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Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Kristen Stewart's First Feature ‘The Chronology of Water' Felt So Good, She Says, She'll Direct Again
Kristen Stewart has been 'wanting to make movies since I was nine or 10 years old,' she told me on her fourth trip to Cannes in 2017, for the short 'Come Swim.' She's been a fixture at the festival ever since her maiden voyage in 2012 with Walter Salles' 'On the Road,' followed by Woody Allen's 'Cafe Society,' Olivier Assayas' 'Clouds of Sils Maria' and 'Personal Shopper,' and David Cronenberg's 'Crimes of the Future.' She also served on Cate Blanchett's Competition jury in 2018. Stewart's audacious debut, the Un Certain Regard entry 'The Chronology of Water,' was well-received. After eight years of development, Scott Free financed the mood poem about swimming and writing for survival amid personal trauma. Stewart is ebullient after having talked about making her first feature for so long. Back in 2022, she announced that she was adapting (with Andy Mingo) Lidia Yuknavitch's frank 2011 memoir. Stewart resonated with her hardscrabble story about a woman (Imogen Poots) coping with her teenage sexual abuse by her father via sex, anger, competitive swimming, addiction, and creative writing. More from IndieWire Darren Aronofsky Partners with Google DeepMind on Generative AI Short Film Initiative Google Unveils Gen-AI Video Tool with Camera Controls, Consistent Character Design, and Even Sound Stewart and I talked on a balcony at the Majestic Hotel. The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. Anne Thompson: What made you so clear that you should turn this material into your first feature? You went for it. Kristen Stewart: It's not a movie about the things that actually happened to Lidia. It's about the things that happened to all of us, and then how to take those things into your body. [They] might not be equivalent or exactly like the experience and abuse specifically that she had. Her plight might not be everyone's, but it's similar. There's thievery and violence in the fucking female experience right now, with the imagery that's thrust at us and the conversations that are had outside of our bodies and what they do to our inner voices, when we go: 'I don't think you should do that. Don't say it, keep it a secret. Don't tell anyone you're in pain. Don't tell anyone that that wasn't OK with you. Keep it to yourself. Oh, don't vouch for yourself. Don't fight for that. Oh, don't speak too loud; they won't hear you.' Measure, measure, measure. Shame, shame, shame. And so it was not possible to pull back, because the whole movie is about getting that feeling out. I've never felt like a provocateur. I never was trying to push buttons. It doesn't feel like that. It feels like you're expressing yourself in every fiber of your being. It is the truth. There was never a point where I ever questioned it, because there was no way that I was alone in this. The book is such a lifeboat. It's like a flotation device. It's such a good place to start. It's very meta to make a movie about how hard it is to say something that's exactly what I was experiencing. Over your career, you've taken control of your choices. You've often taken the indie route. Absolutely. This was not without help. I needed to have a couple of public temper tantrums in order to get the right people to listen. I have this stunning collaborator in Charles Gillibert, who [produced] 'On the Road,' 'Personal Shopper,' and 'Clouds of Sils Maria.' He understands that [women] need help and we need a fucking leg up. It took a long time to get this made. Yeah. It took forever. What hurdles did you face? The book is not about the things that happened to her, but about how she processes those things, and about how art can save you. And there was no way to sell the movie as an idea. It was impossible to say to people that I wanted to make a DMT trip experience, a life flashing before your eyes, in the way that your memory feels neurological and physical to you. It's different from the book. It's a faithful adaptation, but it is not the same experience. There was no way for me to tell people that I needed to go make so many puzzle pieces that I could come home and find authentic, emotional connective tissue, because you cannot plan for things like this. You can't plan for the ephemeral. You have to go catch it. You have to go create an environment in which things can sprawl and people can explore and learn things. And so therefore, the movie had to have a life in order for it to have its own memory. It couldn't be exacting, controlled. My hands and my fingerprints are all over it, but I'm not strangling the movie, because the movie had such volition, it had such its own life, that it was telling me what