"Still Alice" NY PROMO: Interviste con la carta stampata

USAToday

LOS ANGELES — Good luck keeping it together during a scene in Still Alicein which Julianne Moore, playing a woman diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's, delivers a wrenching speech on the art of losing.

"I find myself learning the art of losing every day," her character begins, invoking poet Elizabeth Bishop and speaking to an audience of patients and doctors. "Losing my bearings, losing objects, losing sleep, but mostly, losing memories. … Who can take us seriously when we are so far from who we once were?"

Moore first shot that scene for the film (opening wider on Friday) alone in a large soundstage, with just a curtain separating her from the crew. "There was a big stage behind me and there was a curtain. And we did I don't know how many takes and they came out and they were all crying." She laughs. "I was so happy."

Written and directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, the married filmmakers crafted Still Alice in their own image: Glatzer was diagnosed with ALS in the past year. Instead of retiring, they chose Alice.

"Here was this couple who had been together for 18 years and making a beautiful movie about what it means to be alive," says Moore. "They're working with people they want to work with. It's a really beautiful thing. It does help you put everything in the right spot."

Still Alice premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September and was immediately snapped up by distributors, who set the film on a fast track for release and into the Oscars race. It's a breathless pace for a film shot last March over just 23 days.

"I was doing Mockingjay, so Lionsgate very nicely gave me the month off to do the movie," says Moore, 54. "It was just an in-and-out kind of thing. It was fast."

Fast, and emotional. Still Alice, based on the novel by Lisa Genova, chronicles the story of Alice Howland, a Columbia professor of linguistics and wife and mother of three who learns suddenly she has early-onset Alzheimer's.

It's a tale of caretakers, too. When Alice's husband, John (Alec Baldwin), ultimately bails, it's her aspiring actress daughter Lydia (Kristen Stewart) who moves from Los Angeles to New York to become her mother's primary source of comfort as she slips away.

With all she was exposed to with Still Alice, "now I get worried," says Stewart, 24. "My dad the other day couldn't think of a word, and it was something really simple, and I was like, that's weird. You should know that word!"

Moore dove into the role, visiting long-term care facilities, speaking to heads of Alzheimer's associations, researchers, patients and caretakers. She stresses that nothing Alice does on screen is made up; everything, from her movements to her speech patterns, was observed by Moore firsthand.

"I had that (cognitive) test administered by a neuropsychiatrist, which is really interesting and really extensive,'' Moore says. "You think, 'Oh this test is not going to make me anxious.' But man!: 'List 35 words, then repeat the words.' And then they'll give you another list. 'Now repeat the first list.' "

Stewart compares her co-star to "a surgeon, literally. I aspire to that," says Stewart. "I want to be able to be in control and lose myself at the same time. She's so smart."

Moore, who picked up a best-actress Golden Globe on Sunday, is widely expected to earn her fifth Oscar nomination on Thursday.

"I think many people would be surprised to hear that she's never won," says Fandango.com's Oscarologist Dave Karger, though she has received nods for Boogie Nights, The End of the Affair, Far From Heavenand The Hours. "But that should change next month since she is the clear front-runner to win best actress this year."

Glamorous red carpets and gold statues aside, for Moore and Stewart, Still Aliceremains a constant reminder.

"I texted my mom on the way over here," says Stewart. "I literally just said, 'Um, incoming, package of love in the form of a text message, completely random but I love you, dude.' " Mom's reply? " 'Wow. That was really well-timed.' ''

Moore nods. "I came home thinking, my God, what a lucky woman I am, what a great husband I have, what beautiful children I have. I value them, I cherish them. That's all this movie is about."

salon.com

The conversation around “Still Alice” has been all about Julianne Moore, and with good reason — her performance as Alice, a linguistic professor with early onset Alzheimer’s, is the role of a lifetime (and a near shoo-in for the Oscar). But hers isn’t the only good performance in the film. In particular, Kristen Stewart skillfully navigates difficult emotional territory in her role as Alice’s passionate, combative daughter Lydia, who stands steadfastly by her mother through her quick and devastating deterioration.

