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Transcript
Rule Breaker
You take one A-list Rebel and you add another. Cult actress
and singer, Juliette Lewis interviews Kristen Stewart.
Have you ever seen Kristen Stewart take a selfie? The answer
to that question speaks volumes. She’s
the only millennial A-lister who has built her career entirely on being a
mysterious, kickass brand of cool. In a sea of giddy-all-access-granted starlets,
Stewart has the mysterious persona of a rock star- much like the Joan Jetts,
Kim Gordons and Patti Smiths of the world.
At 18, she became the most famous actress on earth for
playing an angsty, lip-biting teenager who falls in love with a vampire. As
Bella Swan, the central part of the $8 million per film (there were five).
For most actresses, this kind of box office win would be a
blessing and a curse. It can be hard to escape such a definig role. And a
lesser actress would have been stuck in tween hell forever. Not Stewart. She
broke the mould, and then every rule, to find her cool.
She chose the indie parts more akin to Hollywood rebel- Joan
Jett in The Runaways, wild child Marylou in Walet Salles’ adaptation of Jack
Kerouac’s On the Road and Julianne Moore’s sulky daughter in last year’s
harrowing Still Alice. And she worked with the most rarefied of fashion houses,
Balenciaga and Chanel. Now there’s her lates, American Ultra, an offbeat action
thriller centred on two stoners, played by Stewart and her Adventureland
co-star Jesse Eisenberg.
In many ways, Juliette Lewis, a fellow Los Angeles native
who understands what it’s like to reluctantly grow up in the spotlight, was the
Kristen Stewart of her time. She received an Oscar nomination for Cape Fear at
18, then she went on to star in critically adored films such as Oliver Stone’s
Natural Born Killers and Quentin Tarantino’s From Dusk till Dawn. And Lewis too
dated the big star, Brad Pit being to 1990 what Robert Pattinson was to 2010.
But she rebelled- and found new life with her band Juliette and the Licks.
After first meeting on set 13 years ago, the two reunited in
Lewis’ LA home to discuss refusing to compromise and the power in ‘keeping it
dangerous.’ ELLE listened in.
JULIETTE: I’m just going to introduce Teddy, my dog, on this
tape, he is smelling Kristen. He usually doesn’t approach people [ he doesn’t
know] right away, but he’s being really nice to her.
KRISTEN: I can’t take any credit for that. I have three
dogs.
J: Are you a dog person, or a cat person?
K: Well, I have three dogs [ Bear, Bernie and Cole]. They
make me feel safe. But I love cats too. I had a cat for a while who I was
really obsessed with, but when my dad, John, got cancer, he took him, and I
didn’t really have the heart to take him back when my dad was better. They’d
become so close.
J: You have the same energy from when I worked with you 13
years ago [ on the set of Cold Creek Manor].
K: I thought you were so cool when I was a kid.
J: You have a distinct voice. Not just in the way you talk,
but in your nature- it’s empowering. O’m just going to be goofy and say you’re
the female James Dean.
K: Oh, f*uck you.
J: But you’re actually a little bit rougher. Like if you and
James Dean got in a fight, I feel you might win. I think you’re a srapper. You
could throw a punch.
K: I like to make people think that. I don’t know if I
actually could. But if it came down to it, and someone was actually like “We’re
doing this”, I’m confident I’d want it more. I’d be like, “You’re going down.
There’s no way in hell I am.”
J: You and I have a certain thing in common and that is our
strength. I’ve had a lot of people think I’m really strong, and talking to you,
well, you come off really strong. [ A person] wouldn’t’ want to f*uck with you.
But I feel like people who are strong on the outside have a lot of softness,
too.
K: You actually sound like you’re describing Joan Jett.
Getting to know her was the most interesting thing for me- I was fully
intimidated, and totally ready to prove to her that I could absolutely step
into her shoes and I could f*ucking take it. She is very prescious.
J: Was The Runaways a real turning pont for you?
K: Playing someone who you really respect- I don’t want to
say idolize, because it’s an overused word – is a big deal. There is something
fundamental about Joan Jett. Meeting her, she is such a good person, so I
couldn’t have asked for a larger fire to be lit up my ass. I was in the middle
of doing the Twilight movies and doing five of those back to back was so crazy
that I was willing to just bust my ass to do things in between.
