'Twilight' Star Kristen Talks 'New Moon,' Future Sequels

Round and round the directorial wheel goes — who'll make "Eclipse," nobody knows. Not even "Twilight" star Kristen Stewart, whose versatile acting skills are on display these days in "The Cake Eaters" and "Adventureland," in theaters April 3. Now, as she begins work on the next two Stephenie Meyer sequels, we got Kristen's thoughts on Chris Weitz vs. Catherine Hardwicke, Drew Barrymore vs. Juan Antonio Bayona, and where the franchise goes from here.

MTV: Kristen, the web was recently flooded with photos of you in Vancouver, doing pre-production for "New Moon." What did you see up there that convinced you the sequel will be even better than "Twilight"?

Kristen Stewart: Everything! We're sort of revamping. The look of the vampires has gotten that much better — now they just look clean and crisp. They're beautiful, really. We've had all of our rehearsals, it's pretty much done — all of the prep for the script, it's solid. There's no more work to be done, whereas a lot of times you'll be on a movie and you scramble the night before and make sure everything's done, and then you lose sequence of the whole thing because you don't shoot in order. We're set! It feels so good.

MTV: Was it a shock for you when Catherine Hardwicke left the franchise?

Stewart: Well, it wasn't like it was a big bomb that was dropped. It wasn't much of a shock. To be honest, I don't know much about the inner-workings of whatever was going on within the studio, [but] everybody has creative integrity and everybody has to be on the same page when you're making a movie.

MTV: The fans know that the entire "Twilight" team was close and worked so well together, and the success of the film proved that. With new director Chris Weitz, do you ever have thoughts of, "Why are they putting in a new coach now?"

Stewart: To be honest, I don't know — I don't run studios. It was definitely both of them [agreeing to part], it was Catherine [Hardwicke] and Summit agreeing it was the best thing to do. It wasn't like, 'You're fired!' It was a comfortable situation. And Chris is like the most genuinely invested guy — he didn't just jump on the bandwagon and be like, 'Ooh, let's get the biggest, most successful movie! I wanna do "Twilight 2"!' He genuinely likes it, and is entirely involved. He's a really sweet guy, and we're all really excited to work with him. I like his previous work too, so it all just works out.

MTV: Recently I was interviewing Kellan Lutz and he thinks the "only women should direct 'Twilight' movies" argument is overblown. Going from Hardwicke to Weitz, would you like to go back to a woman for "Eclipse"? Or do you also think it doesn't matter?

Stewart: I really don't know. I've worked with a lot of male directors, and a lot of females — every single one of them has been entirely different from each other. They're individual people. It's, like, there's a technical aspect that Chris — individually as a person — is good at. He has the whole ['New Moon'] project in mind; he's very good, his thoughts are organized, and he's gonna make a good movie while not losing the soul and depth and what's going on with the characters. He's very genuine and giving, and he makes me feel very comfortable. I mean, I can talk to him about anything. So it's perfect, and I'm excited to work with him.

MTV: But Chris won't be returning for "Eclipse." So, if they went female for the third film, would that impact it in anyway?

Stewart: I can't think of a direct effect of having a female or a male director. I could speak specifically about Catherine, Chris or ["Cake Eaters" director] Mary Stuart [Masterson]. I could speak about people that I know and that I've grown to care about — but I don't think it's about them being a girl or a boy.

MTV: Well, as you know, rumor was that Drew Barrymore could be the "Eclipse" director. What are your thoughts on her?

Stewart: I like her as an actor. I've never spoken to her. I know that she made that movie ["Whip It!"] recently that I haven't seen. I don't know; I really admire her as an actress, and she's been in [Hollywood] for so long — I'm sure she's very smart and interesting.

MTV: And now the musical chairs continue, with the rumor that Juan Antonio Bayona is supposed to direct the third film. What are your thoughts on him? Have you seen "The Orphanage"?

Stewart: Yeah, he's a very talented guy. I don't know. I'm so glad that I don't make these decisions, because it's such a tough one. How do you [decide that?]. I mean, sometimes it's a fluke — a guy makes a good movie. I mean, I'm sure [Bayona] is a great director. But nothing's solid, so I don't know. It's above me.


send any of your rob news @ planetrobwebsite@gmail.com