The role is Kristen’s latest in a string of indies — including Olivier Assayas’ “Clouds of Sils Maria” and the Gitmo drama “Camp X-Ray”– a notable shift away from the blockbusters she became known for towards smaller-scale, more meaningful projects. It’s no secret that Stewart has been through the paparazzi ringer over the past few years, from being the target of Twi-hard frenzy to her public affair with “Snow White and the Huntsman” director Rupert Sanders and her much-scrutinized split with with “Twilight” costar Robert Pattinson. “I have not always been completely comfortable being shoved into the brightest, most blinding spotlight you can imagine,” she tells me, in her trademark deadpan. Yet lately it seems that she has found her footing. Talking to her today at New York’s Crosby Street Hotel, Stewart seems empowered by her involvement in a film that actually has the power to make a difference in peoples’ lives (not to say “Twilight” didn’t, but alas). As she puts it: “You can fuck around on a movie set, do this and that, make fun of things. It’s like, this isn’t real, we’re not curing cancer. In this case, actually, we’re taking one massive step towards helping people overcome something that’s denied.”

This probably pales in comparison to some of the junkets you’re used to. Oh my God— this is just like a little mouse scurrying behind a tiger. Yeah, this is fine. This is actually interesting and fun.

So I saw the movie yesterday, and I cried probably five times. It’s super sad.

When you saw it, how did you feel? Were you able to have an emotional reaction to it, or did you feel some distance? I’ve seen it twice now. The first time I saw it I was so blown away. I was present for a lot of what she [Julianne Moore] did that was impressive in the movie, but for the things that I was not there for she so destroyed me. I thought nobody else in the movie existed. I’m super technical, I will sit and watch one of my films with a little list of checks and balances and this finally took that away. Usually the first time is never a proper experience, it’s always getting over hangups and weird memories, and this time it was just absolutely undeniable. What she does needed to be done. It’s so important.

There’s a lot of Oscar talk about her performance. You’ve worked with a lot of amazing actresses — do you think she’s doing something different? I find that typically, the people I’ve worked with that have really blown me away have been really smart people who have so much space in their mind. It’s not just about having emotional availability or an uninhibited nature or an imagination. She’s a genius; she can do both at the same time.

I feel like you can tell see her intellect just from watching her perform. She’s so smart, I know! I think the cool thing about her is that she’s super technical. She always knows where the camera is, she collaborates with the DP, with the director, with everyone on set. She’s super aware of her environment and yet, somehow, she’s soulful and lost in it. To do that, to do both of those things at the same time is what I think is absolutely undeniable. It’s not good or bad or, oh, you have an opinion about it. No, that is just real.

So if anyone is debating the quality of her performance… Uh, no. Like, is there anyone? Maybe I’m completely biased— obviously— but like, no.

 Is there something about playing someone’s daughter that forges a connection between two actors? Definitely. It’s weird… We do the weirdest things as actors.

What sort of weird things? If you break that down and think about it simply, it’s the most bizarre behavior. It’s just a way to meditate and examine and learn. [Julianne and I] feel that way about each other and I don’t know why— why do I feel this way about this woman? I have known her for a number of years but there are just some people in life that you jive with, that you connect with, that you facilitate awesome things in each other. And it’s palpable, it’s immediate, you know it. I knew I could work with her; I knew that I could play her daughter. There are definitely people that I’d be like, I don’t know if I could have that with this person. Actors can definitely fill in blanks, and it happens all the time. You don’t always have these amazing connections and these moments of— it’s cheesy as fuck— real, serious, truthful, fleeting moments that you can take no credit for. They just happen. It’s weird because you reap the benefits. Because I connected with Julie and because we were just able to be honest with each other in a few moments, now people say I’m good in the movie.

Well, you are good in the movie! Thank you! But it’s weird, it’s a strange job to have. There’s this huge grey area. It is life, you know what I mean? It’s sort of a strange alternate world. It’s a trip.

