“I was so hungry for more work because the ‘Twilight’ series itself took forever.”
Kristen Stewart is truly in her indie film era. It’s a far cry from her teen franchise roots, and, apparently, she’s OK with that.
On a recent appearance on the SmartLess podcast, the actress discussed her time starring as Bella Swan in the Twilight series — and it seems she didn’t exactly have the best experience.
“I have to say I felt like at the time that I could have redirected energy and become an academic, I was so hungry for more work because the Twilight series itself took forever,” she told hosts Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett . “We did it over a four-year period. We made five movies.”
For Stewart, the time commitment was so oppressive, she struggled to make it through.
“I wanted to make other movies at the same time so badly. I just crashed and burned and barreled my way through those years and just was really … lacking any balance. I was just working constantly,” she said.
In her desperation to branch out and play — well — any other character, she squeezed in a few other projects between the Twilight films.
“We all, if we were able to, tried to slam one in between. That was why it was such a loaded period, because we were promoting either one of these movies, making one of these movies, or trying to shove in something that gave you some variation,” she said. “Not in terms of what it was for other people, but just so you could do something other than play that part for fucking six years.”
Stewart appeared in a number of projects during her Twilight years, including Adventureland, The Runaways, and Snow White and the Huntsman.
Since leaving Bella behind, the actress has continued to steer her career decidedly away from teen franchises, preferring to take on edgier roles in indie projects. This year, she stars in Love Lies Bleeding as Lou, a small town girl in a dead end job who falls for female body builder, Jackie, when she breezes through town. Their obsessive leads to the revelation of a few town secrets — and a few gory murders. This comes after Stewart picked up academy nomination for playing Princess Diana in Pablo Larraín’s atmosphere, pensive Spencer in 2021. Stewart may never wish to return to Forks, but we have to admit, it’s still a deeply satisfying guilty pleasure for us!
