BackStage Interview With Kristen Stewart For ‘Welcome To The Rileys’

BackStage.com has a great interview with Kristen Stewart while promoting Welcome To The Rileys.

To some, Kristen Stewart is simply “the ‘Twilight’ girl.” Her arresting turn as love-struck teen Bella Swan in the swoony series of vampire romance blockbusters put her on the map and earned her the mantle of “movie star.”
And for many young actors, this would have represented the chance to cash in, to do a whole bunch of well-paying wannabe hits with various supernatural love interests. Stewart, on the other hand, prefers the more challenging route: offbeat indies, parts that speak to her in a genuine way, and the occasional portrayal of an icon (like, say, Joan Jett). She only hopes that those who want to see her as nothing more than Bella will give her a chance.
“There’s a road I’m going down now, and I’m aware that there’s not as much of an audience for strange movies—for different, eclectic movies—and I totally accept that,” she says. “But at the same time, if I do films like that, I want people to take it for what it is instead of going, ‘Oh, let’s see the ‘Twilight’ girl try to do this.’”
Stewart says she is deeply grateful for all the opportunities the runaway vampire franchise has sent her way, but she has made sure the personas she has taken on since have not been terribly Bella-like. Take her nuanced performance in the recent indie sensation “Welcome to the Rileys.” As foul-mouthed teen runaway/stripper Mallory, Stewart is raw and real, a believably bruised troublemaker, and she more than holds her own opposite co-stars James Gandolfini and Melissa Leo. “I’m really glad that it took the time that it did to get made, because I think by the time I was 18, I was ready and more confident and mature enough to play the part,” says the actor, now 20. “I had read the script when I was 16, and I was just too young. I would’ve shied away from stuff, I think.”

‘Road’ MapStewart was in Pittsburgh working on the indie film “Adventureland” when she first got wind of “Twilight.” At the time, she says, she didn’t really have “enough room in my head” to even consider a project of that magnitude. Still, she was up for the audition and recalls being thrilled when director Catherine Hardwicke and actor Jackson Rathbone flew to Pittsburgh to meet with her. “We worked together for four hours,” Stewart says. “And by the end of it, we didn’t want to stop talking about it, and Catherine was like, ‘Okay, well, I think you should do this. I’m gonna get on a plane now, but hopefully we can continue this discussion later.’ I was like, ‘Uh, does that mean…’ I couldn’t believe it.”
Like Scott, Hardwicke was charmed by Stewart’s brief “Into the Wild” performance. “I felt her vulnerability and yearning leap off the screen when she sat on that bed in the trailer, trying to seduce Emile [Hirsch],” Hardwicke recalls. “Kristen has to feel everything—to connect, to make it her own. She is intense and powerful and athletically gifted. Bella Swan is clumsy. Kristen had to be the most awkward volleyball player in ‘Twilight,’ but in reality she’s a superstar.”
Stewart wasn’t necessarily prepared for the “superstar” status “Twilight” would afford her, but she has tried to remain grounded and keep her decision-making process basically the same. “A lot changed, but at the same time the process of choosing stuff doesn’t change,” she says. “I guess I wouldn’t know the difference if I didn’t have ‘Twilight,’ because the things that have rolled in probably wouldn’t have rolled in. I’m aware and thankful for that. And when something like ‘Welcome to the Rileys’ speaks to you, you have to jump on it.”
That said, she’s still genuinely surprised when filmmakers want to cast her in certain things—like Walter Salles’ upcoming take on Jack Kerouac’s novel “On the Road.” “When it was sort of coming to be and I was the right age to play the part of Marylou, I didn’t even want to think about it a whole lot, because I was like, ‘They’re gonna hire Scarlett Johansson,’” Stewart says with a laugh. “Which would’ve been fantastic, but I just couldn’t imagine inserting myself into that equation.”
Now that she is part of the equation, she’s bringing her usual commitment to the role—and, refreshingly, with a sense of wonder not typically found in young stars who have been working as long as she has. “I worked with my friend Tom Sturridge, and he plays Carlo Marx, who’s Allen Ginsberg,” Stewart says, excitement creeping into her voice. “And I would look over at him, and he’s doing this f*cking full-on Allen Ginsberg crazy monologue in the corner of some thumping, raving party, and I’m dancing to bebop jazz, and I’d be like, ‘Tom, we’re doing “On the Road.” Just so you know “On the Road.”‘
Read the rest of the interview here!

[Source: BackStage.