Kristen Stewart: Jett-ing Through A Twilight Adventureland

By Fred Topel

Apr 1, 2009

Some indie movies are really benefiting from Kristen Stewart's newfound fame. Since she appeared as Bella in Twilight, a film she shot two years ago, The Cake Eaters got a theatrical and DVD release. Now Adventureland comes on the cusp of two Twilight sequels, with a Runaways biopic, in which Stewart will play Joan Jett, slated to shoot in between.

In Adventureland, Stewart plays Em, a Jersey girl working at a theme park in the '80s. She's having an affair with the married maintenance man Mike Connell (Ryan Reynolds), but grad school hopeful James (Jesse Eisenberg) might be more of a true match for her. Written by Superbad director Greg Mottola, the comedy is more understated, though there is some toilet humor.

After an intense whirlwind, Stewart seems to be relaxing into her stardom. On the press rounds for Twilight and even The Cake Eaters, she seemed overwhelmed by the interest in her and the intense scrutiny on what she said. Her body language said it all -- she would visibly shrink into her jeans and T-shirt. Now she's more outgoing, if not boisterous, wearing a hip maroon jacket. She's no longer at pains over every word she speaks, but you'll see her vocabulary suffered none for her spontaneity.

Question: Was it important to you that the character was Jewish?

Kristen Stewart: Yeah, actually. I feel like her character's sort of struggling with people perceiving her anyway. Like she doesn't want to be perceived by anybody and it's sort of one of her more admirable qualities when she defends her friends because she wouldn't defend herself. So she's not even defending her own Jewishness. It's her friend's. We weren't making a big statement but it was sort of nice.

It's a specific thing to note about a character, but they hardly mention it.

KS:

Yeah, anybody who has to deal with that shit. It's annoying, so yeah.

Why do you think your character is attracted to each of her love interests?

KS:

I think she's attracted to James. I think that that's a real thing that they have and she's afraid of it because it's too real. And she's not necessarily attracted to Ryan's character. I mean, it's just easy. It's supposed to be filling some void and maybe she thinks for one second that it is but obviously it's just gouging it out more and more. Then it becomes like a sort of masochistic thing because she feels like that's all she deserves. She's never going to have a real [relationship]. She's too closed down for that, so it's like well, if this is all there is, then I'm just going to keep doing it. Then when she meets him, it's like she sees like wow, I actually may have the capacity for more and that's scary. To be yourself around someone, it's almost too much. It's like if they could both just realize that they were great and stop being so insecure, they could probably have each other comfortably, but they're too caught up in themselves.

Did you get to go on any rides on the set?

KS:

Yeah, we had fun. We weren't allowed to go on the rides until the end and then they stuck us on the most dangerous, rickety old ride that they had at the park and that was the one ride that we got to ride. We did it like fifteen times though.

Were you surprised this was more personal and less zany than Superbad?

KS:

Superbad had just come out and I think it's the same [tone]. It's not as broad, like it's not joke, joke, joke. But all of his jokes are rooted in the characters and in the reality that they're living in so you believe it more. It's not like you're being manipulated. Those two kids, Michael Cera and Jonah [Hill], you love them. It's like everything they said was like you felt like your friend could have said it. His stuff has that. He's not arbitrary. I hate manipulative movies that are just like, "This is a funny movie. Laugh at it." He cares.

What quality do you dislike most in other people?

KS:

Dishonesty. People who lie, I don't like them.

Did you know anyone like Em growing up? Did you base the character on someone that you knew or could you relate to her?

KS:

I mean, I related to her because I like characters that are written that are whole, that doesn't feel like it's easy to tell what would be right and wrong and how they would feel about something because they're very defined. It's not like they're just a place holder. I'm not like "the girl" in the movie. She's a real person. So, her. I got all my inspiration from her. I could imagine what it would be like to not like yourself very much and not have a mom and not have a dad to reassure you and sort of be kicking it alone and feel like you're sort of smarter than everyone but no one gets it. I get all of that. Then the masochist aspects girls are good at so I can relate on that level.

Is there anything from the era of the '80's that you love?

KS:

I like a lot of music. I like the sort of alternative music. I'm not too into "Rock Me Amadeus."

When you read a script what makes you either want to do it or not?

KS:

This is going to be a great movie. They are obviously going the right direction, in choosing me. [Laughs]

What are you most looking forward to about the follow up to Twilight, New Moon?

KS:

We're just starting prep on New Moon. It's almost sort of a more elaborate version of the first one. It's just getting bigger and bigger which is great. It's what we all hoped for. Taylor Lautner is Jacob. It was under deliberation for a while so we're glad that he's doing it.

