Stars align for Kristen Stewart in quiet corner of film universe

LOS ANGELES | Kristen Stewart strides into the room in a power pantsuit and high-heeled pumps.

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 arthouse 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.

“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.”

source: interaksyon.com

‘Twilight’ sendoff starts with huge $341million in global ticket sales

The “Twilight” vampire saga’s final chapter debuted with a massive $341 million in global movie ticket sales as devoted fans bid farewell to blood-sucking spouses Bella and Edward and one of Hollywood’s biggest franchises.

“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2″ earned an estimated $141 million in the United States and Canada over the weekend, falling slightly short of a record for the supernatural romance series about a human-vampire-werewolf love triangle.

The total, which includes sales from late night Thursday through Sunday, ranked as the eight biggest domestic film debut of all time. Late-night Thursday screenings comprised $30.4 million of the $141 million total.

Fan fever for the fifth “Twilight” movie raged high around the world. “Breaking Dawn – Part 2″ rang up sales of $199.6 million from Thursday to Sunday at theaters in 61 countries for a worldwide total of $341 million, distributor Summit Entertainment said on Sunday.

The earlier “Twilight” films pulled in a combined $2.5 billion at global box offices over a four-year run. The success lifted tiny studio Summit Entertainment into Hollywood’s big leagues and paved the way for its $412 million acquisition in January by Lions Gate Entertainment.

“New Moon” scored the biggest debut of the series, grossing $142.8 million over its first three days in 2009.

The movies based on a series of best-selling young adult books by Stephenie Meyer ignited a pop culture infatuation with blood-sucking vampires and werewolves. The films star Kristen Stewart as human-turned-vampire Bella Swan, Robert Pattinson as her vampire love Edward Cullen, and Taylor Lautner as werewolf Jacob Black, who competes for Bella’s affection.

Summit spent $120 million to produce “Breaking Dawn – Part 2,” which concludes the tale with newly turned vampire Bella and husband Edward in a high-stakes battle to protect their half-human, half-vampire daughter from an ancient vampire clan. The couple enlist the extended Cullen family in their fight.

Fans of the series, mostly teen girls nicknamed “Twi-hards,” embraced the final film, which includes a surprise twist that was not in the final book. Audiences polled by CinemaScore awarded the movie an “A” grade, with an “A+” from filmgoers under age 25, according to Summit. Critics were less supportive. Fifty-one percent of reviews collected on the Rotten Tomatoes website were positive.

Summit Entertainment’s president of domestic distribution Richie Fay said though the vast majority of the audience was female, he expected more male viewers than for previous “Twilight” films.

“The male audience has increased a good bit, and the ratings among males are higher I think in part to the action in the film,” he said.

Author Meyer has not ruled out the possibility of more stories in the vampire-werewolf universe but said she has closed the chapter on the Cullens.

Hollywood is eager to fill the void after the success of “Twilight” highlighted the power of young adult stories on the big screen. Studios are bringing at least four new films based on popular young adult novels to theaters next year as well as the sequel to the newest teen movie sensation, “The Hunger Games.”

The “Twilight” excitement eclipsed all other movies over the weekend. Last week’s winner, James Bond movie “Skyfall” finished in second place with $41.5 million at North American (U.S. and Canadian) theaters.

“Skyfall” is now the highest-grossing Bond movie to date with a global total of over $669 million, surpassing the $599 million taken in by “Casino Royale” in 2006.

“Skyfall” also propelled distributer Sony Pictures Entertainment to a record year, pushing its worldwide box office total over the $4 billion mark.

Historical drama “Lincoln” expanded from a limited opening a week ago and landed in third place with $21 million. The movie stars Daniel Day-Lewis as the 16th president near the end of his life as he battles to ban slavery and end the Civil War. The movie is directed by Steven Spielberg and has earned critical praise and awards-season buzz.

In fourth place, Walt Disney Co animated movie “Wreck-It Ralph,” about a videogame character who destroys everything in his path, pulled in $18.3 million. Denzel Washington drama “Flight” earned $8.6 million and the No. 5 spot.

Elsewhere, romantic comedy “Silver Linings Playbook” brought in $458,000 at 16 locations, or an average of $28,625 per theater. The film stars Bradley Cooper as a bipolar former teacher just released from a mental institution and Jennifer Lawrence as a young widow he encounters as he tries to put his life back together.

