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 Within minutes, the actress kicks off her heels and sits
cross-legged on her chair, getting comfortable to talk about the
good moment in her career, a very different time from her
blockbuster "Twilight" years.
Stewart has earned acclaim for her supporting roles in two
art-house films: as the daughter of a woman (Julianne Moore)
suffering from early onset Alzheimer's in "Still Alice," opening
in Los Angeles and New York this weekend; and the assistant to
an aging movie star (Juliette Binoche) in "Clouds of Sils
Maria," a Cannes Film Festival favorite out in U.S. theaters
this spring.
"I am thrilled. I love movies. I don't have those nagging,
regretful feelings about either of them," Stewart said.
"It is a miracle," she added. "Jesus, when the stars align and
you are allowed to feel that way, it is why movies are made. It
is why they affect people."
Critics have taken note of what the former child actress and
teen phenomenon is showing the world at 24 years of age.
Variety's Peter Debruge called her "the most compellingly
watchable American actress of her generation" and A.O. Scott at
the New York Times said her more recent roles "should help
re-establish her as an insightful and unpredictable talent."
'LIKE BEING HIRED'
Stewart has known Moore since she was 12 and took on "Still
Alice" because she knew Moore would deliver on the difficult
role. As it happens, Moore is now the overwhelming favorite to
win the best actress Oscar this year for her role as Alice.
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"Her capability is astounding and motivating as all hell," said
Stewart. "I get on a set with her - and I have been acting since I
was 9 - whoa, I am not there yet. I am striving; I am trying."
Stewart's Lydia is the untethered daughter who comes home to care
for her mother, who rapidly loses her faculties at the age of 50.
"The movie is supposed to show how you deal with what you still have
and you focus on what you retain rather than what you have lost,"
said Stewart.
Raised in Los Angeles by parents who work in film and television,
Stewart "idolizes this industry" and would love to do big franchise
movies again and even be a Marvel superhero.
Looking back at her years as Bella, the lovestruck teenager
entangled in a forbidden romance with a vampire in the "Twilight"
movies, Stewart is nostalgic.
"I felt into it. I loved it," she said, adding, "I got into that for
absolutely the right reasons. There was never any regret."
People in the industry have pushed her to go find stories she wants
to do and start a production company to have more power over her
roles. But she's not ready for that yet.
"I like being hired," she said. "I like the feeling of having no
control over something."
(Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Lisa Shumaker)
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