J: The Twilight movies were such a huge part of your life. I
think we’re a good combination to talk today, because you too don’t walk the
easy way. The easy path for someone like you would be to do Twilight, then
others where you trade on your look, and do love stories that make everyone
weep. But you intuitively knew: “I have to find a weird. I have to grow. I have
to make sure I’m not shackled to this system or what it predicts for me. “How
does that happen?
K: I grew up in LA and I started auditioning when I was nine. My mom, Jules,was a script supervisor and my dad did live TV, he was an assistant director. So when I first started acting,I just wanted to be in the crew. But I ended up auditioning for stiff and was turned away from anything remotely commercial.I got indie after indie- and all the weird,quirky stuff.And then Twilight came along.We didn't know we were going to do more than one film,but Catherine Hardwicke was directing and I was like, 'This is cool actually.' Then it just turned into something completely different.But it was never decided: 'Right, I'm going to balance the commercialism of my career.'
J: Not to make it seem like we're twinsies,but my dad is a character actor and so I also grew up on movie sets.Do you think now,with social media and people creating their own art,is a good time for film?
K: It's hard for me to talk about how difficult it is to get good movies made because I've been asked to participate in the sickest stuff.But I do fully recognise thatbeveryone is so obsessed with making money and the nobody's willing to make a movie unless it absolutely equals to dollar signs.
J: What about your new film American Ultra?I want to know all about it.
K: It's a stoner-comedy-love-story-thriller-actiono movie.It's like a violent in-your-face Bourne film,but with Jesse Eisenberg and me getting incredibly high.
J: You threw me with thriller.What a great clash of genres.It sounds ambitious and that's the only way to go.There are people whose job it is to just sex boxes of Raisinets(chocolate-covered raisins) at the cinema.
K: I actually think we're going to sell out of Raisinets on this film.This is the first time I've ever done something where I was like 'There's no reason why this should not make a lot of money.' Usually I finish a movie and I'm like 'Oh god,what if no one ever wants to see this?'
J: Here's what I want to tell the people reading this, who have not experienced It. There's a thing with women who become famous where they lose their anonymity and start to think, 'Do I have to please you?' I've now learned that I don't always have to.And so when photographers approach me in the airport at 7am, I'm like 'Dude,would you want to get your picture taken at 7am at the airport?' But I'll say it with a smile.It's been a big learning curve,but you can say no kindly.
K: Totally.There's something so natural about saying yes.I think with women there's some natural inclination to want to satisfy people.
J: I actually don't look at anything in the press.For me it's all books,music,people and living life.I had to get out of that judgment place.My social media world is where I get that connectivity, and I find it really beautiful.
K: I agree with you.I'm not anti social media,I just haven't decided to do it.I have Instagram to connect with my friends but the idea of addressing such a massive group on social media?I can barely do a televised interview.I know how to talk to you now, and when I sit in a chair in front of Jimmy Kimmel,I know how to talk to him.But I have to zone in on Jim,because if I don't know who I'm speaking to it doesn't make any f*cking sense to me.
J: I've read little bits of horsesh*it about you I'm the press,where people are judging you about the whole not smiling thing.You should never have to defend yourself,but what I love about you is that you have am uncompromising nature,but you're not an asshole.
K: The whole smiling thin is weird because I actually smile a lot.I literally want to be like 'Dude, you would think I was so cool if you got to know me!' But so many people make so much money off these character traits that they have assigned me, and so many articles are written every single day about them,if they change my character it wouldn't make sense.
J: It's almost like they will get pictures that will feed into that.I get fearful of people who are plastic and are perfectly fitted for this public culture,likepoliticians.To me,that's scary.K: I'm not a politician.People think that they have to do it,it's as if there providing a public service.But you don't have to,you just have to do your job.J: What about close childhood friends? Do you have any left?
K: I have a bunch actually.I have five or six.There's a small group of us who have known each other forever.
J: I find the hardest thing is how others deal with fame. Some people want to protect you. Some people get agitated and a few show some odd colours that you didn’t know were there and that’s their reaction to fame. Were there shifts? Did you have a change in your group dynamic? I’ve never dealt with that level of idolizing, like when people see you so firmly as something and you made them feel and put all their hopes and dreams on you.
The Kristen files
K: I grew up in LA and I started auditioning when I was nine. My mom, Jules,was a script supervisor and my dad did live TV, he was an assistant director. So when I first started acting,I just wanted to be in the crew. But I ended up auditioning for stiff and was turned away from anything remotely commercial.I got indie after indie- and all the weird,quirky stuff.And then Twilight came along.We didn't know we were going to do more than one film,but Catherine Hardwicke was directing and I was like, 'This is cool actually.' Then it just turned into something completely different.But it was never decided: 'Right, I'm going to balance the commercialism of my career.'