“Silver Linings” won over critics who say it may earn a spot in the Oscar race. The Weinstein Co, the private company that released the movie, will expand the film nationwide beginning on Wednesday, Nov. 21.

Sony Corp’s movie studio distributed “Skyfall.” “Lincoln” was produced by Dreamworks and released by Walt Disney Co. “Flight” was distributed by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc.

source: interaksyon.com

'Twilight' stars look to sink teeth into other roles

LOS ANGELES -- Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson are looking forward to sinking their teeth into new, non-vampire roles, as they ponder life after the "Twilight" saga.

"The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2" debuts this weekend in North America, bringing the blockbuster vampire franchise to an end, and closing a lucrative chapter in the young actors' careers.

The five films, based on novels of the same name by Stephenie Meyer, have made a fortune for them and for the Summit Entertainment studio, earning $2.4 billion since the first movie in 2008.

And like the "Harry Potter" movies, the franchise remains a huge success right to the end: some 2,200 fans, mostly teenage girls, camped out for days in Los Angeles ahead of the red carpet premiere this week.

The stars say they are happy about the excitement they still generate, but say the time is right to move on.

"I'm so happy that the story is told, you have no idea. The fact that this thing is out and it's not weighing on us anymore, I'm super excited about that," said Stewart, who plays Bella Swan.

"I don't want to sound like I'm excited just to be done with the experience. It is sad, it is strange," she told reporters in Beverly Hills before the film's release.

"But it's normal. Things shouldn't stay stagnant," added the 22-year-old, who has already made her post-'Twilight' mark in films including this year's "Snow White and the Huntsman" and "On the Road."

British actor Pattinson -- Stewart's partner both on- and off-screen, except for a few months' separation after the actress's widely-reported fling with the director of "Snow White" -- said it will take time to get over "Twilight."

"I think it's going to take 10 years to really settle in my brain," said the 26-year-old, who plays Edward Cullen. "If I could get a little bit more control over my public image, that would be nice.

"I guess you could play superhero after superhero. That seems like the only guaranteed big money thing. It's not that satisfying, getting monetary success, but it keeps the door open for doing what you want.

"I'm trying to sign up and do movies that I can be proud of," said the actor, who has already branched out with an appearance in David Cronenberg's "Cosmopolis."

In the fifth and final "Twilight" installment, Bella begins a new life as a vampire, and has to defend her daughter Renesmee against the elite Volturi, who fear she is a threat to their future.

"The first one was more romantic and intimate, and this one is more epic and has a bigger scale," director Bill Condon told AFP, saying his biggest question is how moviegoers will react to Bella's transformation.

"Those movies are Bella's story. Kristen Stewart is a human and she's been the one who takes us through it all. Now, Kristen is not a human anymore, so this is a story now where you've lost your human guide," he said.

The story now primarily involves vampires, whose expressions and body language is extremely limited.

Condon said that was "the biggest challenge of this series ... it's something that is laid out in the mythology: they don't even breathe, they have no need to sit, they don't move, they don't cry, so these intense emotional things can't happen.

"So yes, a lot of the actors' tools are taken away from them, including their eyes. Each of the actors wears contact lenses. So they're not seeing so clearly and we're not seeing that clearly into their souls."

He continued: "You're starting with an awful load of restrictions. That's why sometimes, these poor actors get accused of being wooden. I think they felt misunderstood and I feel for them because it's a very specific thing.

"That wooden thing is something that represents a lot of work!"

But Condon remains confident that the strength of Bella's character will keep moviegoers gripped.

"I think that the secret of this franchise is that there's a woman at its center and it's told from her point of view. And there are not enough of these movies," he said.

"And I think that audiences and especially female audiences are starving for that."

It's no coincidence that the mega-saga likely to take over from the "Twilight" series is "The Hunger Games," a post-apocalyptic drama also centered on a powerful female character, Katniss Everdeen, played by Jennifer Lawrence.

Also produced by Lionsgate-Summit, the first film in the trilogy was released in March, and has made $645 million globally. The second installment is due out in November 2013.

source: interaksyon.com

‘Twilight Saga’ ends with movie love letter to fans

LOS ANGELES – “Twilight” fans bid an emotional farewell this week to Bella, Edward and Jacob in “Breaking Dawn-Part 2,” the romantic book and movie franchise that ignited a pop culture infatuation with blood-sucking vampires and werewolves.