It’s no big secret that you were frustrated with all the crazy media attention you got after being in “Twilight.” Given the smaller scale of your past three movies, would you say you’ve been able to start forging the career you really want? Yeah, yeah. I’ve never tactfully maneuvered through anything I felt passionately about— my job being really, really high on that list. I haven’t planned, I haven’t thought about my trajectory or how to design my career in a way that I can get what I want. Luckily I’ve gotten what I wanted naturally — I’m such a lucky bastard— but I had no idea “Twilight” was going to be a big deal, it blew up. It’s always hard to compare projects and I think each moment we live obviously makes us the person we are right now, so each project has a bit of a through-line because it is me at different stages of my life but they don’t have anything to do with one another in terms of design.

What was it about this film that made you want to sign on? I mean, it’s so insanely ambitious. It’s really rare to read a script and go, if this is done right, it’s going to be very important and if it’s done badly, it’s going to be awkwardly bad. Julie was attached to the project when I read it so I had all of the faith in the world in her, it was just about whether I could support that. Meeting [Richard Glatzer] and Wash [Westmoreland] who directed the movie, who deal with their own seriously difficult issues that relate very closely to the story… Rich has ALS in the really advanced stages and they are living and loving and working and just shining examples. I thought, I really don’t think these guys would hire me unless they thought I had the capacity to play Lydia.

Did you see that as a vote of confidence in you as an actress? Hell yeah. She’s so honorable, you know what I mean? You get to the end of the movie and you’re just like, God, I hope I can stand up like that.

You realize she’s almost the only one left. She definitely is. It’s awful, but at the same time it’s so cool. I get to reap the benefits of having a really personal experience with Alzheimer’s without the actual pain of it because i actually don’t know anyone who has it but I’ve had this experience that has kind of given me that. I know the ins and outs of it; I’ve felt it; I know that pain.

Was the mood on set heightened because your director was dealing with ALS? Did that give the production an extra intensity? It felt like we were doing something that was going to help people. Movies are fun and entertaining; that’s usually the point of them but when they can actually help people and be important, it really slams you into your body in a way that most directors, no matter how great they are, how smart they are, can’t do for you. The type of person that Rich is is just… you’d be lucky to meet him. Not everyone is as cool as him.

You’ve got to be so strong to deal with that. Yeah, especially the way that he is. He’s such a good director and just like Alice, he’s so lucky as well to have Wash because he’s allowing him to squeeze the last drop out of life rather than throwing in the towel. That’s what the movie is about, so to have that on set…You can fuck around on a movie set, do this and that, make fun of things. It’s like, this isn’t real, we’re not curing cancer. In this case, actually, we’re taking one massive step towards helping people overcome something that’s denied. Lisa Genova’s constantly talking about how we need to rip Alzheimer’s out of the closet and show that this is not an old-timer’s disease. It’s a very real thing and there’s a lot of shame in it. There’s so much isolation, so much loneliness, so much denial, and so much shame, and it shouldn’t be that way. We’re running marathons for cancer— why aren’t we doing that for Alzheimer’s?

I don’t know you, obviously, but it seems that you feel really good about this project. Is it fair to say that working on these sorts of deeper movies has helped you feel grounded? Well, yeah. I’m so lucky, because it wasn’t a choice. My agent sent me this script, you know what I mean? I wonder how I would be and how I would be shaped without these projects and without these insane fucking learning experiences in such isolated and accelerated periods of time. It’s not only now; it’s definitely cool that people like some of the projects I’ve been doing lately. That is awesome, but even though I have not always been completely comfortable being shoved into the brightest, most blinding spotlight you can imagine… that was always tough, but on the other side of it, what I do, I love that.

You are kind of a hero to people, in a way. A lot of people admire what they see as your give-no-fucks attitude. I’m like, actually, no one gives a fuck like me. No one gives more of a fuck than me. It’s just ironic to me. I’m always like, really?

For you it’s not about going out and pretending to love it as opposed to actually loving doing the work. Yes. I find myself saying things that I hear other people say where I’m like, ok, you’re lying. But I say the same thing, and I wonder if people think I’m lying when I say, oh, we were just a big family on set! I hate that stuff. People always ask if I chose the projects I’ve chosen because I’m trying to redefine myself or people’s perception of me. Uh, no. In a word, nah.