He really worked out to buff up for the role.

KS:

He's jacked. It's crazy.

He looks like he's on steroids he's so big.

KS:

He's not on steroids.

Were you shocked when you saw the transformation?

KS:

Yeah. I've seen the steady progression and I've seen him a lot since then. If I had seen Taylor who did Twilight to the Taylor right now who's about to start New Moon, he's an entirely different person physically. I mean, it took him so much time. He's so devoted. He's amped, really excited.

What did you learn from the first Twilight that you can bring into the next?

KS:

I mean, to be honest, I haven't learned much more than the difference in doing a big movie to a small movie. To me, the biggest difference has been in promoting it. I mean, the making of the movie, shooting a movie, whether it's on a large scale or a small scale, it's the same thing once you actually get in front of the camera. But promoting the film is a different story. Everybody puts so much weight on everything that you say and I'm not too good at expressing myself. To talk about something that you're so vested in and you've put your whole life into all the time almost every day of like a good solid, it's going to be like three and a half years of my life, I just really care about it. I've realized that it's a bigger job than I thought it was going to be but I look forward to all of it.

With a different director attached to each one, what happened with Catherine Hardwicke?

KS:

To be honest, I don't know. I don't run studios. It was definitely, both of them, it was Catherine and Summit sort of just agreeing that it was the best thing to do. It wasn't like, 'YOU'RE FIRED.' Everybody has creative integrity. Everybody has to be on the same page when you're making a movie.

Are you getting to hang out with Joan Jett now to prep for The Runaways?

KS:

Yeah. I just saw her. She's really good. She like penetrates you with her gaze, literally. She's a badass. She's like the ultimately cool [rocker] and like really deep too. She's very thoughtful. She could sit in a room full of chattering people and music and whatever and she's just sitting there. Then like something crazy'll happen and you're like, "Joan, did you see that?" And she'll be like, "No." She's very thoughtful and she loves what she does. She cares about so many people. She's an activist. She's really amazing. I mean, obviously, I have a short amount of time to do that in between the two other films we're shooting back to back. They shut down for I think like eight weeks in New Moon and Eclipse. I'm just listening to her music all the time. I spent New Years with her. I'm trying to just make myself aware of the time period and what she was going through.

How daunting is it to spend time with her and think you'll have to embody that?

KS:

It's one of the most immense responsibilities to play a real person. If it's not done right, it should be publicly acknowledged. It should just be done justice. I mean, her story's important. It's an incredibly triumphant feminist story really. She's an incredibly distinct personality and so many people love and admire her. So many people know her as just being like one of the coolest people to ever live and that in itself is one of the most intimidating things that I've ever had to confront but she's so cool too. She's like one of the nicest, most soulful women I've ever met. It's an honor, but it really is.

Did she tell you anything in particular about how she sees herself?

KS:

The main thing that she talks about it just how much she cared about that time period of her life. Literally, that band, The Runaways, it's what started her entire life. She's very reminiscent and happy that it's being told. That alone, to have someone like that tell you that that's the best time of their life and that's what started it all for me, that's the most daunting thing. Plus she's the first woman to ever start her own record label. She's just a good person. She's got ambition. She's got conviction. She's cool.

Will you be singing?

KS:

I don't want to speak out of place yet. I really hope to be able to actually perform the music, but I just don't know yet. Hopefully I'll be able to tell you guys soon. I want to very badly but I also want it to sound right and I don't know if it'll be a combination where they lay our voices on top of each other or if it'll be just her or just me. We'll see. We'll see how able the other actors are to play the music themselves. It would be awesome. We're definitely on band practice. We're definitely going to be a group of people who can make music together.

What other kind of research are you doing?

KS:

I'm just trying to immerse myself in the music scene, not in the scene, but to educate myself about it.

Is there a sequence that you're looking forward to shooting in The Runaways?

KS:

God, yeah. There are so many iconic ones. The relationship that's really interesting is Cherie [Currie] and Joan, the two front women of the band. They get tattoos together in Japan and obviously they still have those tattoos. I'm looking forward to that just because it's such a fun part of the movie. I like the big conflict. Cherie can't really handle the success, nor does she want it necessarily in that respect. Joan is a very steady, self-assured and she knows this kick started her whole career. So to watch it all fall apart and her still stand, I'm excited about that. It's a really explosive scene. Amps are kicked through and guitars are smashed.

Adventureland opens in theaters on Friday, April 3.