J: Not to make it seem like we're twinsies,but my dad is a character actor and so I also grew up on movie sets.Do you think now,with social media and people creating their own art,is a good time for film?
K: It's hard for me to talk about how difficult it is to get good movies made because I've been asked to participate in the sickest stuff.But I do fully recognise thatbeveryone is so obsessed with making money and the nobody's willing to make a movie unless it absolutely equals to dollar signs.
J: What about your new film American Ultra?I want to know all about it.
K: It's a stoner-comedy-love-story-thriller-actiono movie.It's like a violent in-your-face Bourne film,but with Jesse Eisenberg and me getting incredibly high.
J: You threw me with thriller.What a great clash of genres.It sounds ambitious and that's the only way to go.There are people whose job it is to just sex boxes of Raisinets(chocolate-covered raisins) at the cinema.
K: I actually think we're going to sell out of Raisinets on this film.This is the first time I've ever done something where I was like 'There's no reason why this should not make a lot of money.' Usually I finish a movie and I'm like 'Oh god,what if no one ever wants to see this?'
J: Here's what I want to tell the people reading this, who have not experienced It. There's a thing with women who become famous where they lose their anonymity and start to think, 'Do I have to please you?' I've now learned that I don't always have to.And so when photographers approach me in the airport at 7am, I'm like 'Dude,would you want to get your picture taken at 7am at the airport?' But I'll say it with a smile.It's been a big learning curve,but you can say no kindly.
K: Totally.There's something so natural about saying yes.I think with women there's some natural inclination to want to satisfy people.
J: I actually don't look at anything in the press.For me it's all books,music,people and living life.I had to get out of that judgment place.My social media world is where I get that connectivity, and I find it really beautiful.
K: I agree with you.I'm not anti social media,I just haven't decided to do it.I have Instagram to connect with my friends but the idea of addressing such a massive group on social media?I can barely do a televised interview.I know how to talk to you now, and when I sit in a chair in front of Jimmy Kimmel,I know how to talk to him.But I have to zone in on Jim,because if I don't know who I'm speaking to it doesn't make any f*cking sense to me.
J: I've read little bits of horsesh*it about you I'm the press,where people are judging you about the whole not smiling thing.You should never have to defend yourself,but what I love about you is that you have am uncompromising nature,but you're not an asshole.
K: The whole smiling thin is weird because I actually smile a lot.I literally want to be like 'Dude, you would think I was so cool if you got to know me!' But so many people make so much money off these character traits that they have assigned me, and so many articles are written every single day about them,if they change my character it wouldn't make sense.
J: It's almost like they will get pictures that will feed into that.I get fearful of people who are plastic and are perfectly fitted for this public culture,likepoliticians.To me,that's scary.K: I'm not a politician.People think that they have to do it,it's as if there providing a public service.But you don't have to,you just have to do your job.J: What about close childhood friends? Do you have any left?
K: I have a bunch actually.I have five or six.There's a small group of us who have known each other forever.
J: I find the hardest thing is how others deal with fame. Some people want to protect you. Some people get agitated and a few show some odd colours that you didn’t know were there and that’s their reaction to fame. Were there shifts? Did you have a change in your group dynamic? I’ve never dealt with that level of idolizing, like when people see you so firmly as something and you made them feel and put all their hopes and dreams on you.
Kristen X Juliette
Born…
K: 1990, in LA
J: 1973, in LA
Thei dogs’ names:
K: Bear, Bernie and Cole
J: Teddy
Breakout roles:
K: Twilight J: Cape Fear
Workout choice
K: Swimming J: Weight training
High-profile parts
K: Snow White in Snow White and the Huntsman
J: Johnny Depp’s love interest in What’s Eating Gilbert
Grape
Most desired skills
K: Dancing J: Karate
The Kristen files
Typical breakfast:
“ I’m the least habitual person. And I’m not a huge
breakfast person. I started making chia-seed pudding, which sounds ridiculous
but it’s rad because it’s so good.
Favourite book:
“East of Eden” by John Steinbeck. I’ll read that a bunch of
times before I die.”
Worst dream:
‘ I sometimes dream that I’m in an expansive, ambiguous
place and I’m alone. At first, I’m comfortable because I know that no one’s
there, but when I start looking around, I realize that I don’t know where I am and
all of a sudden, “ Oh, sh*t!”
