Salon:
You’ve been incredibly loyal to this film, even through a period when you’ve been getting tons of press for other stupid reasons.
It’s hard because we’ve been working on this since we were in Cannes [in May]. When you’re promoting something like this, that you believe in, you want to be honest and open and empathetic, but when you get asked the same question …
Like, 35 times.
Right, exactly. And you give the same answers, which doesn’t mean that it’s fake or rehearsed. It can be something that you’ve thought about and you, like, totally believe.
You know, I’ve encountered that, where I’ve interviewed someone and then I read some other interview with them in a different publication where they say exactly the same things, word for word. And yet I believed at the time that it was a totally sincere conversation. And maybe it was!
It probably was. I’m going to do the same thing right now! [Laughter.] And it’s not on purpose. It’s not like you sit and remember those things. If you ask someone the same question over and over, the answer’s probably going to be similar.
Also, you’re an actor. You can deliver something over and over again and believe it. That’s one of your skills.
Yeah! Yeah, I guess that’s true.
You know, among some of my movie-watching friends, we’ve established a convention where we always refer to you as “the girl from ‘Adventureland.’”
Aw! That’s really funny. That’s cool! I love that.
And, you know, it’s not entirely a joke. Because I do know quite a few people who loved you in that movie and have very likely never seen those other somewhat more popular films that you did. [Laughter.]
Yeah, I get that.
I think of your career as something out of quantum physics, where you can’t predict a precise trajectory for a particle, only probability. There was a probable trajectory for you that’s way more plausible than what actually happened. It definitely leads from “Adventureland” to “On the Road,” and in between it includes “Welcome to the Rileys” and “The Runaways” and some other hip little indie films that never actually happened. It does not include the wildly unlikely thing that happened where you made a strange little vampire film for teenage girls and became the biggest movie star in the universe. Do you ever think about that?
Yes. It’s funny. I guess the time I think about that is when I’m asked if I’m pissed about being typecast, if I feel like people hold me to one idea. I would definitely have a huge problem with what happened if it kept me from doing what I’m doing — things that have really challenged me. Which includes “Twilight,” by the way.
I’ve never really been able to project myself into — see, when people ask me, “Where do you see yourself? What type of actor do you want to be? What type of movies do you want to do?” I can’t answer those questions. I have not been able to step outside and think about what I want it to look like. You get the right feeling, and you just sort of trudge forward.
Part of the “Twilight” legend is that when you and Rob and the other actors who signed on were cast in the first film, Catherine Hardwicke was directing, and you had no idea what you were getting into and how big it would be. Is that accurate?
Oh, yeah. Even within it, while it was happening — to expect something like that to sustain would have been crazy. We had no idea. As far as we knew, it was a one-off. Catherine Hardwicke did smaller movies. We had no idea going into it that we would even have a sequel.
Before I let go of “Adventureland” — and I would happily spend our 15 minutes just talking about that — I want to mention that even though it wasn’t a hit and was maybe poorly marketed, I think [writer and director] Greg Mottola should get credit as a talent spotter. You’re in that film, Jesse Eisenberg is in that film and Ryan Reynolds is in that film, and none of you was all that well known at the time.
That’s true. And look at “Superbad”! That had Michael Cera, sort of for the first time. I know he did “Arrested Development” and stuff. But in film, it was the first time anyone was like, “Oh, there you go! There’s that dude!” It had Jonah Hill, Emma Stone. It’s crazy, you’re totally right.
I was startled to realize, looking it up, that “Adventureland” came out less than four years ago. But a lot of stuff has happened for you since then! Does it seem like a really long time ago?
Actually, it does. I did that right before “Twilight,” so I was 17. It was right around the same time I met Walter Salles, who was already trying to make this film ["On the Road"].
Knowing what you know now about what would happen after you took that role with Catherine Hardwicke …
Mm-hm.
I mean, seriously, I can’t imagine what it must be like to be 22 years old and to pretty much have lost the degree of privacy and anonymity that 99.9 percent of us take for granted.
Oh, man – like, severely!
So would you do it over again if you could?
Yeah. Definitely. I mean, on a number of levels. I wouldn’t exchange the process of making the movies. Usually I’ve got five weeks, or five months tops, to go crazy and obsess about a character. If you had described the weight of it to me initially, I would have doubted being able to sustain the type of energy that it takes to make a movie. By the end of a movie, a lot of actors will go home and get sick; there’s a huge recovery period. It’s like, you expend all your energy. To find a project that allowed me to have that same feeling for five years — I would never, I can’t trade that. It’s mine! Obviously your experiences make you who you are, and that is such a huge part of me. I can’t imagine not having it.
