Kristen Stewart might not stay in the United States.
The Chronology of Water director spoke to the U.K.’s The Times about filming the drama in Latvia because “it would have been impossible to do in the [U.S.],” along with where she could see herself living.
“Reality is breaking completely under [President Donald] Trump,” Stewart, 35, said, referring to the tariffs he plans to impose on the film industry for shooting outside of the U.S. Though they have yet to be imposed, it is still “terrifying,” Stewart said.
“But we should take a page out of his book and create the reality we want to live in.”
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Trump, 79, announced tariffs on movies made outside the U.S. in May 2025.
“The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death,” Trump wrote on Truth Social at the time. “Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States. Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated.”
He called the situation a “National Security threat.” “It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda,” Trump added before concluding, “WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!”
Since then, these efforts have been stalled, but Trump wants to bring them back. “I’m going to be putting tariffs on movies from outside of the country — if they’re made in Canada, if they’re made in all these places, because Los Angeles has lost the movie industry,” Trump said per The New York Post on Jan. 23.
“And so I’m going to put tariffs on and we’re going to be doing bonds, some bonds, some low-interest bonds, for the movie industry. We’ll bring it back.”
The Times reported that Stewart lives in Los Angeles and New York. However, when asked if she would stay in the U.S., she said: “Probably not.”
“I can’t work freely there. But I don’t want to give up completely,” she noted. “I’d like to make movies in Europe and then shove them down the throat of the American people.”
As for her point of view, having been in the film industry since she was a child, Stewart said, “It’s how I relate to the world. I’m always going, ‘How are we going to make that into a movie?’ ”
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Stewart wouldn’t be the first celebrity to leave the U.S. following the 2024 election results. Rosie O’Donnell and Ellen DeGeneres have cited Trump as their reason for leaving the country.
“It’s been heartbreaking to see what’s happening politically and hard for me personally as well,” O’Donnell, 63, who moved to Ireland in early 2025, said in a March TikTok video. “The personal is political, as we all know.”
In July, DeGeneres, 68, confirmed reports that she moved to the U.K. because of Trump. She and wife Portia de Rossi “got [to the U.K.] the day before the election and woke up to lots of texts from our friends with crying emojis, and I was like, ‘He got in.’ … And we’re like, ‘We’re staying here.’ ”
The Chronology of Water, Stewart’s directorial debut, is in theaters.