From actor to director.
Kristen Stewart is making her directorial debut at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival on Friday with her new romance/drama “The Chronology of Water” — and has some honest thoughts about the viewing.
While talking to The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday, the “Twilight” alum, 35, shared that she hopes the film premiere in France can “crash and burn, but in a way that feels correct.”
In all seriousness, Stewart revealed she “cannot believe” her movie is part of the coveted festival.
“There’s not a more eloquent way [to say it]. We barely finished this movie. It’s not even done,” she confessed. “I need to come home and literally have two more weeks in color and sound. This is my f–king first draft. We’re running in here half-dressed. But I’m into it.”
“The Chronology of Water” is an adaptation of the 2011 memoir of the same name by Lidia Yuknvavitch. It follows the tale of “a young woman finds her voice through the written word and her salvation as a swimmer – ultimately becoming a triumphant teacher, mother and a singular modern writer,” per the synopsis.
The project stars Susannah Flood, Imogen Poots, Jim Belushi and Earl Cave.
It was a story Stewart knew she wanted to be a part of telling from the start.
“When I read [the book], I just went, ‘Oh, f–k,’” she recalled. “We need to put this on its feet so we can do it all together.”
This film marks the first of 10 that Stewart plans on making — but filming this movie in particular and getting it into Cannes was a labor of love.
“I am not being false humble — we’re all running on fumes. I was like, ‘We can do it.’ I was like an absolute basket case,” she said of production. “I’m kind of happy to take on something vulnerable. I’m happy to take something with mistakes. Mistakes are f–king hot.”
As for why now was the right time to direct the film after decades of acting, Stewart explained to THR, “I had to wait until right now for this to be actualized, because there are portals that set you free. Texts or songs or conversations that give you ways into figuring out how you want to wield your voice.”
“And even though I always knew that I was waiting for that trigger, I hadn’t found it yet until [‘The Chronology of Water’]. This was eight years ago. So it’s been a slow and laborious birth, but I’ve wanted to direct movies as long as I have been an actor and it’s been a multitiered development,” she shared.
“But for some reason, psychotically, I’ve wanted to do it forever, because I do think the exchange between an actor and a director is a bridge between two very different positions. You actually have to end up doing the same thing together to hold this reciprocal energy in this emotional space and make something feel congruent.”
Meanwhile, this was a dream Stewart had held since she was a young girl.
“So I was like, ‘Oh, I’m half of you.’ And I feel like my actors are half of me and I just wanted to do both. I wanted to get onto the other side. I think I was, like, 9 years old but then I figured out how to actually f–king do it. And now I’m 35.”
Stewart got her start at age 8, landing roles in a slew of movies such as “The Safety of Objects” in 2001 and “Panic Room” in 2002.
At 14, Stewart nabbed her first starring role in the 2004 action/comedy “Catch That Kid” alongside Max Thieriot and Corbin Bleu.
By 2008, she had become a household name, portraying Bella Swan in “Twilight.”
The five movies in the franchise grossed a combined $3.3 billion worldwide and starred Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner as her love interests.
At the time, audiences were upset by Stewart’s moody acting in the films that were based off of the novels by Stephenie Meyer.
“The studio was trying to make a movie for kids,” Stewart told Rolling Stone in 2024. “They didn’t want what actually was the book. When the f–k are [Bella and Edward] smiling, ever?”
The “Happiest Season” alum also made headlines for dating Pattinson, 39, during the films.
“Rob and I can’t just keep talking about that s–t, because it’s f–king weird,” Stewart explained. “It’s like if someone kept asking you — I mean for literally decades — ‘But senior year in high school?’ You’re like, ‘F–king A, man! I don’t know!’”
Talking to Variety about the project that same year, she added she can now see a queer undertone in the movies that she hadn’t noticed before.
“I can only see it now,” Stewart admitted. “I don’t think it necessarily started off that way, but I also think that the fact that I was there at all, it was percolating. It’s such a gay movie. I mean, Jesus Christ, Taylor [Lautner] and Rob and me, and it’s so hidden and not OK. I mean, a Mormon woman wrote this book. It’s all about oppression, about wanting what’s going to destroy you. That’s a very Gothic, gay inclination that I love.”