And at the same time, I love movies, and I love having a strong foothold in this business. I definitely don’t deny the freedom that it’s given me, as an actor, to do whatever I want. To choose things that are really weird or things that are really cool and commercial. You know what I mean? Actors normally do what they can, and it’s great to not have to.
Do you hold out hope, now that the “Twilight” series is over, that the amount of ludicrous media attention that you’ve gotten at times will normalize?
Yeah. And, I mean, even in the most ludicrous times, I feel very normal. It’s hard to say in black-and-white terms, but on some level I suppose I have a unique perspective. I look through a really strange lens at the world because of all this. But it’s no less interesting. I’m not deprived of any bit of life, you know? It would be really stupid to deny how interesting it is to look at the world in this way.
Are you keeping notes? Are you going to write a book or something? I don’t know if that’s your instrument.
Yeah, I don’t know. I do love to write, but I don’t know if I’m the best storyteller. [Very low voice.] Basically, people are crazy.
I remember seeing you a couple of times, like across the room, at parties at Sundance when you were there with “The Runaways,” and it did seem like you were doing a pretty good job of having a normal experience — despite the fact that there were 80 photographers standing outside waiting for you to leave.
Yes. And at Sundance it’s really disconcerting. It’s like, “Come on! Let me have this!” That actually does bug me — situations like that, where it’s inappropriate. That’s what really pisses me off.
Well, you were the person that year who was bringing the star power. Because at Sundance, you can just run into people on the street at random. I once walked right into David Bowie, and no one was even paying attention to him.
Right, it’s true. And the problem at Sundance for me, at that point, was that you would show up at a place and people would go [exasperated sigh], “Oh, God. Great!” There’s all these people and it’s crazy. You’re like this cloud — you’re at Sundance and you smell. You’re not indie anymore, you know? You’re bringing the paparazzi. I’m like, “I fucking grew up here! What the hell!” [Laughter.]
Maybe this is an odd thing to say given how much money and how much adulation you’ve gotten out of the “Twilight” series, but I wonder if you feel like the difficulty of the acting challenge has gone underappreciated by critics and non-fans. I mean, they’re not my favorite movies or anything, but they’re a lot better than the books! The cast in general does good work, and your character feels very well thought-out and precisely crafted. Do you feel like people don’t notice that?
I don’t know. I feel like people think that’s me! [Laughter.] It is pretty funny. I say this all the time, and I don’t want to contradict myself: I feel really close to all the characters I play. I’m not the type of person who hides behind a role. I’m not a character actor. The reason I’m ever able to do the job is, like, you read a bit of material that reveals yourself. It can be shocking and surprising, and there are aspects that are a little bit more buried than what seems to be apparent. But at the same time, it is crazy for people to think that I was vicariously having this experience, just dipping along through “Twilight”-land.
But then, a lot of your fans think that, too, am I right?
Oh, for sure! People think that that’s me, that that’s who I am, that I am Bella. It is crazy. Because I am — quite different, in so many ways. Just the other day, somebody asked me in an interview, “So, does it bother you that you’re definitely no critics’ favorite or whatever? Don’t you feel like you want some validation or recognition, a pat on the back?” And, I mean, oh my God. It is so not the issue. It’s kind of the same answer that I had about being typecast. If I suddenly started hitting walls, if I felt like I wasn’t being challenged anymore, if I felt stagnant, that would be one thing.
But I feel like I’ve been so lucky to keep moving. As soon as you start doing things for that reason, it’s so crazy. Plus, then you talk to people who really want to talk about your movies and are really into it. So, it just doesn’t feel like his general perception, which was pretty much that I’m the “Twilight” girl that everyone shits on.
Had you read Kerouac’s “On the Road” before taking this role? [She nods yes.] Because it is so much a boy’s story.
It’s a boy book.
I mean, the girls are there for sex, for sure. [Laughter.] But he’s not overly concerned with their individuality, their inward thoughts, their personal journeys. And somehow, you found a real person there, a very physical person, but a person who seems alive and present and at least somewhat in charge of her life.
