Kristen stands out for her style - linear clothes, moderate and cosmopolitan taste - she played in some beautiful small indipendent movies that were also presented at the Sundance Film Festival, which she's always attenended even if she wasn't in competition. "I'm not a star", she claims. "I love being part of a group who shares the same projects". Thus, it's not surprise that she says "I wanted to play Marylou at any cost. On The Road has been fundamental for my upbringing".
She's introverted, able to refuse to answer the questions she believes are inappropriate or trivial, but also funny, like when she accepts the best kiss award with his Robert and says "doing it again on stage, between reality and fiction, embarrasses me. I'm sure you'd feel the same".
Kristen chose the best dresses for Cannes, where Rob, too, applauded her for On The Road. She returned the enthusiams for Pattinson's performance in David Cronenberg's Cosmopolis. "I went to visit him on set in Toronto", she says, "and I found myself fascinated by the setting and Juliette Binoche. I reread the book on my way back home on the plane".
"We both worked so hard in the past months", she says. "I was often in London to film Snow White and The Huntsman. It's a beautiful story of shadows and fears. It's exciting to always change roles and genres. For a year, despite the fact that we still had to finish some stuff of the last Twilight, I was deeply absorbed in On The Road".
Let her talk about herself, because if we ply her with questions, she shuts up like a clam. She's honest and vulnerable, all you have to do is not annoy her with the usual story of teenage girls wanting her boyfriend. She has different and lively interests, from painting ("I stand amazed in front of impressionist paintings. Touring museums is a real holiday for me"), to fashion (she loves Marios Schwab, Alexander McQueen, Monique Lhuillier and Christian Louboutin). She laughes if you tell her people all over the world know her tastes, like her predilection for blueberry jam.
But don't ask her the reason behind some of her gloomy expressions and her tendency to isolate herself, because Kristen has a genuine demure personality. She opens herself little by little, her immense fame has given her a lot, but it's also a double-edged weapon. She admits having "an instinctive self-difence against the press's intrusive curiosity and some tv shows that want to despoil you".
She says she seriously wants to be an actress until she'll be very old. She's 22, she's been given and wants to give a lot. "It was great to be in Cannes with Salles's movie. It was an experience that I'll always take with me. Portraying a world, a culture, the youth of many artists who have marked entire generations, going on the road with the crew was priceless".
Q: Any problems during those explicit sex scenes?
"No, because sex is not the key to the movie - the characters' souls and identities are; and I'll keep Marylou in my heart forever. She's a woman who never lies when it comes to her feelings, she lives wholly, she's generous, with no faux schemes. On The Road is also a desperately idealistic and romantic movie about youth. It's a walk towards maturity, with the sorrows and changes it brings."
Q: Have there been other movies that marked you?
"Getting married and having a baby in Breaking Dawn wasn't easy. I still feel so young...In addition to that, I lived all that in the movie with Rob, my real partner, so it was all more complex."
Q: How do you choose your roles?
"It depends on the scripts, on the directors, and on the possibility they offer me not to be linked to an image. Like in Snow Swite and The Huntsman, Charlize Theron's Queen Ravenna represents the most distorted and evil aspiration to immortality, while Snow White is life. The Queen took her ideas from her mom and from a wrong society that asks you to always be young and good looking. This path leads her to be evil and to the same dissatisfacion and unhappiness of many women nowadays."
Q: It's easy to say it at 22
"It's not a matter of age but of thruth you have to look for. There will always be women that are younger and more beautiful than you. You have to be open to the world and willing to accept criticism. My Snow White represents the loneliness that one often feels while seeking the real maturity, the difficulty of finding honest relationships, the bitter awareness that appearance counts more and more every day".
Q: You're a role model for a lot of young girls. What matters the most in your life?
"Living peacefully. Trying to win my fears. Growing as a person and helping others do the same. And always being ironic about the star system."
Q: Do you manage to live a normal life? "Of course, as long as I avoid places with 100 paps on the lookout. I go out unnoticed with my jeans, my beanies, my rhythms. Sometimes it bothers me, but cinema gave me a lot. It depends on you to open this circle of notoriety in a positive way. I'm not Bella, I don't have love obsessions and Robert is not Edward Cullen."
Q: As a student, what subjects did you like?
"History, Art History, Literature, Natural Sciences... I've also always like the world of fashion, I'm not talking about the environment but the language - fashion as an expression of authentic style and creativity. I'm fascinated by Stella McCartney's great work, by Gucci's style, by Prada, by legendary brands that have a history, like Balenciaga. It's not frivolous, these stylists' creativity creates beauty. By the way, books are my biggest passion. They keep me company when I travel for work. I always have one in my bag. Steinbeck and Carver are my favorites. My movies often have literary roots. I'm fascinated by stray and extreme lives, like Bukowski's." -
Q: You admitted being ambitious
"I think being ambitious is useful, it means you believe in what you do. I've done at least 20 indipenedent movies. I believed in each of them, and each of them has given me something. I learned how to play guitar for The Runaways. The fact that many girls identify themselves in Bella is positive. She'd like a better world and fights for it. I like to be able to tell many things to girls of my age through the characters I play."
Q: You never back out at festivals, you often do meet and greet's with fans and manage to overcome your shiness...
"I love talking to people and talk about my job. You can't live in an ivory tower. Fame is dangerous, but the genuine meeting with the audience isn't."
Q: Is it true that for years your favorite actress was Gena Rowland, Cassavates's wife and muse?
"True. I'm a movie buff. My friends and I used to go to the cinema to watch Godard's movies and study the style of English actresses like Julie Christie, and French actresses: Anna Karina was special. They all had style."
Q: Why did you want to become an actress?
"My parents work in the business, it seemed like an absolutely creative world, made of many things, not only ambition and big egos. My mother handed me down the passion for scritps. I would read hers and fall in love with a character, I studied him/her. It's an amazing process. That's where the possibility of a contact with the audience springs up."
Q: The number one rule in you life and job?
"Being honest. To myself, the others, my boyfriend, my colleagues. I don't want hypocrisy and falseness. I only get annoyed when people don't want to talk about things that really matter to me and only use me as a gossip object. Robert and I have grown up together, and together we've gone through a lot of experiences, but we've always been honest with our work and loosened any pressure. I love difficult characters and I like being honest when portraying them."
Q: Your schedules will now separate you and Rob again. Does it scare you?
"No. It's our life and that's how it goes on. I have less and less fears and insecurities. I wake up in the morning and always eat bread and blueberry jam. But I like daring clothes on the red carpets, even if I feel far less sexy and charismatic than Charlotte Gainsbourg, I love her grace."
Q: What about your next projects?
"I'll work in a movie directed by Nick Cassavetes, great John's son. And I'll take long walks with Rob and his adorable dog."
I got loads of compliments.
Peter Copping - Designer, Creative Director of Lanvin