As she prepares for the release of her own feature-length directorial debut The Chronology of Water, Oscar-nominated actress Kristen Stewart has revealed why she “felt bad” for the filmmakers behind the Twilight sequels that helped further her rise to global superstardom.
After co-headlining Catherine Hardwicke’s 2008 big-screen adaptation of author Stephenie Meyer’s beloved vampire novels alongside fellow actor Robert Pattinson, Stewart opened up about her feelings on the filmmaking behind the follow-ups New Moon (Chris Weitz), Eclipse (David Slade), and both Breaking Dawn entries (Bill Condon).
“That [first] Twilight movie is hers and reflects her; Catherine accomplished that, hands down,” Stewart told The Hollywood Reporter in a new interview, contextualizing her thoughts on Hardwicke’s ability to fuse personal directorial voice with the studio’s commercial-leaning franchise.
Kimberley French/Summit
Taylor Lautner, Kristen Stewart, and Robert Pattinson in ‘Twilight Saga: Eclipse’
“Being able to withstand and organize that many opinions, and still make something that feels like yours, is near impossible to do,” she continued. “With so many voices in the room and with so much expectation, nothing feels personal.”
The outlet noted that the Spencer star wondered whether or not subsequent directors in the series “actually felt like they fully directed those movies,” telling the publication that, while filming the sequels with them, Stewart “felt bad for them and proud of them” at the same time.
She said the projects still “had personality, in spite of a really stifled process” to get them made.
“They feel almost overtly, bizarrely, spastically themselves,” Stewart, 35, noted, later adding, “You need to have an incredibly thirsty, hungry, brazen, deplorably narrow drive. You look at that and you get jealous of it as an actor. So then you go, ‘I’d like to form my own version of that.'”
In another recent interview with THR about his work on the 2025 film Kiss of the Spider Woman, Oscar-winning Gods and Monsters writer Condon said that he felt his Twilight entries “became such a target for people, and people felt superior to it, and I thought, ‘God, you were really missing the point.'”
“Because this is a big franchise that is in on the joke,” he continued. “For me, personally, as a gay director, I thought I brought a bit of camp to it that was permissible. Michael Sheen, that laugh.”
Kimberley French/Summit
Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart in ‘Twilight Saga: New Moon’
Stewart and Pattinson fronted all five Twilight films to major success, with the former eventually channeling her feelings on directing into several short projects (including her 2017 short Come Swim and band Boygenius’ three-song music video project titled The Film).
Her feature debut, The Chronology of Water, premiered to enthusiastic reviews at Cannes earlier this year, and is set for release on Friday.