It’s not their story, and I was definitely scared about playing a caricature, somebody who was just serving as ambience, setting the tone for the wild and crazy party scenes. Reading the book, there are all these little details that make Marylou seem just a little curious. You wonder about her for sure, but you do not know where she is emotionally or personally at all. To play the part, it put it on a completely different plane as soon as we got to know the people that these characters were based on.
In your case, you’re talking about Luanne Henderson, who became Marylou in the book.
Yeah. The reality of the situation is definitely not on the screen, but I think it’s felt, and more so than in the book. I don’t know — for anyone who might read the book and think that the women are used up, that they’re used and abused and taken from in a way that leaves them empty — you couldn’t do that to this girl. Like, it was impossible. She was the most formidable partner for him; it was such a push-and-pull. They knew each other until the end of his life, and he couldn’t stop going back to her.
Knowing some of those things and hearing the way she recalled her life — it was so personal to her, and she was so unaware of the movement she was part of. It was really rare to find a character who was that young, and a girl of that time — not to sound super-obvious about it — who was so proactively living her life as her own. She wasn’t crippled by the fear that comes with being a teenager and not knowing where you’re going and not really knowing yourself yet. She had this trust in herself and was so self-aware and so unself-concious. She lacked any bit of vanity, which was, especially for a pretty girl — she had no idea. She was literally the most empathetic, generous, awesome person.
You know, when you read the book you can get the feeling he got around these people. How much he loved them and how remarkable they were. It’s great. But when we listened to these tapes, it was just so uncanny. We’re five minutes into listening to this woman speak, and we were laughing; we were giddy about it. She’s amazing! We were in love with her instantly, and she hadn’t said more than a few sentences. That’s what Kerouac was talking about; he was not fucking around. He was right! That was what made it so much fun.
It's been quite a year for Kristen Stewart. Leaving aside her tumultuous off-screen existence, she put a cap on one blockbuster franchise (in all, the five "Twilight" movies made more than $1.3 billion at the box office), kicked off another ("Snow White and the Huntsman" took in a healthy $155 million) and renewed her indie-movie cred card with a daring performance in Walter Salles' "On the Road," which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival and opens in limited release on December 21. HuffPost recently talked to Stewart about "On the Road" -- and persuaded her to answer some #nofilter questions while we had her attention.
What's your guiltiest pleasure?
Hmm. I take these things very seriously. Whenever anyone's like, "Oh, we're just gonna do a fun quick-fire-question thing." My guiltiest pleasure? Shit. God. Dude, what's yours?
Oh, God, I probably wouldn't want to say, now that I think about it.
See?
Have you ever stolen anything?
Actually, no. I stole a pack of gum when I was younger and literally turned right around and gave it back. And he was such an asshole to me. I was like, "I should have just walked. I am being a good person." And he literally chastised me for 15 minutes. I was like, "Why did I even give this back to him?"
If failure weren't an option, what's one thing you would do?
Oh, god. God. That is too -- dude, these are not quick-fire questions. They're heavy questions.
What shows are on your DVR?
I actually don't watch TV.
Do you ever text in the movie theater?
Um, I don't typically sit in a movie theater.
If you could ask Kim Kardashian one question, what would it be?
Um, wow. I have no idea.
It’s easy for audiences to forget that if you take away “Twilight,” Kristen Stewart has done mostly indie-minded acting work. Other studio films do pepper her resume — “Jumper,” “Snow White and the Huntsman,” “Panic Room,” “Zathura” — but at a mere 22-years-old, Stewart has an independent streak at least as deep as that of well-respected indie darlings such as Michelle Williams and Catherine Keener. It’s just that much of Stewart’s public approbation has come from the Teen Choice/MTV Movie Award constituencies.
That may change this year.
Stewart’s openly sexual, free-spirited performance as Marylou in the Walter Salles-Jose Rivera adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s Beat bible “On The Road” may be secondary to the central relationship of Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty, but it’s caused a lot of fevered muttering about Stewart suddenly “growing up” or “taking more risks” as an actor. Many observers have pointed to the “shock” of her willingness to appear naked on screen as evidence to support this.
But that’s more a reflection of how much the virginal Bella Swan role from the five “Twilight” movies has bulldozed the popular consciousness over the last four years. That’s not Stewart’s fault. Really, she was half-dressed or openly libidinous in “Into the Wild,” “The Runaways” and “Welcome to the Rileys,” too, and it’s as if that work has been erased from her history.