The tumultuous love triangle between human girl Bella Swan, vampire Edward Cullen and werewolf Jacob Black, that has gripped avid fans known as “Twi-hards” for seven years, comes to a tantalizing end as “Breaking Dawn-Part 2″ hits movie theaters around the world.

The “Twilight” film franchise, based on a series of novels by Stephenie Meyer, rocketed the three main stars, Kristen Stewart (Bella), Robert Pattinson (Edward) and Taylor Lautner (Jacob), into the spotlight and the first four films have grossed more than $2.5 billion at the worldwide box office.

For director Bill Condon, who shot both parts of “Breaking Dawn” together and split into two movies post-production, the fifth and final film was all about the fans – who get a surprise twist to the ending.

“The real challenge was to make sure it was a satisfying climax,” Condon told reporters. “The film opens with an overture of all the main scenes from all five movies, and at the end, I…brought (it) back to the spirit of the old movies.”

The movie pays homage to the angst-ridden teenage romance between Bella and Edward that was underscored by the off-screen real-life romance between Stewart, 22, and Pattinson, 26.

“Breaking Dawn-Part 2″ shifts the action from a love story to a family story, as the Cullen clan recruit their extended vampire family to protect Bella and Edward’s daughter Renesmee from an ancient vampire coven.

“I think it’s very sweet, especially the ending of it, I think it’s very close to the book as well. It seems to be that it’s really made for the fans,” Pattinson told Reuters.

While the past four films have stayed true to the books, author Meyer and screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg came up with a plot twist that adds a major scene that may surprise movie-goers.

“(The action) is off screen in the novel because we only see what Bella sees, and this was just a way of making visual what some of the other characters might have seen,” Meyer told reporters.

“It does feel very surprising. There’s something new to see but to me it doesn’t seem like it’s going hugely off the page,” she added.

While the fourth film saw Bella’s human life draw to a conclusion when she died giving birth to a human-vampire hybrid baby with new husband Edward, “Breaking Dawn-Part 2,” sees Bella as a mother and a newly-transformed vampire.

“The coolest thing about vampire Bella is that I got to play her as a human for so long, and the special parts of each vampire are always informed by the great things that they were as a human and so I got to walk in those shoes,” Stewart told Reuters.

“Everything made total sense to me. I waited for so long (to play a vampire), once I finally got it, it was so comfortable, I couldn’t wait,” the actress added.

“The Twilight Saga,” first published in 2005, kicked off a wave of vampire or supernatural-themes books, films and TV shows including HBO’s “True Blood,” the CW TV network’s “The Vampire Diaries” and Richelle Mead’s “Vampire Academy” series of young adult novels.

As the sun sets on the franchise Meyer brought to life, the author said that while she didn’t rule out the possibility of finding more stories in the vampire-werewolf universe, she had closed the chapter on the Cullens.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever get back to these (stories). Someday I’ll write down what was going to happen next. It’s sad knowing I don’t have another party with the kids again, I really hope I have a chance to at least see my friends again,” she told Reuters.

source: interaksyon.com

Kristen Stewart Spotted at L.A. Airport—in Robert Pattinson's Old T-Shirt

Looks like Kristen Stewart has no intention of bailing on the Toronto Film Festival.

The scandal-singed star, seen hardly at all over the past month while she waited out the public-relations repercussions of stepping out on Robert Pattinson, was spotted making her way through LAX today to catch a flight to Toronto.

Stewart is due to make her first public appearance since she was caught canoodling with Rupert Sanders and will attend a special presentation of On the Road tomorrow night.

Along with her jeans, boots and glasses, Stewart's low-key travel getup included what appeared to be the same T-shirt Pattinson was photographed wearing on July 19, 2011.

And if it's not the same shirt, then Robsten were sporting his-and-her tees once upon a time, before Stewart's fling with her Snow White and the Huntman director came to light.

But though K.Stew watch hasn't been very effective lately, she still managed to be everywhere—posing for Marie Claire, fronting a a new Balenciaga campaign and covering the October issue of British Vogue.

source: eonline.com

‘Twilight’ stars reflect on bittersweet end to the film franchise at Comic-Con

SAN DIEGO – The stars of “Twilight” gathered for the final time at the Comic-Con pop culture convention on Thursday, laughing and joking with fans as they reflected on a “bittersweet” end to the film franchise that catapulted them to fame.