Exercise of choice:
“I have a lap pool in my back yard. Physical exertion is the
best way to reset my mind.”
Last meal:
“I don’t have a speciality, but I like to make fillet steak.
I love to cook, but no one taught me how. It just makes sense to me. I watch a
lot of Food Network>”
Best ever advice:
“ Patii [ Smith] said to take care of my teeth and my lungs…”
K: Because I got really, really famous in literally a day,
it was a bit like, “ What the f*uck?” Everyone was graduating high school and I
stopped going, so I kinda fell out of touch with the group. I was ust with my
boyfriend all the time. But then I made
a really conscious effort of gathering them and being like, “I need you.” Now
they are really awesome they’re all really protective.
J: That’s nice. It sounds like you knew you needed to
nurture the friendship foundation rather than get isolated and pull away from
it. Instead you gravitated towards it. How do you let off steam? Do you like to
go to raging dance parties? That’s how I like to do it.
K: I play guitar.
J: Damn! You’re cooler than me. I just couldn’t get into the
fingering. Did you learn guitar from The Runaways?
K: I started playing when I was younger. My dad played, so I
was lucky to learn basic chords when I was little, and obviously I sit in
trailers and have time to practice.
J: Do you use it to relax?
K: I love playing guitar, but it doesn’t relax me. It drives
me crazy. I’m like “Ah, no, that’s not what I wanted to play.” I have no rhythm
either. But I love it.
J: What skill you wish you could have? I want to learn to
fight. I wish I continued with karate when I was little.
K: I think the most far-fetched thing is if I could something
like be a f*ucking great dancer.
J: Are you talking hip-hop, street dancing, breakdancing or
ballet?
K: I don’t want to be a professional dancer. I just want to
be able to out on the dance floor and be sick. I want the ability to allow my
body to move. I just want to tear that sh*t up. I’d also like to speak French,
because I have a lot of French friends and then I’d be able to have
conversations with them.
J: Well, the good news is, as long as we’re here, we can do
it all: we’ve got time. So you’re wearing a Dwarves band T-shirt. My first
guitar played in my band was a guy named Clint who was in the Dwarves.
K: That’s weird, because I looked at this T-shirt this
morning and I was like “I don’t know this band, so is it f*cked up to wear it?”
J: It’s a cool top. You know he have to dress up, but do you
feel you have found your own style? Do you have designers you gravitate
towards?
K: I mean, I work with Chanel. But generally speaking there
are a couple of designers I’ve always liked: Nicolas Ghesquiere is someone I’m
a huge fan of. Fashion can be fun, I get inspired by it. I like being around
anyone who’s compulsively making things.
J: Who is a mentor of
yours? Mine is Amy Schumer. I love her. She’s like “ Girl you just need to quit
saying sorry so much”. I’m playing a detective in a series called Secrets and
Lies and she doesn’t say , “I’m sorry, I just need 10 minutes of your time”.
She has no social niceties whatsoever. And I respect that.
K: I apologise constantly, incessantly. As for mentors, I
admire my mom, she has always been a worker.
J: I love how you say “worker”.
K: The women that I’ve always been been drawn to are those
who are unable to focus on things that don’t matter because they’re so taken
with their interests and the things they like to create. Patti Smith is a
friend of mine and her whole thing is “Just get back to work”. Find the source
of what’s keeping you going and it’ll focus you.
J: How did you become friends with her?
K: We were in the Boom Boom Room [ in New York] for a movie’s
after-party, I think it was for On the Road. I was kind of in a f*cked place
and she came up and said “Hey, you doing OK?” She was like, “I just want you to
know that your people care about you, that we’re here for you, and I’m your
people.” And we kind of stayed in contact. Then I was in New York again and she
walked up to me at another after party- it had been a long time since we’d
talked- and she said, “It’s full moon tonight and I heard that you were in
town, so I came out to find you and here you are!” And I was like, “You’ve got
to stop saying the coolest things ever!”
J: She’s like your Yoda, which is fantastic. She’s one of
the greatest writers ever. She is the most uncompromising, the most radical,
the most fearless. She walks her walk and nothing else influences that. I’m so
glad we have her. So in the spirit of Patti Smith and all renegades, I say, “Keep
it dangerous”, and “Don’t let fear swallow you”. That the message. Goodbye
Big thank you to @ShadesOfRK_
Good 😍 (@immortalkristen from Ig 😂)
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