Still, there is truth to the sense that Stewart did drop even more defenses in “On the Road,” and it couldn’t be any clearer than in the transporting dancing scene near the end of Salles’ film (more on that from Kristen below). With IFC Films putting mad faith in the movie, which opens Friday, Dec. 21, Stewart shared some insights with Indiewire about how first reading “On the Road” sparked her search for the adventure in people, her ambivalent reaction to having sex scenes cut from the film and what playing Marylou taught her about how “to be completely motivated by the fears in life rather than crippled by them.”
What changed between the Cannes version of the film and the one that showed at Toronto, especially as it pertains to your character?
It’s slightly longer, but that’s not the only difference. There are so many different avenues you can go down with this story. You read the book and you choose what ride you want to take. You can have a different experience every time you read it. I think that Walter wanted to funnel most of the energy — even though you could probably still have multiple experiences watching the movie — he wanted to really focus on the brotherhood, really focus on Dean and Sal. The first one’s just a little more languid. I don’t want to say it was more free-form…
It’s still pretty free-form. It’s meant to be jazzy.
That’s what I mean. It was just maybe a little bit more. But now, he definitely leads you to a place where at the end, the two of them, you’re just are so completely invested in them. Not that you weren’t before, it was just a little bit easier to take different rides. But that was perfect for the Cannes audience.
In terms of your character, how did your perspective change from the script to the first version to the second version?
On a surface level, the first one was much racier. You do those scenes, especially, and you look back and go, What the fuck did we do that for? [laughs] Walter, what the fuck? No, I’m kidding.
There’s still a good amount of sex in the new version.
Yeah, there is, definitely.
So you weren’t missing that in the second version?
I don’t know. The last thing I want is for that to be what people focus on, so I’m actually glad, because there’s enough. But at the same time, it’s what it is. There were definitely moments that would have been good, but whatever. If I start at the very beginning, I read the book when I was a freshman.
In high school? That’s pretty early.
I grew up in L.A. I was 13 or 14. It is totally young. On one level it opened a lot of doors for me. I suddenly got incredibly into reading. It really did kickstart that. It was the first one. I didn’t think for one second that I was the type of person that could play Marylou. Ever. Not for one second. I would have done anything on the movie, so I took the part when I was 17 not having — which is a very irresponsible thing to do as an actor, you cannot take a part unless you think you can do it — but I was like, I can’t say no to “On the Road,” I have to try. Probably because those are the type of people I want to meet. I want to find those people and run after them.
“The mad ones.”
Yeah. I think that 14 is how old I was when I looked up and realized that you get to choose those people rather than just getting comfortable with the people that are circumstantially around you. Like, go out and find the ones that fucking pull it out of you! Because [Marylou’s] not in the forefront of the story, she is on the outskirts, you didn’t really know what is in her head and in her heart when the whole story is being told in the novel. I think getting to know the woman behind the character, to be able to connect the dots — because I am a sensitive, contemporary normal girl who definitely was leagues behind her in terms of being comfortable with herself and life — she had that and she was so young. That’s not a teenaged thing, to be completely motivated by the fears in life rather than crippled by them. So that’s why it’s really a very good thing that I grew up a couple of years — I was 20 by the time the movie was made. Even though she was 16 when the story starts, I was a younger 16, I just didn’t have it yet.
That’s a very key thing in terms of taking a role like this. I saw “Welcome to the Rileys,” too. And obviously, the character you play in that requires a lot of open sexuality.
But she’s so much more closed off. The amount of walls that that girl has up was so… This was much more difficult, personally, just because I’m… not that way. But “Welcome to the Rileys” was difficult because it was fucking awful subject matter, it was pretty morbid. This was definitely more fun.
When you’re thinking about choosing roles, and you know that you’re going to be doing things like that and bringing out that part of yourself — especially if it’s not particularly natural to you — where do you bring that from?
Actors that say that they want to really step outside of themselves and play characters that are very unlike them…
Like villains. You’ll hear someone say, “I can get all my rage out…”
See, that’s the thing. They have the rage, though. Do you know what I mean? You can’t not have it. Even if it’s buried really deep. That’s sort of what happens when you read a script and it provokes you on some level that surprises you. You go, “What the fuck was that? I need to find out why that moved me because that’s not who I am.” Usually, those aren’t the aspects of yourself that are clear to you, but they’re still there. So making a movie, it’s always about finding out why reading it was such an experience.
So…?