it wanted every day. Was the movie finished when you brought it to Cannes? Would you go back to the editing room? The picture is pretty final, it's color-corrected. I'm not going to cut it, OK? It deserves space. It's not like the normal success story that has a three-act structure in the terms that we're used to. Audience are trained, everybody is, because you could not be, to have a certain capacity and a certain expectation for a rhythm and a time code: 'I'm supposed to get this now. I want it. Where is it?' Quite often in the movie, there's so many false wins and starts and hard crashes. And there's an undulation that resembles a female orgasm that steps away from this 1-2-3, punch of the climax and a sigh of relief in the last five minutes, and the movie's over. You think you're there, you think you're there, you're not sure. Then you kill it, then you pull back, and then you're: 'Why am I still here?' And it's frustrating at times, probably. Three-quarters of the way through, you might think to yourself, 'Where are we going?' It is intentional. Imogen Poots anchors it. She's the reason why you can get away with all the rest of it, because you never want to stop hanging out with her. Unless we had somebody who really kept you on a line, we were dead in the water. How did you know she was the right one? She's a walking motif. Look at her eyes. Visually, I was taken aback when her face filled my Zoom screen in which we did a pseudo audition, aah, I started getting this feeling: 'Oh, my God, the movie might exist.' Because without Lidia — her body is our movie. You do not shy away from all the orifices and aspects of a woman's body, and you show a lot of blood. The second shot of the film is intentional. Fifty percent of the population is not going to wonder where that blood came from. It didn't come from a wound. It's textured and chunky, and it's being sucked down a drain. She also comes into her hand so hard that it's dripping from her fingers, and she smells it before getting her mind blown by the sheer capability of her own body. And then the hymen breaking, all of the times that she was aching and itching and bleeding. How often have you ached or itched or bled in public and just been: 'No, you never, that's an alone experience, no matter what.' It's isolating. I hate walking around not telling people what's going on with me. It happens to everyone. Women will respond to this. It's all about the physical. Yes — the movie takes place on the surface of this woman's skin. We would arrange rocks on the sand in the same configuration as my favorite pattern of moles on her stomach, just to make sure that we related her to organic material, to imply that she grew here. She did not choose the things that happened to her. We are gouged out. Our desires are given to us. We experience things that we don't choose, and then they define us for the rest of our lives. [It's] a book about revering words, and the life-saving significance and importance of words. I also wanted to stay outside of any word, inside the unnamed wet, because we don't have to take credit for all the shit that comes out of us, but we can turn it into something that is pleasure and pain at once and have that be something that you can decide whether or not it hurts or it feels good. It must have felt good for you. You're a director now. Oh man, it felt so good. I'm dying. You're going to do it again. I can't wait. Have you got things in the hopper? Now they'll give it to you easily. Yeah, several. It's going to be a lot easier this time. I've always said that as long as I can make another movie after my first one, that I don't need to be precious or clever about it at all. It just needs to feel pure. I've earned the right to try one more time. I never want to make the same movie twice. So whatever comes out next is going to not be anything like this. I can't fucking wait. Jim Belushi is brilliant as Lidia's writing mentor, Ken Kesey. He brought pages to our pages. He's a movie star: He did so much research. He was the person that we needed to come pat us on the back and remind us that it's okay to want approval from a male figurehead, it's not weird, and it's not anti-feminist. You're not a bad feminist if you want someone like Jim Belushi to pat you on the back and tell you that you're a good did you shoot in 16 millimeter? Because I didn't want to record this. I wanted to take pictures so I could slice them up, and I wanted it to feel like a dream, and I needed it to flash before your eyes. And there's just too much information in a digital image. You can't put yourself into it, and it also doesn't speak to time in the way that the movie needs to. The movie needs to fracture. You can't fracture a recorded image. There's no break. You get all the information. [The movie] is a completely and utterly inundating experience. But for us, we only have 24 pictures every second, and sometimes less because we've pulled them out. And so we really fuck with the experience of literal time, and we put it back into the body, and we can span four decades fluidly, because we shot on film. And also, it does something to people on set. You realize your camera has a heartbeat, you can hear it when the camera starts running — whir — everyone stands at attention. It infuses an immediacy and a sort of honor. 