ELLE

Somewhere along her up-up-and-away path to stardom, Kristen Stewart acquired a certain blogosphere rep for being aloof, sullen, and allergic to smiley faces. None of that's actually true, but listen: If you like your K-Stew with a dash of sulky self-possession, you'll want to see Still Alice. The emotional A-bomb of a film stars Julianne Moore as an academic seized by early onset Alzheimer's disease, and Stewart as her middle child, a moody, struggling actress flanked by two straight-A siblings. (Kate Bosworth plays the eldest, a lawyer, and Hunter Parrish is the youngest, a med school student.) In the film—which just nabbed a Golden Globe for Moore's outstanding performance—Stewart is by turns selfless and bratty, fiercely stubborn and sweetly insecure. By the end of the movie, you'll have loved her, hated her, wept with her…and probably obsessed about her perfect mess of hair, too.

But if you'd like to meet the real Stewart—or at least, a small but candid piece of her—scroll down. We sat with the Twilight mega-star in Manhattan's Crosby Street Hotel to talk about Oscars, liars, and how to not pose for photos.

Still Alice is so good and so scary. Seeing Alzheimer's disease on film is harrowing.

Thank you. It's such an important film—people need to be talking about this issue—but it also made me paranoid as hell. Anytime I can't think of a word, I get nervous that it's a symptom. Last week, my dad couldn't think of a word. That's fucking terrifying.

I got "dub step" and "Diplo" confused today…

That's not terrifying. That's just hysterical.

You've spoken in the past about wanting to work with Julianne Moore. Did you say "yes" to this movie immediately?

There was a very narrow chance I would say 'no' to a film that Julianne was already attached to. At the same time, there's always a chance that you read something fantastic and absolutely worthwhile in every way, but that does not mean that it's in you to play [the part]. And so I was incredibly relieved once I read the script. I was like, "I can so play her daughter!" It's always nice to not have to force things.

What's the best part about working with her?

Working with Julianne Moore is a reason why I love making movies… People see a film like this and say, "Oh, Kristen's so good in this movie!" and I'm like, "Yeah, I was good because I was acting with someone good! Someone that I couldn't lie to!" And that's just straight up what it is.

So great actors inspire great performances, and bad actors make everyone around them suck?

Well, the reason an audience is feeling something is because we the actors are feeling something, too. There has to be some honest connection between you and the character, or it doesn't work. I mean, nobody's that good of a liar! Well… I guess there are a few actors that are great liars…

I bet there are.

It doesn't matter, we don't need to get into that!

In this movie, you and Kate Bosworth—who plays your big sister—have a pretty nasty fight. And it's so funny, but it's so mean!

You know, that scene was mostly improvised. We made up that whole thing. Alec [Baldwin, who plays our father] decided when he would break us up. And there were a couple of takes where he just stood way back, and he was like, 'Okay girls, let it go!' And we couldn't stop until he came into the scene, and we were really fighting.

What's the best insult you threw at her?

I loved calling her an asshole. If you call a girl an asshole, it's really serious.

Why?

Because we're all 'bitches,' right? All girls. 'Oh, she's a bitch, you're such a bitch, I'm being a bitch,' we're all bitches, so what? But if another woman looks at you and says, 'You know what? You're a real asshole!' That's powerful, and it really hurts. I think it's even worse than 'shut the fuck up' because it's not just about something you said, it's about you. All of you.

In the movie, your character refuses to go to college. You won't go either, right?

The funny thing is, I wanted to go to school! I ultimately just didn't because I got distracted and caught up in other stuff. If you were to tell my younger self, 'Oh, Kristen, you're going to miss that boat; you'll never go to college,' I would have been like, 'What?! Kristen, get your shit together!'

And what would your current self tell your younger self?

I would say, 'Listen, you're good. You're entirely stimulated and surrounded by amazing experiences that let you grow and learn. You'll have everything that you could have wanted out of college'—[laughing] and I'm saying that as someone who has no experience with school. So who the hell knows? I'd probably love college. But I'm happy now. And I'm lucky because my parents never said, 'You have to go to school or else.' They were really supportive.