[laughs without answering]
Without putting too fine a point on it, what did you find out?
That I can let my face hang out. It’s definitely not my go-to deck of cards but… you deprive yourself of life as soon as you start putting those walls up. I’ve never met another character/person in my life that squeezed every last drip out of it like she did. Not to say that I’m just like Marylou now. It’s not like, ‘Ooh, I can now finally be free…’ I don’t know. I definitely tasted it, so I know I have it in me. D’you know what I mean?
It would be easy to focus on the sexual aspect of it, but it sounds like you’re taking it in a broader sense.
Yeah, doing that, though? Honestly? The dancing scene was so much more terrifying than any of the sex scenes were for me. I was so scared of it.
It’s hard to dance in front of your friends. How do you do a dance from another time in a giant movie?
We crammed, I think, 60 extras into a tiny little room. Literally, I could feel the floor vibrating. It was so fucking cool. But I was terrified.
So that was actually more impactful or intense than any of the sex scenes?
100 times. 100 times, yeah.
Jodie Foster always said that about “The Accused.” That the rape scenes were difficult, yes, but the hardest thing was the dance before it, when she had to dance all sexy.
Oh. Totally, of course. That would be so much more difficult. That is really interesting. It makes total sense to me.
Has your approach to why you would take a role in an independent film changed in the last few years?
It’s a very particular thing, it’s a very strange job to do. You’re pretending to be another person and you’re letting a bunch of people watch you do that. A lot of people that are attracted to the job can sort of step outside of it and view their career as a whole and kind of shape it, and go, “I want to end up here…” I have absolutely no clue what I want to do until it’s right in front of me. So I’ve just been really lucky, everything’s been quite varied.
Right. But presumably, at any one time, there’s not just one thing that you’re responding to, so you still have to choose. You also have agents and managers who weigh in for their own reasons and agendas.
That’s true. I think if they’re weighing in, then they’re geniuses — and I don’t think this is happening — in terms of funneling things unbeknownst to me.
Convincing you it was your idea…
Or maybe just not showing me everything, showing me only things they want me to do. That actually sometimes does freak me out. But to be truly honest with you, I can’t do things like that. Sometimes movies start out as ideas. Especially big studio movies. There’s a concept before there’s a character, and they’re completely empty.
OK, but to play devil’s advocate: where are you going to go with your character in a “Snow White” sequel?
Oh, it’s gonna be fuckin’ amazing. No, I’m so excited about it, it’s crazy.
Can you give me a hint of where it goes?
I’m not allowed. The other day I said that there was a strong possibility that we’re going to make a sequel, and that’s very true, but everyone was like, “Whoa, stop talking about it.” So no, I’m totally not allowed to talk about it.
But it’s fair to say that there are ideas that have been discussed that totally justify it for you.
Oh my God. Fuck, yeah. Absolutely. And we’ve got a really amazing… [smiles] So, yeah. It’s all good. [laughs]
What’s it like watching yourself have sex? Putting aside the possibility that you have home recordings or anything?
Right. [laughs] Well, I wasn’t really having sex. To be honest, I think if you were to isolate the scenes, it’s fairly ridiculous watching yourself fake have sex. But within the movie, watching the movie, I do get so caught up in this one. I’ve seen it three times, and that’s not typical for me. I have to complete the process, I need to watch the movie at the end of it. But three times?
Why this one then?
I don’t know. Walter could have cut together a 24-hour movie. I watched the movie, and it’s funny, I remember those moments like they’re parts of my life. And that typically happens when you watch a movie, but this one’s strange just because I can’t identify any scene. There are parts, moments, where I don’t feel like I’m watching a movie, I feel like I’m watching a home video. And I know that sounds like crazy talk.
That’s also the way he shot it. It’s meant to be lived in.
100%. So it doesn’t feel that weird to me. I felt like watching “Welcome to the Rileys” was more weird. But that was the point — it was to be a little bit like, you didn’t really want to watch that.
Because in this one, Marylou’s enjoying it.
It’s fucking fun! Exactly. It’s definitely full of love, this one.
What’s your sense of awards campaigning? It must be a weird thing for someone in your position where there are companies trying to make money, and there’s a certain business aspect to this time of year and a movie like this. It’s probably the most important film IFC Films has ever released. That means for someone like you, you’re put out there to kind of peddle it. What’s your sense of your role in that piece of the process?
