Kristen Stewart is done with Hollywood’s hollow claims of feminism — because in her eyes, it’s clear that there’s only one type of woman Hollywood is actually interested in supporting.
The Twilight star is hot off the press tour for Love Lies Bleeding, which she stars in as the owner of a gym who falls for a bodybuilder.
The genre-bending film, which is equal parts psycho-sexual thriller, queer romance and action film, is violent, sexy and at times hard to watch. Crucially, it is not a stereotypical depiction of femininity — something Stewart feels is hard to come by.
Speaking to Porter magazine, Stewart called out Hollywood’s choice to only platform a certain type of woman or femininity and then call itself progressive or feminist.
“[There’s a] thinking that we can check these little boxes, and then do away with the patriarchy, and how we’re all made of it,” Stewart said.
“It’s easy for them to be like, ‘Look what we’re doing. We’re making Maggie Gyllenhaal’s movie! We’re making Margot Robbie’s movie!’ And you’re like, ‘Ok, cool. You’ve chosen four.’”
Stewart said that while she adores Robbie and Gyllenhaal, it’s “phony” to only tell these stories.
“If we’re congratulating each other for broadening perspective, when we haven’t really done enough, then we stop broadening,” she said.
She pointed out her feature directorial debut The Chronology of Water as an example of this — the film, based on the harrowing memoir of writer Lidia Yuknavitch, explores addiction and child sexual abuse. It’s a story about a woman, but maybe not the type of story that Hollywood sees as what it wants from women.
“My movie is about incest and periods and a woman violently repossessing her voice and body, and it is, at times, hard to watch… but it’s gonna be a fucking thrill ride,” she said.
“And I think that’s commercial, but I don’t think that I have any gauge on what that means.
“I think people would want to see that, but then… I think maybe people wanna watch movies about, like, Jesus and dogs.”
Stewart has been struggling to find a financer for the film, and told Variety in January that she won’t act in another film until this one is up and running.
“I’m going to make this movie before I ever work for someone else,” she said.
“Yeah, I will quit the fucking business. I won’t make a-fucking-nother movie until I make this movie. I will tell you that, for sure. I think that will get things going.”
If anyone deserves a directorial debut, it’s Kristen Stewart.
Give her the funding she deserves, cowards!