'The Chronology of Water' premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. It is currently seeking U.S. distribution. Best of IndieWire Quentin Tarantino's Favorite Movies: 65 Films the Director Wants You to See The 19 Best Thrillers Streaming on Netflix in May, from 'Fair Play' to 'Emily the Criminal' Martin Scorsese's Favorite Movies: 86 Films the Director Wants You to See
The Sun
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
James Norton ‘splits from model girlfriend' Charlotte Rose Smith and jumps back into dating game as he signs for app
JAMES Norton has 'split from his model girlfriend' Charlotte Rose Smith, and has jumped straight back into the dating game by signing up to a celeb app. The renowned actor, 39, was reported to have grown close to Prada model Charlotte, 25, in November of last year. 5 5 5 The couple were all smiles as they went public with a day out in North London. And a source said at the time: 'They have been enjoying dates and seem very happy together. 'It has been a year since his relationship with Imogen ended and he appears to get on so well with Charlotte. They make a lovely couple.' But six months later, and it has now been reported that they've called time on their romance. MailOnline reports that James has now been spotted on a high profile dating app named Raya. His profile on the app is reported to feature snaps of the star with a shaved head, which is a new look for his upcoming role in movie Sunny Dancer. The Sun has contacted James' representatives for comment. Charlotte was James's first public romance since he and Outer Range actress Imogen, 35, ended their six-year romance. The pair met in 2017 while appearing in an adaptation of War and Peace and got engaged in February 2022. James and Imogen parted late last year but the split was only made public in February. Opening up about their break up, James said recently: 'Some of the choices recently weren't mine, yet I don't feel begrudging. 'I just mean that you have a certain amount of control over your life and choices you make, and at other times you don't.' Away from his love life, rumours have been swirling around that James will play the next James Bond. But James seems to have put them to bed, and addressing the rumours while at the BAFTAs, he spoke to TV presenter Alex Zane, and said: 'Whoever is deciding on these odds needs to get a new job. It's so weird and bemusing.' Actor James made the comment when told he was the bookies' favourite to take on the role of 007 next. James, 39, continued: 'Yet again it's based on pure speculation. It makes for a good clickbait moment in the media but other than that, it's fun and bemusing I guess." 5
Geek Vibes Nation
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Vibes Nation
‘The Chronology Of Water' Review: Kristen Stewart Delivers A Wild, Unhinged, Fearless Directional Debut
It's not because you're great in front of the camera that you'll be equally superb behind it, too. More often than not, when a famous actor takes a stab at filmmaking, they play it too safe. This results in a timid and hold-back movie that hopefully is straightforward enough to attract the biggest audience. However, Kristen Stewart ( Love Lies Bleeding , Spencer ) is a stunning exception to that rule. With The Chronology of Water , she – and a formidable Imogen Poots – treat the audience to a dynamic, chaotic and compelling experience. The boldness and braveness of Stewart as a director and writer are apparent from the start. She decided to film on grainy 16mm and, together with co-writer Andy Mingo ( Romance , The Iconographer ), she turned the film's source material, the abuse memoir by Lidia Yuknavitch, into a striking script worth being adapted. While fiction and reality blend in the script, it doesn't matter how much we know about the actual Lidia. Even more so because for a lot of abused people, fantasy is the ultimate form of escapism, and for Lidia, it's no different. She created a self and reality that might not be everyone's reality. Throughout multiple chapters, you follow what Lidia's (Poots) story could have been, was and is. An accumulation of childhood abuse, broken relationships, drinking problems and professional failures would be a difficult watch watch in any feature, but in this work, it all hits you even