I would follow Walter anywhere. I’m so proud of him. I would peddle his stuff to anyone in the world. I feel like it makes total sense — standing next to Garrett and Walter and Sam and Tom and everything, like when we were at Cannes, that makes so much sense to me. I’ve never felt stronger. I really like talking about the movie, so doing press for it is actually kind of fun — I’m not bullshitting.
It doesn’t feel like a different kind of press than something like “Twilight?”
It does, it’s just a little less monotonous because people actually want to have conversations about it.
Rather than, “Oh, my God, you’re Bella… I can’t breathe.”
[laughs] Yeah, exactly. Or like, “How is it to be a vampire?”
How many times would you say you’ve heard that one?
Honestly? Hundreds. I’m not kidding.
filmreviewonline (+ Audio alla fonte):
Over fifty years after it was published, Walter Salles is bringing Jack Kerouac’s book On the Road to the big screen. It was a novel that many filmmakers believed could not be made into a movie.
On the Road tells the story of Sal Paradise (Sam Riley), a young writer whose life is redefined by the arrival of Dean Moriarty (Garrett Hedlund), a free-spirited, fast talking Westerner, and his girlfriend, Marylou (Kristen Stewart).
Kristen and Garrett spoke with us about the iconic book, and the movie, at the press day for the film.
When doing press junkets, is there a different feel for a film like this, as opposed to Twilight, where you have to get the word out?
Kristen: I’ve been on many a Twilight tour, and this one obviously feels pointedly different. You can place yourself in your body a little bit more when you know there’s not another one coming up.
I’m really letting it all sink in and affect me now, which is fun and quite different. But [with this movie] it’s the same feeling, wanting people to know what you’ve got going on.
- - - -
With the love scenes in this, your fans will certainly see a lot more of you.
Kristen: You try to expose yourself in different ways in every film you do. I’m not really worried about them.
Were you a fan of the book?
Garrett: I was such a fan of the novel, and was in disbelief that an opportunity like this would ever come my way. I thought it was the most unbelievable thing to ever happen to me.
You and Walter traveled 60,000 miles during the course of making the film. How much value was there in going to the real locations?
Garrett: In order to have it be useful for the film, we had to take back roads everywhere, because the sides of the roads aren’t polluted with billboards, power lines and cars of this age.
In order to get from Nashville to Memphis took us 8 hours on back roads. From Phoenix to Los Angeles took us 18 hours, but with us not being in such a rush we got to see some of the most beautiful lands that all the impatient people don’t get to see these days, and that was a benefit for us.
I read you attended a boot camp before shooting began. What did you actually do?
Garrett: I always get a kick out of it, because it sounds like we were going off to film Saving Private Ryan with books. (Kristen laughs) It was a beatnik boot camp.
We only got four weeks together in Montreal before we started to shoot. We didn’t have any time to waste.
We would gather every morning surrounded by books, and a lot of films that Walter had had that gave him a sense of this time. But really it was us rehearsing, sharing material that we found that nobody else had seen.
It was very collaborative.
Kristen: Even one little line out of a letter, you’d go, ‘Oh my God, that’s how it really was.’ Sometimes you miss things and it was nice to be able to do it together, because you are always going to pick different moments that are really treasured out of the book.
Having the information we had on the real lives was an unprecedented resource.
I’m guessing that you read One and Only: The Untold Story of On the Road, which was co-written by Anne Marie Santos, the daughter of the character your role is based upon?
Kristen: One and Only actually came out after we did the movie, but we had transcribed interviews that were given to us before the book existed.
That book is so important, I cannot believe that it only exists now, just because of the way that people talk about the women in the story.
They can be difficult to understand if you don’t know what’s going on in their head and in their hearts, and having gotten to know the person behind the character, it’s so much fun to read the book.
Kristen Stewart and Garrett Hedlund are in the middle of a game of Q&A chicken. They’re sitting in a courtyard at the Beverly Hills Four Seasons on a hot November morning, staring at each other over a small table, waiting for the other one to crack first and answer my question. The only movement comes from the smoke wafting off his cigarette and the slowly forming half-smile on each of their faces.
All I’ve done to provoke this battle of wills is to ask, “Which of you is most like your character in On the Road?” In the new film adaptation of the classic Jack Kerouac–penned road trip novel (which opens today in limited release), Hedlund plays the charismatic bohemian Dean Moriarty, and Stewart is cast as Dean’s carnal free spirit of a girlfriend, Marylou. Neither actor wants to brag that he or she closely resembles an iconic literary character, so it becomes obvious to both that a round of mutual compliments is the only way out of this question. But who will be brave enough to suck it up and go first?
