Actress Spotlight: Kristen Stewart

See K-Stew in theaters in "Love Lies Bleeding" before streaming one of our recommended movies

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Mar 15, 2024

At just age 33, Kristen Stewart has had one of the most fascinating career arcs. From a young age, she has been in the spotlight: first as Jodie Foster’s daughter in Panic Room (2002), then global stardom as Bella Swan in the Twilight films, and recently Oscar-nominated for playing Princess Diana. Post-Twilight she has mostly stepped away from major Hollywood productions. She prefers to stretch herself by working with interesting directors on material of varying genre and tone.

Right now in theaters you can see her in the neo-noir thriller Love Lies Bleeding. We’re always checking in on what Stewart is up to, and below you can find two of our favorite movies of hers. Enjoy your weekend, and thanks for reading and subscribing!

Billy recommends…

Adventureland

We had this as an example of what Kristen Stewart could give us this whole time and the distraction of Twilight was too strong. Greg Mottola directs this quirky indie darling comedy that highlights the best of so many of our favorite actors. Stewart shines the brightest.

Adventureland primarily follows James (am I pronouncing that right?), played by Jesse Eisenberg, a graduating college student who thought his parents were going to bankroll a summer trip to Europe. But after his parents run into financial troubles his plans change and he has to find a summer job 😱. The only job he can find, despite his literary degree, is at the titular Adventureland.

This movie is a classic comedy set up where a slightly uppity kid who doesn’t perfectly fit in is thrown into a world of misfits that embrace him. But he isn’t quite so sure about the life they live. The gateway to empathy is Em played by Kristen Stewart. James and Em strike up an awkward romance and what could be another rehash of Superbad is taken up a notch with the emotional depths of these characters.

Mottola is almost masterful at creating emotional depth within broad comedies and I don’t think he has ever been better than here. I like Superbad more, but am more impressed by Adventureland. He allows actors like Stewart to be subtle, add complexity, and create more nuanced comedy in a movie that goes for laughs like characters getting punched in the balls. Successfully makes you laugh at both ends of the laugh spectrum.

Adventureland may be in the “they don’t make them like they used to” category. And by that I mean, I like Ryan Reynolds in this movie. But I’ve always loved Kristen Stewart and this is where my lifelong fandom started. Can’t recommend this one enough.

Streaming on Amazon Prime Video and Paramount+

Drew recommends…

Spencer

Before Spencer, if you made a list of actresses most likely to play Princess Diana, Kristen Stewart, born and raised in Los Angeles, would not be that high on it. Many have portrayed Diana Spencer in the relatively short period of time since her tragic death, but Stewart opts for something beyond mere mimicry with her performance. In tandem with director Pablo Larrain’s highly specific vision, Stewart’s work in Spencer is unforgettable and very affecting.

Set around Christmas time in 1991, the film depicts the British royal family retreating to their country estate for the holidays. And that’s about where the connection to documented real-life events ends and a kind of claustrophobic psychological horror story begins. In both 2016’s Jackie and Spencer, Larrain eschews the phony “realism” of so many biopics. He favors style and atmosphere by entering us into the subjective POV of famous historical women. This approach will not be for everyone, but Larrain is not after a simple retelling of history; he’s showing us what it might have been like to be Jackie Kennedy or Princess Diana during a pivotal moment in their extremely public lives.

Stewart enhances these aims by not disappearing into Princess Di via imitation so much as embodying a version of Diana on the brink of the collapse of her royal marriage and psychological health. The evocative score from Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood and striking cinematography from Claire Mathon (Portrait of a Lady on Fire) drop you into a suffocating world of fame and wealth. You get the sense immediately that how this family has to function is deeply inhuman. Through her empathetic performance, Stewart shows us that Diana’s natural luminescence has rapidly diminished, until we arrive at the wonderfully cathartic ending. After so much time smothered in a lavish yet airless palace, Diana finally gets to breathe. And so do we.

Streaming on Hulu

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