Kristen Stewart and French director Olivier Assayas have forged an unlikely but formidable bond that has resulted in two highly acclaimed movies, both made in Europe, far outside of Hollywood jurisdiction.
They're an odd pair: She, a rebel A-lister from Los Angeles who has become one of the movie's most exciting and uncompromising actors; he, a demure Parisian whose layered, cerebral films teeter between reality and fiction. What makes them click? They chuckle.
"I'm not sure," says Assayas. Stewart, nods.
"That's the main question," she says. "I don't know. We like each other."
Contemporary ghost story
Their latest film, Personal Shopper, is full of mysteries, too. It's a ghost story, set in a contemporary world of texting and Googling.
In the film, which opened Friday in the US and will be released Mar. 24 in Canada, Stewart plays a twin whose brother has just died. Her day job is shopping in Paris for a stuck-up celebrity, but she's also a medium, and a series of strange encounters make her believe a spirit (her brother?) is contacting her.
French director Olivier Assayas said it was a "struggle" to make the film Personal Shopper, which he says had a "weird energy" on set. (Lionel Cironneau/Associated Press)
Personal Shopper follows their previous Clouds of Sils Maria, also a singularly enigmatic movie in which Stewart played support staff (an assistant to Juliette Binoche's theatre actress) to a more famous character. The part earned Stewart a Cesar, the first American to win the French award.
Life in the spotlight
But by stepping into characters out of the spotlight — and into films outside of Hollywood convention — Stewart, 26, has never been so much herself on screen.
"I could be making movies about Kristen being a movie star or whatever persona any actress has on social media," says Assayas. "But what interests me is the person. So I throw the burden of celebrity on someone else, so she can be free of it."
"Maybe for the next one I could play a famous actress," jokes Stewart. "Try to normalize that!"
There were plenty of moments while making Personal Shopper where Stewart's fame invaded. Shooting on the streets of Paris (Stewart drives a moped through the city in the film), they were surrounded by paparazzi.
'We struggled for this film'
Assayas acknowledges for that and other reasons (a difficult crew, his underestimation of the complexity of a lengthy texting sequence) the movie had "a weird energy."
"We struggled for this film," he says.
But Stewart says she channeled the intrusions into her haunted character.
Kristen Stewart, left, and writer-director Olivier Assayas pose for a portrait promoting the film. (Amy Sussman/Invision/The Associated Press)
"I thought I was being taken from, and it was good," she said. "It made me more sensitive. My nerves were very close to the surface."
In the two films, Stewart has relished the chance to slyly remark on the celebrity industrial complex.
"As an outsider, you're allowed to comment very honestly about things that are undeniably, objectively strange," says Stewart.
"But if you're the person who is at the centre of that, then all of a sudden those comments become scathing and you're ungrateful and whatever. It was nice to be able to speak the truth and not be harpooned for it."
Insatiable urge to work, explore
Yet the former Twilight actress, with freshly buzzed blonde hair, has deservedly made a reputation for herself as an unusually forthright and frank star. She has taken part after part, usually in smaller, indie productions (Certain Women, Equals, Cafe Society), with an insatiable urge to work, to keep exploring. Stewart also debuted a short film she directed at Sundance this year.
Stewart attended a special screening of Personal Shopper Thursday in New York. (Evan Agostini/The Associated Press)
In a memorable Saturday Night Live monologue earlier this year, she reflected on when Donald Trump in 2012 repeatedly tweeted that her then-boyfriend Robert Pattinson should "dump" her.
"It was inconceivable, actually," Stewart says. "At the time, I regarded him as like a reality-show star. I was like, 'Who is this guy?'
"To be honest, there are so many significant and very effecting things that he has said and says all the time," continues Stewart. "This was just a stranger, fascinating one because it's so piddly in terms of what matters."
She also, in a rebuke to Trump and an inspiration to others, announced, "And I'm like so gay, dude."
"I've really allowed myself to — really freely and with no regard to the effect of others — live my life," says Stewart. "There was just a time where I realized that the things you do and say when you have so many people looking at you, they do affect others. So I'm really proud of it. But at the same time, I hate that it's such a big deal."
Personal Shopper's Kristen Stewart finds place in shadow of celebrity
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