“He’s got a lot of Dean in him,” Stewart finally says.
“He’s got a lot of teeth in him?” Hedlund replies, in mock-confusion.
“Dean!” she insists, as they both start laughing. It isn’t hard to coax a smile from Stewart and Hedlund, even if their screen personas would suggest otherwise. Both are best known for their straightforward, sullen work in big-bucks franchise roles — she in Twilight, he in Tron Legacy — and you can see what drew them to On the Road, a film populated not by computer programs but flesh-and-blood people, where the characters aren’t undead but instead, really living.
In truth, Hedlund and Stewart are both closer to their roles than they’d readily admit. Like Neal Cassady, the Beat figure whom Dean is based on, Hedlund grew up in the heartland, spending his childhood on a farm so remote that you have to fly into Fargo and drive three hours away to find it. To win the part in On the Road, Hedlund channeled the vibe of the novel and wrote several soul-baring pages about his own life, offering them to director Walter Salles after his first audition by asking, sincerely, “Can I read you something I wrote?” It worked.
As for Stewart, “You wouldn’t be attracted to a project if you had to fake it,” she says. Though Marylou is more impetuous and sexually assertive than the other roles she’s played, Stewart claims, “I don’t feel like I’m stepping outside of myself when I’m playing parts. Even if it’s really different from the apparent version of who I am, I’m always somewhere deep in there.”
It isn’t jarring to go from green-screen blockbuster work like Snow White and the Huntsman to something this intimate and sweaty? Again, Stewart half-smiles; she's spent most of her career alternating juggernaut Twilight films with barely budgeted indies like The Runaways and Welcome to the Rileys. “I don’t mind making big movies, ‘cause you get to sort of bitch and complain with the other actors about what’s keeping you from being able to really feel it,” she says with a self-deprecating chuckle. “But then at the end of the day, you could be in a white room; the whole thing about being an actor is you have to have an imagination.”
A lack of inhibition helps, too. In On the Road, Hedlund plays a cool character full of Beat bravado, but he’s still asked to do things that might make other young actors flinch, like shedding his clothes, dancing with wild abandon in long unbroken takes, or simulating rough sex with Steve Buscemi. Ask him about finding the freedom to go to those places, and Hedlund surprises by daring to quote not a venerated literary icon like Kerouac but Ethan Hawke, whose book Ash Wednesday, he says, made a big impression on him as a teenager.
“‘The only thing in life worth learning is humility,’” quotes Hedlund, who vaguely resembles Hawke with his brown goatee and earnest literary bent. “‘Shatter the ego, then dance through the perfect contradiction of life and death.’” His explanation: “It encourages you not to walk with your head down and your hands in your pockets and be closed off to life, but to be open and nonjudgmental and accessible to experience a lot of wonderful journeys within this short life of ours.”
Do those inhibitions come down permanently after simulating the envelope-pushing sex scenes of On the Road? Stewart says yes and acknowledges that in general, she's perceived to be a closed-off person, but that she's working on it. “It’s funny: By putting up walls, you think you’re protecting yourself, but you get to live less,” says Stewart. “If you’re hiding behind a wall, then you can’t see over it. You’re depriving yourself of so much if you’re trying to be too aware of what you’re putting out there, you know?”
She adds, “If you feel someone breaking those walls down, let them. Those are the people that you need to find in life, rather than people that you’re just comfortable with.”
With that in mind, it's no wonder that Hedlund and Stewart want to end our conversation by discussing Just Kids, Patti Smith's book about her artistically enriching and culture-defining friendship with artist Robert Mapplethorpe. “It had a very similar effect on me as reading On the Road did when I was 15,” says Stewart, who's currently reading the novel for a second time. “I had a serious urge to create shit after I read it, to go out and find people, and travel.”
When I bring up the recent report that Smith is a fan of Stewart's — suggesting that maybe one day, she could find herself starring in another adaptation of a bohemian coming-of-age book — Stewart demurs and meets eyes with Hedlund again. “I will never be the type of person like Patti Smith who has that compulsion to be constantly creating,” she laughs, confessing,“You feel diminished somehow [after reading it]! You’re like, ‘God! I gotta build myself back up again! I need to actually use every second! Why am I sitting around, ever?’”
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento