Feb 20
Kristen Stewart Thinks it's Time for 'Queer Films' to be Less 'Pointedly Only That'
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
Bi "Love Lies Bleeding" star Kristen Stewart, talking about the upcoming lesbian thriller, said that it's time queer films got a deeper, broader remit, telling Variety that "we can't keep doing that thing where we tell everyone how to feel and sort of pat each other on the back and receive brownie points for providing space for marginalized voices, and only in the capacity that they are allowed to speak about that alone."
"We've all been there the whole time," the "Spencer" actor, who played Princess Diana in the film, went on to say. "I think the era of queer films being so pointedly only that is done, it's over."
"Maybe they'll keep happening," the "Twilight" franchise star added, "but I think it's sort of inherent to how we're all moving forward."
Stewart's new movie "follows Lou (Kristen Stewart) as the manager of a gym in middle-of-nowhere America who falls for a bodybuilder Jackie (Katy O'Brian) after she blows into town on her way to a competition in Vegas," The Hollywood Reporter noted. "The two quickly run into trouble with Lou's father (Ed Harris), an arms dealer who runs the local crime ring."
Stewart's comment was in response to being "asked if filming the gory and twist-filled 'Love Lies Bleeding' had changed her perspective on how queer stories are centered in cinema," Variety contextualized.
The site said that Stewart, who is engaged to girlfriend Dylan Meyer, had starred in "Happiest Season," the 2020 film that was "the first lesbian Christmas rom-com produced by a major Hollywood studio."
Addressing that role, Stewart said that "Happiest Season" "was a gay old time, it was a Christmas movie, it was a completely commercial, straightforward, right-down-the-line, hide-the-vegetables type of popcorn thing that we're never really allowed to have."
"And I did that once, and now I'm really kind of into the idea of unearthing sidelined perspectives and not making it all about the reasons that they're sidelined, but their actual experience," she continued. "What they love, what their desires are, where they come from, where they want to go."
"And then not feeling like you always have to stand on a fucking soapbox and be everyone's spokesperson," Stewart added.
The "Charlie's Angels" actor recently sent conservatives into orbit with a photo of herself wearing a jock strap that was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine – an image she declared herself "really happy with," pointing out that "The existence of a female body thrusting any type of sexuality at you that's not designed for exclusively straight males is something people are not super comfy with," THR relayed.
In another interview, Stewart explained the Rolling Stone photo shoot, saying, "If I got through the entire 'Twilight' series without ever doing a Rolling Stone cover, it's because the boys were the sex symbols."
Added the actor, "Now, I want to do the gayest (expletive) thing you've ever seen in your life," USA Today relayed. "If I could grow a little mustache, if I could grow a (expletive) happy trail and unbutton my pants, I would."
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.