Wait, how old are you?

I'm 24.

That's funny. When I was 24, I thought I'd have everything together…

Isn't that ridiculous?! I can relate to that feeling! As a teenager, you think your [early 20s] will be great, but it's like, you get progressively less impressive because you're no longer young, precocious, and special!

Uh, you're still pretty young. And pretty special. Didn't Forbes say you were Hollywood's highest paid actress?

Those lists are just bullshit, to be honest with you. I can tell you, honestly, that information is not true. It's made up. I would know!

Do your friends call you K-Stew, or just the tabloids?

My friends totally do! All the time.

Was that your nickname before you were famous, or have they just adopted it?

I can't even remember. I'm also "K.S." a lot, but K-Stew, sure, people I know call me that. They're making fun of me a little bit, but I don't fucking care. I think it's hilarious.

I think it's hilarious that you were in a Gap ad.

Oh my god, that was a long time ago! That was the first [fashion] thing I ever did! I was like, 15.

And now you're a Chanel girl… but you seem to really hate smiling in photos. Why?

I don't hate smiling! Not at all. I just… it doesn't feel natural to me. It never feels right in the moment. And I don't want to be fake.

That's fair. What's your favorite song right now?

Let me think…You know when your music gets stale? My music is so stale right now. And when that happens, I revert back—way back. I love Blink 182. I love, love, love them. And that line "One more time with feeling" is pretty appropriate for me, too. I'm always like, "Okay, one more time, one more time, one more time!" I'm gonna do this for the rest of my life.

You never want to just move to a farm on Montana or something? Totally disappear?

I'm not down with that. It's not happening. I'm going to be doing this for a fucking long time.

Yahoo! Movies

Let’s begin by making things clear: Kristen Stewart is not, at the age of 24 and with 33 film credits in the past 15 years, quitting Hollywood.

But Stewart has been carving out her own career path since graduating from the Twilight series, focusing on such smaller, independent features as Camp X-Ray, Clouds of Sils Maria, and, most recently, in Still Alice, where she plays Lydia, a daughter who must care for her Alzheimer’s-stricken mother — played by the Golden Globe-winning, Oscar-nominated Julianne Moore.

Stewart, however, wants to keep things unpredictable and is always willing to take a chance. Like, perhaps, a blockbuster Marvel or DC film. “I love watching those movies,” she tells Yahoo Movies. “I would love to show people that I can do more than just be ‘Kristen Stewart’ in a different movie, in a different circumstance.” She notes her past role as Snow White in the big-budget fantasy adventure Snow White and the Huntsman could be a jumping off point for a superhero role. “I’m sure I could get on board with Captain America, you know what I mean?… It would just have to be the right thing.”

In a wide-ranging conversation, Stewart also discusses her deep admiration for Moore (“She’s a genius”) and a moment in Still Alice that makes her cringe (“I look f---ing ridiculous”); explains why her Clouds co-star Juliette Binoche “drives me f---ing crazy”; and offers more details on her directorial aspirations (“I want to start at the very bottom”).

What drew you to Still Alice?

I’ve known Julie [Julianne Moore] for a number of years. Without harping on the very common complaint that there aren’t very many good roles for girls, when one is quite good and undeniably real, it sticks out like a flint rock. You can’t help but fall over it thinking, “Oh God, I hope I don’t break my face so I can play this part, because I’m floored by it.”

I knew that she was going to knock it out of the park and it was important. I grew up thinking Alzheimer’s was an old-timer’s disease, too. Most people do. I just wanted to make sure that she was supported. I would do anything. And that’s kind of what Lydia is doing.

So it was Julianne Moore who flagged the role to you initially?

She was very much a part of orchestrating all of this. 

You play an inspiring actress in the film. Did you read all of the plays your character references?

No, but I did go to Lincoln Center and I watched — because I have to do a scene from Three Sisters and I haven’t read much Chekhov. I was like, “I don’t know what I’m doing. I’ve never been on a stage in my life.” So yeah, I watched it, and did the best that I could. Oddly enough, that was the scariest part because it was such a stretch. … Even now I’ve seen the movie a couple times… oh God, everything’s going so well, you’re so in it, you’re so with them, and then all of a sudden I’m on a stage, I look f---ing ridiculous. I still can’t even think about that. 