harder. The extreme close-ups, the loud and energetic score, and the compelling but dry voiceovers result in compassionate, intense and absorbing storytelling. The visceral cinematography certainly matches Lidia's gut-wrenching story. While this feature certainly isn't immune to cliches, there are only a handful of predictable moments. Most of the scenes ooze the pain, rawness and secrets the swimmer and aspiring writer has carried with her throughout her entire life. Ever since she was a young woman, she had to suffer physical and mental abuse at the hand of her stern and ferocious father. The only times she could escape the violence were when he was harming her sister and when she dived into the swimming pool. During The Chronology of Water , it becomes clear that water means so much more to Lidia than it does to most people. It represents freedom, happiness and fulfilment. She sometimes also feels that escapism and transformative feeling in writing, especially during the later part of this film when her dream of becoming a writer might be on the horizon. However, it seems that in everything she does, the abuse and her troubled past are present. Thora Birch as Claudia and Imogen Poots as Lidia in 'The Chronology of Water' courtesy of WME Independent Despite being beaten up and raped by her dad, it's precisely that pain and violence that get Lidia off. This not only results in nonstop masturbation sessions (and secretively enjoying spanking by her swim coach) but also in a troubled view of what an honest, loving, and genuine relationship is. Frustrated that her boyfriend (Earl Cave) is not rough enough as he's too gentle and tender, she finds comfort in booze, coke and a cocky fuckboy. No matter how freely she feels herself in the water, once back on dry land, she's being locked up again in a cage of abuse, frustration, repression and self-destruction. Even when an artistic opportunity arrives, that could change her life, her toxic daddy issues come creeping around the corner. There's not a single frame in this feature in which you don't feel the messy and painful life Lidia has been living. Stewart takes you on a rollercoaster of different tones, emotions and kaleidoscopic colours in the most remarkable way. Equally impressive is Poot's immersive, intense and ecstatic performance. Like her director and the passionate writer and Olympic swimming hopeful she's portraying, Poots put their whole being into this work. Some scenes only consist of a handful of snippets or fast-paced edited shots, and during these moments, Poots has little time to show what her character is going through, but she does it impeccable every time. After watching her in Baltimore and All of You , it's great that even a bigger audience will finally see her immense talent. Poots make every scene come alive, whether with one piercing look, a subtle or not-so-subtle gesture or the fast swimming. So, despite the flaws that come with creating an indie feature as your directional debut, this is a heartfelt and intense story with strong direction and honest and committed on-screen performances. The Chronology of Water held its World Premiere in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. Director: Kristen Stewart Screenwriters: Kristen Stewart, Andy Mingo Rated: NR Runtime: 128m
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Breaking Baz @ Cannes: Floating With Women In Cinema At The Hotel du Cap & Breaking Into The Mubi/Match Factory Soiree
Catherine Deneuve and Imogen Poots, having feasted on tomato ravioli with basil and coulis of green zebra tomatoes — and get this, infused with lemon thyme! — were leaving the Women in Cinema dinner at Eden Roc at the fabled Hotel du Cap as I pulled up in an Uber. Wait! That was only the starter. The main course consisted of fillet of John Dory with black olive barigoule of artichokes. More from Deadline Breaking Baz: Paula Wagner On Why Tom Cruise Remains A Shining Star, Her Part In The 'Mission: Impossible' Franchise, A New Film About John Fogerty & Creedence, And The Art Of Teaching Disruption Cannes Film Festival 2025 in Photos: 'Dossier 137', 'Amrum' & 'Sirât' Premieres 'The President's Cake' Review: First Time Iraqi Director Hasan Hadi Delivers One Of The Fest's Genuine Gems - Cannes Film Festival Anyhow, Deneuve and Poots were outta the building. They were done. I cased the dining room and observed that the trio of deserts — strawberry and elderflower profiterole, bergamot cheesecake and chocolate pecan tart — remained untouched where they'd been seated. (By the way, nobody seems to hang around for pudding nowadays. Is that a weight-watching thing? Such a waste.) I popped a couple of the tiny profiteroles in my mouth. Yum. I had been invited by the Red Sea Film Foundation for the afterparty. No offense was taken. The dinner was