After more than 25 years in acting, Twilight star Kristen Stewart revealed she’s now more focused on directing because of how actresses are treated.
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During a recent interview with The Sunday Times, Stewart spoke out about the struggles actresses deal with in the entertainment industry.
“Actresses get treated like s—,” she declared. “People think anyone could be an actress, but the first time I sat down to talk about my movie as a director, I thought, ‘Wow, this is a different experience, they are talking to me like I’m somebody with a brain.”
She then said, “There’s this idea that directors have otherworldly abilities, which is not true. It’s an idea perpetuated by men. Not to sound like I’m complaining all the time, but it’s worse for female actors than male ones — they get treated like puppets, but they are not.”
Along with discussing directing, the Twilight star talked about an interaction she had with a male actor she loves that highlighted the differences between male and female actors.
“And I said there are no female Method actors because Method acting is an acrobatic performance to make acting seem like a feat that it is not,” she noted. “I think acting is just playing pretend; you don’t have to do 50 press-ups before a take. As soon as I made the distinction between male and female actors, he became defensive and said he had never met an actress that wasn’t crazy.”
Stewart admitted that the comment would have made her angry in the past. However, she brushed it off. “Getting older is great because you can achieve a calm,” she pointed out.
Stewart began acting at 12 years old and starred alongside Jodi Foster in the 2002 thriller Panic Room. She later starred in the Twilight films as Bella Swan.
The ‘Twilight’ Star Recently Directed ‘The Chronology of Water’
Kristen Stewart previously directed her first featured film, The Chonology of Water. The biographical psychological drama is based on the 2011 book of the same name, written by Linda Yuknavitch.
The film follows a woman who endured an abusive childhood. She goes into competitive swimming only to find her voice through writing.
Among those who starred in the film were Imogen Poots, Thora Birch, and Jim Belushi.
“If iI was a man, I wouldn’t have made this movie,” Steward explained in the interview. “We have to deny our physicality every single day.”
“And there is so much – like birth – that is so painful and also quite beautiful,” she continued. “But we don’t share it because it is uncomfortable and icky.”
She also said, “We’ve been pushed out of the canon in terms of expression. I wanted to speak to a world designed to silence women.”
“We have to push people out of the way to get our experience seen,” Steward added. “And that p—es people off.”