The only Kristen Stewart movies she liked: “They are few and far between”
Every actor is obligated to pretend their latest project is the best thing they’ve ever done, at least until their press commitments are over. After that, all bets are off, but at least Kristen Stewart didn’t go so far as to name and shame the worst movies she’s ever been in.
Having started out as a child actor before evolving into the co-lead of a multi-billion dollar franchise before graduating to an Academy Award nominee, Stewart has seen virtually everything Hollywood has to offer in a career that began when she made her first appearance in Disney Channel exclusive The Thirteenth Year in 1999, which aired when she was only nine years old.
David Fincher’s Panic Room offered an early indication that longevity was on the cards, while subsequent roles in Jon Favreau’s fantasy Zathura, Sean Penn’s biographical drama Into the Wild, and sci-fi blockbuster Jumper came right before Twilight made her into a global superstar.
Since the sparkly vampire saga ended, Stewart has reinvented herself as a versatile talent known for thinking outside of the box when it comes to choosing their roles, whether it’s Ang Lee’s war drama Billy Lynn’s Halftime Walk, rebooting Charlie’s Angels, teaming with David Cronenberg for Crimes of the Future, or getting caught up in a dangerous romance in Rose Glass’ Love Lies Bleeding.
The downside of making so many movies over a long period of time is that not all of them are going to be great, but Stewart was especially scathing of her own back catalogue in an interview with Sunday Times. “I’ve probably made five really good films, out of 45 or 50 films,” she said. “One that I go, ‘Wow, that person made a top-to-bottom beautiful piece of work.'”
The actor singled out Olivier Assayas’ Clouds of Sils Maria and Personal Shopper as two that fit that remit, but she wasn’t anywhere near as enthused about the rest of them. “I’d have to look at my credit list, but they are few and far between,” she offered of the remainder, even if she did clarify her perspective.
“That doesn’t mean I regret the experience,” she explained. “I’ve only regretted saying yes to a couple of films and not because of the result, but because it wasn’t fun. The worst is when you’re in the middle of something and you know that not only it probably going to be a bad movie, but we’re all bracing until the end.”
Not that she would be drawn on which ones ticked off those boxes, but it’s nonetheless fascinating to hear somebody who’s been racking up credits for more than 20 years to hold their hands up and confess that even on a good day, only around 10% of them are worthy of being labelled as “really good”.
