Kristen talks to Variety about writing 'The Chronology of Water'

 

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Most biopics persuade you to empathize with the main character. But as actress-turned-writer/director Kristen Stewart explains, her screenplay adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch’s memoir “The Chronology of Water” allows you to virtually become the protagonist.

“[Lidia] invites you to project yourself into her book,” she says. In a similar way, the film presents the thoughts of a woman (Imogen Poots) overcoming childhood abuse and adulthood addiction through sound design that places viewers inside her head. “Some of the emotional triggers are specific to her life, but I think they’re [also] invitations to remember your own. I wanted to make a movie that was not just about one person, but was kind of about all of us.”

“Water” is one of several fall features with scripts adapted from the lives of real protagonists, down-to-earth and extraordinary in equal measure. Scott Cooper (“Crazy Heart”) explores the tortured soul of a musical icon in “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere,” Derek Cianfrance (Oscar nominee for “Sound of Metal”) and Kirt Gunn portray a criminal with a heart of gold in “Roofman” and David Michôd (“Animal Kingdom”) and Mirrah Foulkes show the determination and survival skills of a female boxing pioneer in “Christy.”

Stewart’s feature writing/directing debut, which premiered as a Cannes Un Certain Regard selection in May and hits U.S. theaters in December, is the most impressionistic film of the bunch. The project has consumed her thoughts for the past eight years, in part due to the time she needed to raise “purely independent” financing. “I reached out to Lidia [and] told her, ‘Please don’t give this to anyone who’s going to voiceover it to death or provide a three-act structure that’s much easier to finance than the movie that we could make.

“I always wanted to make sure that you could watch this movie with your eyes closed, because I wanted it to feel like a haunted house,” Stewart says. “I wanted [the protagonist] to feel like she was sitting next to you in a theater whispering in your ear, giving you a little more emotional context.”

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Imogen Poots will star in Kristen's feature directorial debut 'The Chronology of Water' and more details

PEN Center USA Creative Nonfiction Award, the memoir is a lyrical journey through a life saved by art. A young woman finds her voice through the written word and her salvation as a swimmer – ultimately becoming a triumphant teacher, mother and a singular modern writer. A survivor’s story and a sexually abrasive and honest coming of age, the film is a physical memory wash of Yuknavitch’s inner life.

“Lidia’s memoir honors corporeal experience, radically,” said Stewart. “To make that experience physical feels vital to me and what this impulse means … is that it absolutely must be a film. This project has been cooking for five years with the help of Scott Free, whom I could not be more privileged to have as partners and friends. Imogen Poots will carry this movie and the staggering weight of Lidia’s life. She can hold it. I am beyond lucky to have her.”

Scott Free’s Ridley Scott and Michael Pruss are producing alongside Mingo. Scott Free’s Rebecca Feuer will serve as an executive producer on the film.

“Ridley and I are delighted to be working with Kristen again, this time on her feature directorial debut, adapted from Lidia Yuknavitch’s extraordinary memoir,” said Pruss. “Just as we have seen in Kristen’s short films as a director, I have no doubt that she will bring that same level of style, uniqueness and fearless emotionality to The Chronology of Water. Furthermore, to have the the opportunity to work with Imogen — who is tailor-made for the lead role — is incredibly exciting. The combination of their talents will no doubt produce something exquisite for film audiences worldwide.”

Stewart teamed with Scott Free in 2017 for her short film directorial debut Come Swim, which she wrote, directed and screened at both Cannes and Sundance, after collaborating with them as an actress in Jake Scott’s Welcome to the Rileys, and A24’s Equals from director Drake Doremus. 

Stewart is coming off her Oscar-nominated performance portraying Princess Diana in Pablo Larrain’s Spencer, which earned her some of the best reviews of her career on top of numerous accolades that included a Critics Choice Award. Stewart most recently can be seen in David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future alongside Viggo Mortensen. Stewart also recently completed productions for a sci-fi love story opposite Steven Yeun and the Rose Glass-directed Love Lies Bleeding. 

Poots was seen in Florian Zeller’s Best Picture Oscar-nominated The Father, alongside Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman, and in Azazel Jacobs’s French Exit. On the TV side, she co-starred opposite Josh Brolin in Amazon’s Outer Range.

Stewart is represented by WME and McKuin Frankel Whitehead. Poots is represented by WME, Entertainment 360, B-Side Management and Yorn Levine Barnes, Krintzman, Rubenstein, Kohner, Endlich & Gellman. Yuknavitch is represented by The Gersh Agency and Massie McQuilkin.

Scott Free’s upcoming films include Napoleon for Apple, directed by Ridley Scott with Joaquin Phoenix starring as the French military leader and emperor Napoleon; Boston Strangler with 20th Century/Hulu, starring Keira Knightley from director Matt Ruskin; Berlin Nobody, a thriller written and directed by Jordan Scott starring Eric Bana, Sadie Sink and Sylvia Hoeks; a new movie in the Alien franchise, to be directed by Fede Alvarez; A Haunting in Venice from Kenneth Branagh, starring Branagh, Jamie Dornan, Tina Fey and Michele Yeoh; and Outside, a feature adaption from bestselling Icelandic author Ragnar Jónasson. 

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Kristen talks to Variety about starting casting for 'The Chronology of Water'

 

It’s been known for some time that actor Kristen Stewart has been gearing up for a trip behind the camera with her the adaptation of the memoir “The Chronology of Water.” For an upcoming episode of the “Variety Awards Circuit Podcast,” Stewart spoke with Variety about the feature and its current status, which is currently casting for the lead role of author Lidia Yuknavitch.

“We’re casting right now,” Stewart says. “We’ve been putting together and have been thinking about this for a really long time. I’m so stoked. It’s taken the time it’s needed. Some of these take a decade to put together. I just jump every gun in my life and start talking about stuff before they’re really relevant, but it’s more relevant than ever. Now we’re casting the movie. We’re finding our Lidia Yuknavitch.”

According to Stewart, she was taking it out this week to find potential investors. “We don’t need that much. It’s a really small movie. It’s something I would have wanted to be cast in when I was younger.”

As the writer and director, Stewart was asked if she had any plans to make an Alfred Hitchcock-like appearance in the film, to which she replied, “No. There’s actually no part for me. I guess depending on who plays Lydia, I could maybe play her older sister but probably not. I keep trying to figure out a way to get in there but I don’t think so.”

The actor is garnering a ton of awards buzz for her performance as Princess Diana in Pablo Larraín’s “Spencer.” The Neon film has thrust her to the forefront of the best actress race and could bring her first Oscar nomination.

On top of promoting the upcoming release of “Spencer” from Neon and Topic Studios, she just wrapped filming on writer and director David Cronenberg’s “Crimes of the Future” with Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux and Scott Speedman.

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