Box OfficeMagzine It’s the beginning of the end for Bella Swan, but for the actress who plays her, it’s the end of the first major milestone in her career. Just 21, Kristen Stewart has spent the last three years of her life being one of the most famous faces in the world. The Twilight Saga can’t be avoided—it’s released a film a year since 2008 and made tabloid staples (for better or worse) out of stars Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner. For a young actress whose first love is the craft, not the celebrity, it’s been intense. But as Kristen Stewart tells Boxoffice, she’s so fused with the role of Bella Swan, she’s invented whole pages of Bella’s history that she swore were in the original books—until she looked it up and realized she’d just imagined those memories. So since she knows Bella better than anybody—maybe even better than Stephenie Meyer—we ask if she really thinks Bella is ready for marriage? And after so many years on the set, what was it like waking up knowing she’d never play Bella again?
What’s it like working on a film where people are so fascinated by the tiny details? However you and your hair designer decide to style your hair for the wedding, thousands of girls are going to copy it for their own wedding or prom.
It’s funny. It’s something you have to put out of your mind while you’re working, or else it’s incredibly heavy, it weighs you down. You want to do something that is clear to you. But at the same time, it makes it exciting, like, “I hope they like it!” I’m also on their level: I’m just as worried about how the hair is going to look. It’s just not normal for other people to be as concerned about something that you’re concerned about on the movie. Usually, people don’t know, people don’t care. It’s unique, really unique in that way. I’ve never experienced that on another project.
Knowing that other people take your role as seriously as you do—it’s kind of a great confluence of actor and audience.
Yeah. It really is pretty amazing, and it’s so different. I’ve had a taste of it in a couple movies, but this case was the most extreme. Playing real people, you get a similar experience. With Joan Jett [in The Runaways] and then and then On the Road, where I play this woman who’s absolutely f–king incredible, LuAnne Henderson [who inspired the character of Marylou in the novel and film]. That was so important on a level that had nothing to do with me. So it’s a similar experience. Usually, I own these parts—they’re mine and the director’s and the writer’s. But this has relevance on another level in the real world.
Make sure to read the rest of this great interview after the CUT!
What’s it like working on a film where people are so fascinated by the tiny details? However you and your hair designer decide to style your hair for the wedding, thousands of girls are going to copy it for their own wedding or prom.
It’s funny. It’s something you have to put out of your mind while you’re working, or else it’s incredibly heavy, it weighs you down. You want to do something that is clear to you. But at the same time, it makes it exciting, like, “I hope they like it!” I’m also on their level: I’m just as worried about how the hair is going to look. It’s just not normal for other people to be as concerned about something that you’re concerned about on the movie. Usually, people don’t know, people don’t care. It’s unique, really unique in that way. I’ve never experienced that on another project.
Knowing that other people take your role as seriously as you do—it’s kind of a great confluence of actor and audience.
Yeah. It really is pretty amazing, and it’s so different. I’ve had a taste of it in a couple movies, but this case was the most extreme. Playing real people, you get a similar experience. With Joan Jett [in The Runaways] and then and then On the Road, where I play this woman who’s absolutely f–king incredible, LuAnne Henderson [who inspired the character of Marylou in the novel and film]. That was so important on a level that had nothing to do with me. So it’s a similar experience. Usually, I own these parts—they’re mine and the director’s and the writer’s. But this has relevance on another level in the real world.
Make sure to read the rest of this great interview after the CUT!