Since you completed the Twilight Saga, you’ve appeared in a spate of indie films, and looking at your filmography and what’s coming out, that’s not changing any time soon. Are you purposefully shying away from big-budget movies?

Every time I read something and I’m willing to sign my name on the dotted line, promising that I’m going to fulfill this part and not just destroy it, kill it dead on a page — I really am like a crazy person, I have to feel like this thing’s real and if I don’t do it, then I destroy it.

I felt that way about Twilight. I felt that way about Snow White. I never expected Twilight to even be a series, and we didn’t even know we were going to do a sequel. So I would love another big movie to come along. It’s definitely not something I’m avoiding. I was 17 when we started the whole Twilight series. I was so excited to do a teen movie. Everything I had done was like kind of heavy and I was really into it. I was just enthralled by it, and that’s what I need. I want to do big movies. You get to play with more stuff and there’s so much more at your disposal. You get to do it on a larger scale, you get to connect with more people. I am all about that. I just want to do it for the right reasons.

It must be nice that these smaller films you’ve been in lately, for the most part, are being warmly received. How does that make you feel

So excited. I’m so stoked. I’ve done a lot of indie movies from the time I was really young, and some of them don’t get released for years. It’s weird because you still love them. I don’t love everything that I’ve done in a way that is self-congratulatory. It’s literally just you do something with people and the result is something that you’re going to look around and go, “Dude, we did something worthwhile.” It really feels good when you’re not alone in that and when you have more than just the handful of people that made it to feel that way. God, we just devote our whole lives. It becomes this obsession and you feel crazy if people don’t agree. You’re like, “Wait, what? But I just got it, put everything I had into this, how can you not feel it?” 

What are your thoughts about the Oscar buzz around Julianne Moore’s role?

I’m so proud of her. I am there, wherever she needs me, whatever, wherever she wants me to go to. It’s funny because she’s already delivered performance after performance after performance that she could have won for. … She’s a genius. I really hope that she’s acknowledged for that because it’s about time. 

What did you learn from her?

I feel good around her. I feel confident. I get affirmation from her and that gives me strength. I learn so much it’s just so hard to put your finger on. She’s never sat around and spouted off advice to me. She wouldn’t do that. But just being around her — it confirmed something for me on a technical level.

I worked with Juliette [Binoche in Clouds of Sils Maria] and I knew she achieved this greatness by a means that I did not understand. And she perplexes me and she drives me f---ing crazy. She’s the type of actress that she does so much emotional prep and groundwork, and then she gets there and she doesn’t want to know where the camera is. She very much is this person. It’s not Juliette. She can’t think of it like that.

She approaches it so differently, whereas I worked with Julie, with Julianne [Moore] — she is a technician, the soulful surgeon. She can deal with this technical prep and she’s smart. Her mind is so vast that she can multitask to such an insane extent that she collaborates with the D.P. [director of photography], the director, every other actor, works on the script, does all of this technical work, and then is somehow able to get there and transcend all of it and bring it all together and not get hung up on any of it.

We never stop talking to each other. … We never left each other alone. And I just felt really, really good about working with someone that great and that talented, who had the same approach as me, because typically I’m like, “Oh man, I can’t get out of my own… I want to know where the f—-ing camera is!” And finally I met someone that was like me, too.

I didn’t feel alone with her. I hate feeling alone with other actors when there you are over there on the other end of the room doing your job. Can we do it together? 

You’ve said you want to direct some day. Is that day coming soon?

I wrote two shorts that I really am championing right now. I just need to pull the trigger on [them]. I want to start really small. When I was a kid I was like, “I’m going to be the first director under 18.” I wanted everything immediately. The older I get and the more I work, I realize that I want to do it right, that I want to start at the very bottom. I definitely don’t want to jump in because of grandiose ambitions and expectations, like I want to be something. I don’t want to be something, I want to do something and I want to do it right. So, yeah, hopefully I’ll be at some weird little festival with a short soon.