Twilight has been a smash hit in the book world, and even more so in the box office, grossing over 150 million. Kristin Stewart and Robert Pattinson have pretty evenly split the spotlight, but it is Stewart who is shaping up a serious film career that will continue after the Twilight trend.
Stewart Goes for the Heavy Roles
Even before Twilight, Stewart had wasted no time in starting a career. She had been seen in indie, weighty movies like Into the Wild and Fierce People. Even In the Land of Women slates her as a character who unknowingly shares a lover with her mother. She has played opposite Adam Brody, Anton Yelchin (Charlie Bartlett), Emile Hirsch, and even Hayden Christensen. Now in What Just Happened, she plays the daughter of Robert DeNiro.
Does Stewart Measure Up to the Big Boys?
This film, while not a major box office hit, had quite the handful of stars and major talents in the industry. Two-time Academy Award winner Robert DeNiro starred, with appearances by Sean Penn (also two Oscars), Bruce Willis (Golden Globe), Catherine Keener (two-time Oscar nominee), and Robin Wright Penn (Golden Globe nominee). It was quite the departure from the usual for Willis and Penn, who both play themselves. Willis seems to have loads of fun in this role as the diva actor, and gets to pitch fits and scream throughout the film.
And Kristen Stewart in the middle of it all. Thankfully, her strengths lie in an understated performance, and she doesn’t overdo it in an attempt to match up to her co-stars. She plays Ben’s (DeNiro) daughter Zoe, and her main scene is at the funeral of a man who was her sometime lover and her father’s co-worker. She does some of the typical misunderstood teen vibe, giving her father many sighs and very little information when he questions her about their relationship. A highlight of the movie is in this scene, when Zoe asks, “Does it really matter now?” And Ben replies, “Well, the man blew his brains out honey. Yeah, it matters.”
For better or worse, What Just Happened is playing to the absolute opposite demographic that Twilight does. The movie is rated R, mainly for language and sexual content, and it portrays Hollywood in all its corrupted glory. It’s all reality and comedy, which is also the absolute opposite of Twilight. This speaks well of Stewart’s range as an actress, if she can keep it up.
One of her upcoming projects will have her playing punk goddess Joan Jett. Crass, loud, and legendary, Jett will be Stewart’s toughest role yet.
