Intervista a Kristen Stewart da If Magazine

In una nuova intervista pubblicata da If Magazine Kristen Stewart ci dà la chiave per capire il comportamento di Bella in New Moon: “Bella è terrorizzata dai cambiamenti”. Eppure, suo malgrado, Bella dovrà affrontare un grosso cambiamento in New Moon: la fine della sua relazione con Edward. Kristen racconta come sia stato difficile girare la scena della rottura con Edward: “È stata la cosa più spaventosa del film. Non è una normale scena in cui ci si lascia: so cosa si prova quando si rompe con un ragazzo, ma non so cosa si prova quando si rompe con un vampiro da cui sei stata fisicamente e chimicamente alterata. È come se avessi una dipendenza. L’ho pensata come a una scena di morte, con l’unica differenza che sei viva e continui a camminare”.

Del resto, proprio il fatto che in New Moon Bella sia costretta a costruire di nuovo le fondamenta della propria esistenza è una delle cose che a Kristen Stewart sono piaciute di più, perché le ha permesso di mettersi alla prova. Bella dovrà comunque abituarsi ai cambiamenti: “Eclipse da questo punto di vista è simile a New Moon. All’inizio del film la storia prende una via completamente nuova e inaspettata. Ma ora Bella è più sicura di sé e si trova più a suo agio nel mondo dei vampiri di quanto non fosse in New Moon. In Eclipse però Bella scoprirà che esistono diversi tipi d’amore e che gli ideali che avevi qualche tempo fa non erano veri”.

In Eclipse dunque Bella Swan si metterà alla prova con nuove sfide personali e Kristen Stewart con nuove sfide d’attrice. L’appuntamento con il terzo capitolo della saga di Twilight è a giugno 2010.

Here’s a tough question for you: who knows Bella Swan, the young heroine of the TWILIGHT series, better than anybody else? Okay, so the correct answer is probably Stephenie Meyer. She did, after all, pen the series the films are based on. But a close second would have to be the person who brought Bella to life, Kristen Stewart. And with the second of the TWILIGHT series, NEW MOON now out in theaters and breaking boxoffice records, who better to ask than Stewart about the new direction her character has taken?

[Editor’s note: there are possible spoilers for those of you who haven’t seen the movie or read any of the books. Stewart does talk about events that transpire in the movie.]

“I’m very protective of (Bella),” says Stewart, emphasizing the point. “I feel a shared ownership. It’s weird. If you were talk about the character in a way that was not at all thought out or flippant I would be right there to say that you didn’t know what you were talking about. I’m so defensive of her.”

It’s safe to say that Stewart considers herself an authority when it comes to all things Bella. Now that that is established, maybe we can get some insight as to what Bella faces in the second installment of the series. We must know one thing about Bella, according to Stewart, if we are to understand her trials in NEW MOON: she fears change.

“She’s so terrified of change because she’s been thrust into this world,” she adds. And by “this world” Stewart is referring to the feelings Bella has for her vampire lover, Edward, and the consequences of that love. But if there’s one thing to expect from NEW MOON, it’s change. TWILIGHT ended with Edward (Robert Pattison) and Bella happily dancing together at their prom, Bella wishing to become a vampire, Edward simply kissing her on the neck. NEW MOON makes an abrupt left turn from that point. The new tone of the movie was both challenging and enjoyable for Stewart.

“I had a really good time on this movie,” begins Stewart. “It was intense. Just because of the nature of the story, it goes in a completely different direction. We undermine the first [film]. We establish a very ideological [view] of love and basically tell our main character, our main protagonist that she was wrong and it’s like, ‘Where’s our story?’"

For those not so fanatical fans of the series, Stewart is referring to a pivotal event in the film: Edward and Bella breaking up. It was perhaps the most difficult scene for Stewart to shoot.

“That was the scariest thing,” recalls Stewart. “I was almost as worried about messing it up than I was about what I actually should have been thinking about, which was the issues that Bella is dealing with. Reading it, it’s so iconic. There’s nothing like that moment in reality even. It’s not even like a normal breakup scene. I know what’s it like to get broken up with but I don’t know what it’s like to get broken up with by a vampire who I’ve now been physically and chemically altered by. Suddenly you take an addict, you take whatever they’re addicted to away from them and there’s withdrawal. So that was the most intimidating scene in the entire movie. I don’t know how to explain how I did it.”

Stewart pauses, thinking about how to explain how truly difficult filming that scene was. After a few seconds, she continues.

“Basically, literally having the equivalent of like a death scene but stay alive and get up and keep walking,” explains Stewart. “It was hard. It was really intimidating. I still don’t know. I’ve seen the movie. I really like the movie but I don’t know if anyone ever really would’ve been able to bring that to life the way that Stephenie [Meyer] writes it.”

Despite the challenge of ending, at least for now, the most iconic vampire/mortal relationship this decade, Stewart enjoys the struggle that Bella faces, and the person she eventually becomes because of those challenges.

“What I really love about NEW MOON is that you see this girl build herself back up,” says Stewart, “and by the time she makes this sort of rash decision to spend eternity with a vampire, she’s in a position where you actually believe her. You’re like, ‘Okay, you’re old enough, your mature enough to know. You’ve lived life.’ She grows up.”

It would seem that Bella finds peace and contentment by the time NEW MOON ends. At the very least, Bella has, as Stewart puts it, grown up. That is, of course, until the next film, ECLISPE, comes out.

“ECLIPSE is such that just like NEW MOON, it sort of starts and becomes a completely new movie” Stewart shares. “Just as soon as you think you’re going to get the same story it’s sort all of a sudden that it completely changes. Bella is much more back to herself. She’s content now. She’s comfortable and self-assured in a way that she wasn’t in NEW MOON. I think what I really love about ECLIPSE, what was interesting for me to explore, was different levels of love and acknowledging that the ideals that you maybe had a little while ago aren’t true.”