for Women in Cinema, not blokes, though David Taghioff, CEO of Library Pictures International, was invited. He was ensconced at the far end of a long table with filmmaker Gurinder Chadha and Paul Mayeda Berges — yep, another dude. Across the room Jessica Alba and jury president Juliette Binoche were exiting. The rule at these gatherings is to move with a semblance of elan. In a packed room, one can't charge like a bull — although when needs must, I have done that. So Alba and Binoche were out of my reach. In any case, I was enjoying listening to Chadha and Taghioff discuss the delicate balance of trying to mix Western and South Asian cultures on screen. It's not bloody easy, that much was clear. Venturing out to the main section of the afterparty, overlooking the Eden Roc's pool, there were helpful signs to ensure guests knew where they were. Women in Cinema was spelled out in fuchsia pink floating in the pool. Way, way back in the day, one could well envision well-inebriated revelers jumping in to 'rescue' the Women in Cinema floating signage. Come to think of it, stuff like that did happen. We're all so well-behaved these days. Perhaps cell phones and social media are to blame. Earlier, I popped along to the Mubi and Match Factory soiree at Vega la Plage. Last year's queue was so frigging long that I gave up. This year I became that appalling person who skipped the line and went to the front and asked the bouncers to find someone in charge to let me — and Kyle Buchanan, who writes 'The Projectionist' column for The New York Times — into the event. As you can imagine, that kind of 'Do you know who I am?!' stuff doesn't go down well with folk who actually don't have a f*cking clue who you are and couldn't give a damn anyway. However, a very nice man let us in, much to the chagrin of a lady who did not want to let us in. Truth be told, I kinda miss the days when I had to break in uninvited. I once had cards printed up saying I was some African prince (funnily enough, I am one) of a fictitious realm to get me into a party that Madonna was throwing out at the Palm Beach. Not only did I get in, but I danced with Madonna, so there you go. I walked a couple of times around and through the Vega la Plage. Exchanged pleasantries with some people. Had a brief chat with Akinola Davies Jr, the extraordinarily gifted Nigerian director of My Father's Shadow, which screens in Un Certain Regard on Sunday. Such a powerful film. Catch it if you can. Davies tells me that My Father's Shadow will feature at the Sydney Film Festival in June. That news made me very happy. Then I left the party, all done in under half an hour. And the queue to get in had gotten even longer. Best of Deadline 2025 TV Cancellations: Photo Gallery Where To Watch All The 'Mission: Impossible' Movies: Streamers With Multiple Films In The Franchise Everything We Know About 'My Life With The Walter Boys' Season 2 So Far
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Cannes According to… Super Agent Jeremy Barber
Best bargain in Cannes? There are no bargains in Cannes. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'The Chronology of Water' Review: Kristen Stewart Makes a Boldly Assured Directing Debut, Starring a Transformative Imogen Poots Spike Lee Toasts 'Highest 2 Lowest' With The Hollywood Reporter and Threads at Cannes Bash Ruben Östlund's 'The Entertainment System Is Down' Sells to Memento for France Favorite meal in Cannes? Tie between La Pizza and Le Maschou. Most overrated restaurant? Does anyone actually answer this question? Biggest Cannes faux pas? Attempting to attend a film at the Palais wearing a sneaker shoe and/or a non-bow tie with your tux. Best place to grab a drink after 3 a.m.? Hotel du Cap. Place to avoid during the festival? The lobby of literally any hotel along the Croisette. Biggest Cannes pet peeve? The crowds and traffic. Cannes guilty pleasure? The movies … all of the movies. Strangest request you've ever received in Cannes? When I worked at Artisan, I was asked/told to creep down a hallway at the Majestic Hotel and listen under the door to hear how much a competitor was offering for a movie we wanted to buy. Most interesting celeb encounter? Watching the sun rise at the Eden-Roc as Bruce Willis DJ'd following the Armageddon premiere and the bar was emptied of its contents. One thing you won't travel without, besides your phone? My backup phone … Attitude toward timing/reporting on standing ovations at premieres? I am not a fan of any reporting on the length of time someone spends standing and cheering, or for that matter doing anything else. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now "A Nutless Monkey Could Do Your Job": From Abusive to Angst-Ridden, 16 Memorable Studio Exec Portrayals in Film and TV The 10 Best Baseball Movies of All Time, Ranked