The “Twilight” films – five in all based on a series of young adult novels by author Stephenie Meyer about a vampire, Edward Cullen, who falls in love with a human girl, Bella Swan – have become a blockbuster franchise earning $2.5 billion at global box offices from the first four films.

The final installment, “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2″ is due in theaters in November.

“If you told me tomorrow that we had to reshoot some scene, I’d be so happy because I do enjoy living in this world. We got to do it for four years and I put everything I had into it,” Kristen Stewart, who plays Swan, told reporters at Comic-Con.

“Even though it’s a bummer to walk away, it’s something I’ll always have.”

She was joined by fellow actors Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, author Meyer and newcomer Mackenzie Foy, who plays Edward and Bella’s daughter, Renesmee.

Comic-Con attracts more than 125,000 movie, TV, comic book and pop culture fans annually, and Hollywood’s studios turn out with upcoming films and stars to promote. The “Twilight” makers used the convention as a launching pad for the first film in 2008 and they continue to return to reach hard-core followers.

Thousands of fans lined up for hours – and for some people, days – to get into a Comic-Con panel where the stars talked about the film and treated fans to the first seven minutes of “Breaking Dawn – Part 2.”

In the clip, Bella is seen experiencing her first moments as a vampire, reuniting with husband Edward and coming to terms with her newfound bloodlust. The footage ended just as Bella meets Renesmee – leaving the audience desperate for more.

Comic-Con fans also were treated to a short clip showing the new Bella having to disguise herself as a human. Questions from the audience focused on the actors’ personal highlights over the last four years of filming the four movies.

The cast appeared in a jovial mood, teasing each other and sharing stories from the film shoot. Stewart described the experience as a “bittersweet” period. The cast members said Comic-Con provided an opportunity to reconnect with some of their most rabid fans.

Yet the event was marred by tragedy on Tuesday, when a woman died after being hit by a car while crossing the street outside the convention center. She was remembered at the start of Thursday’s panel.

“We would like to honor the memory of Gisela Gagliardi, a fan we tragically lost two days ago. We wish her family and friends the best during this difficult time,” said “Twilight” panel moderator Eric Moro.

source: interaksyon.com

Kristen Stewart bumps Jolie as highest-paid actress

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Kristen Stewart, who shot to fame as Bella Swan in "The Twilight Saga" films and has a starring role in "Snow White and the Huntsman", jumped to the top of Forbes.com's annual list of highest-paid actresses on Tuesday.

The 22-year-old earned an estimated $34.5 million from May 2011 to May 2012 and pushed Angelina Jolie into fourth place.

Cameron Diaz, who had a surprise hit with "Bad Teacher", came in second with $34 million.

"She (Stewart) is an up-and-coming star. She is earning a lot of money from one of the most successful franchises of all time. This is who you would expect to see right now," said Dorothy Pomerantz, Forbes Los Angeles bureau chief.

"This year you are seeing somebody young and at the brink of potentially great stardom sitting on the top of the list."

Forbes.com compiled the list and estimated salaries by talking to agents, managers and lawyers and based earnings on pay, profits, residuals, endorsements and advertising work.

Oscar-winner Sandra Bullock, who largely took a break from filming after 2009's "The Blind Side", came third with $25 million.

Jolie, who topped last year's list along with Sarah Jessica Parker, dropped to the fourth spot with earnings of $20 million while Charlize Theron, Stewart's co-star in "Snow White and the Huntsman" who also appears in "Prometheus", trailed at $18 million, and rounded out the top five places.

Parker, whose 2011 film "I Don't Know How She Does It" brought in a disappointing $30 million at the worldwide box office, slipped to seventh place with a $15 million salary.

"She is almost earning more from her perfume and endorsement deals right now than from entertainment. That is true of a lot of women. They have these outside deals that are very lucrative. Angelina Jolie earns a lot from residuals, as does Sarah Jessica Parker," Pomerantz said.

Former "Friends" star Jennifer Anniston just made the list, earning an $11 million salary.

The top 10 actresses earned a total of $200 million, according to Forbes.com, a lot less than the $361 million total that the 10 highest-earning men made.

"It is nowhere near what men are making," Pomerantz said. "I think it will be a while until women see salary parity, if it ever happens. Women are paid less in every industry, not just in Hollywood."

source: mb.com.ph