationwide Friday), starring Kristen Stewart as a training gym manager whose ripped, vengeful girlfriend (Katy O’Brian) sets off a brutal chain of events. They’re the latest in a string of genre movies that eschew queer trauma and pain, from last summer’s raunchy “Bottoms” to this spring’s offbeat “Problemista.”
“It does feel like a movement,” says Stewart, speaking over Zoom with filmmaker Rose Glass, who playfully suggests a “Dolls" and "Bleeding” double feature.
“When is it that you have two (gay) films out at the same time, both doing their own weird thing?” Glass says. “Lesbians everywhere!”
“Heads explode!” Stewart jokes. “Lesbians overload!”
Kristen Stewart says her new movie is 'so sexy and very gay'
"Lou's really weak and Jackie's really strong," Kristen Stewart, right, says of her big-screen duo with Katy O'Brian.
Set in dusty 1980s New Mexico, “Bleeding” opens with the unassuming Lou (Stewart) plunging toilets just before she spots Jackie (O’Brian), an alluring newcomer to her gym. Within days, Lou is introducing Jackie to her dysfunctional family and feeding her steroids for an upcoming bodybuilding competition. But their romance quickly turns toxic, as Lou is forced to clean up the mess of Jackie’s violent decisions.
The film is frequently erotic, despite its grisly subject matter, with electric chemistry and carnal sex scenes between Stewart and O’Brian.
“I wasn't interested in doing the tasteful lesbian period drama where it’s all fleeting glances and hand grazes,” Glass says. “It’s nice to do something that’s a bit hornier and more visceral.”
For years, folks on social media have sardonically begged for more movies where "lesbians have electricity and running water." “God, that's so funny,” says Stewart, 33, who came out publicly in 2017. “That's Hollywood's problem: Lesbians having electricity!”
With this film, the Oscar nominee was interested in bringing modern sensibilities to a queer romance. Jackie sleeps with both men and women and uses her body to get what she wants. Lou, meanwhile, harbors dark secrets and struggles to connect with others. But through Jackie, she finds the strength to stand up to her diabolical dad (Ed Harris) and imagine a real future for herself.
“They’re able to believe in each other in the way that they want to be seen, and that is so sexy and very gay,” Stewart says. “It’s a little more cerebral than physical.”
Although most Hollywood sex scenes cut away before the clothes come off, Glass allows you to sit in the characters’ sweaty, fumbling intimacy. “They’re not the most explicit (scenes); you don't see much,” Stewart says. “They’re just gnarly because you’re not used to seeing things like that.”
The actors worked with an intimacy coordinator and filmed nude scenes on a closed set with minimal crew.
“Kristen was very straightforward, like, 'If I do anything that makes you uncomfortable, please voice it,’ ” O’Brian says. “It was a cool, collaborative thing and it wound up being fun.”
After her chilling debut film “Saint Maud” in 2021, Glass was interested in subverting the idea of a “strong female lead.” Rather than write a woman whose strength is her moral compass, she decided to make a pulpy thriller about a kind of She-Hulk.
“There was an endearing petulance and brattiness to being like, ‘All right, you want a movie about a strong girl? I’ll give it to you,’ ” says Stewart, who met with Rose in 2021 while promoting Princess Diana drama “Spencer.” “Her pitch was like, ‘Monsters come out of the crevices, we all have them inside. It’s a scary place to live in the ‘80s in America, and how can I be strong as a woman who’s gay?’ ”
One of Glass’ chief inspirations was the infamous 1995 flop “Showgirls,” about one woman’s ruthless pursuit of stardom in Las Vegas. “It was this tightrope of wanting to lean into that camp melodrama, but still wanting there to be an emotional reality to it,” Glass says.
After seeing “Showgirls” for herself, Stewart instantly understood the dark humor and heightened performances that Glass was going for: “Our movie never goes into the absurd quite as much as ‘Showgirls’ does, but every time I watch (‘Bleeding’), I can’t stop laughing.”
"There is something inherently punk about it," Kristen Stewart says of "Love Lies Bleeding."
“Bleeding” continues a creative hot streak for Stewart, who has drawn acclaim in the last 10 years for her work in “Certain Women,” “Crimes of the Future,” "Still Alice" and “Personal Shopper." She first caught critics’ attention at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival for “Clouds of Sils Maria,” a turning point for the “Twilight” actress.
“I was lucky,” Stewart says of the project. “That spun me off in a cooler, more satisfying direction.”
Stewart wants to make bold choices behind the camera as well. She plans to make her feature directorial debut with the long-gestating “The Chronology of Water.” She admires Glass' visual vocabulary and command of tone but is also eager to forge her own path as a filmmaker.
“Movies say something about the person that made them,” Stewart says. “I’ve worked with great directors and Rose is absolutely one of them. I learned so much on set, but more so that you have to just kind of do your own thing.”
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