Current:Home > FinanceKristen Stewart on her 'very gay' new movie 'Love Lies Bleeding': 'Lesbians overload!' -Legacy Profit Partners
Kristen Stewart on her 'very gay' new movie 'Love Lies Bleeding': 'Lesbians overload!'
View
Date:2025-04-18 06:47:34
Be gay, do crime.
That seems to be a theme of the 2024 box office, between lesbian road-trip comedy “Drive-Away Dolls” and the gritty “Love Lies Bleeding” (in theaters nationwide Friday), starring Kristen Stewart as a training gym manager whose ripped, vengeful girlfriend (Katy O’Brian) sets off a brutal chain of events. They’re the latest in a string of genre movies that eschew queer trauma and pain, from last summer’s raunchy “Bottoms” to this spring’s offbeat “Problemista.”
“It does feel like a movement,” says Stewart, speaking over Zoom with filmmaker Rose Glass, who playfully suggests a “Dolls" and "Bleeding” double feature.
“When is it that you have two (gay) films out at the same time, both doing their own weird thing?” Glass says. “Lesbians everywhere!”
“Heads explode!” Stewart jokes. “Lesbians overload!”
Kristen Stewart says her new movie is 'so sexy and very gay'
Set in dusty 1980s New Mexico, “Bleeding” opens with the unassuming Lou (Stewart) plunging toilets just before she spots Jackie (O’Brian), an alluring newcomer to her gym. Within days, Lou is introducing Jackie to her dysfunctional family and feeding her steroids for an upcoming bodybuilding competition. But their romance quickly turns toxic, as Lou is forced to clean up the mess of Jackie’s violent decisions.
The film is frequently erotic, despite its grisly subject matter, with electric chemistry and carnal sex scenes between Stewart and O’Brian.
“I wasn't interested in doing the tasteful lesbian period drama where it’s all fleeting glances and hand grazes,” Glass says. “It’s nice to do something that’s a bit hornier and more visceral.”
For years, folks on social media have sardonically begged for more movies where "lesbians have electricity and running water." “God, that's so funny,” says Stewart, 33, who came out publicly in 2017. “That's Hollywood's problem: Lesbians having electricity!”
With this film, the Oscar nominee was interested in bringing modern sensibilities to a queer romance. Jackie sleeps with both men and women and uses her body to get what she wants. Lou, meanwhile, harbors dark secrets and struggles to connect with others. But through Jackie, she finds the strength to stand up to her diabolical dad (Ed Harris) and imagine a real future for herself.
“They’re able to believe in each other in the way that they want to be seen, and that is so sexy and very gay,” Stewart says. “It’s a little more cerebral than physical.”
Although most Hollywood sex scenes cut away before the clothes come off, Glass allows you to sit in the characters’ sweaty, fumbling intimacy. “They’re not the most explicit (scenes); you don't see much,” Stewart says. “They’re just gnarly because you’re not used to seeing things like that.”
The actors worked with an intimacy coordinator and filmed nude scenes on a closed set with minimal crew.
“Kristen was very straightforward, like, 'If I do anything that makes you uncomfortable, please voice it,’ ” O’Brian says. “It was a cool, collaborative thing and it wound up being fun.”
'Love Lies Bleeding' director Rose Glass takes a page from cult favorite 'Showgirls'
After her chilling debut film “Saint Maud” in 2021, Glass was interested in subverting the idea of a “strong female lead.” Rather than write a woman whose strength is her moral compass, she decided to make a pulpy thriller about a kind of She-Hulk.
“There was an endearing petulance and brattiness to being like, ‘All right, you want a movie about a strong girl? I’ll give it to you,’ ” says Stewart, who met with Rose in 2021 while promoting Princess Diana drama “Spencer.” “Her pitch was like, ‘Monsters come out of the crevices, we all have them inside. It’s a scary place to live in the ‘80s in America, and how can I be strong as a woman who’s gay?’ ”
One of Glass’ chief inspirations was the infamous 1995 flop “Showgirls,” about one woman’s ruthless pursuit of stardom in Las Vegas. “It was this tightrope of wanting to lean into that camp melodrama, but still wanting there to be an emotional reality to it,” Glass says.
After seeing “Showgirls” for herself, Stewart instantly understood the dark humor and heightened performances that Glass was going for: “Our movie never goes into the absurd quite as much as ‘Showgirls’ does, but every time I watch (‘Bleeding’), I can’t stop laughing.”
“Bleeding” continues a creative hot streak for Stewart, who has drawn acclaim in the last 10 years for her work in “Certain Women,” “Crimes of the Future,” "Still Alice" and “Personal Shopper." She first caught critics’ attention at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival for “Clouds of Sils Maria,” a turning point for the “Twilight” actress.
“I was lucky,” Stewart says of the project. “That spun me off in a cooler, more satisfying direction.”
Stewart wants to make bold choices behind the camera as well. She plans to make her feature directorial debut with the long-gestating “The Chronology of Water.” She admires Glass' visual vocabulary and command of tone but is also eager to forge her own path as a filmmaker.
“Movies say something about the person that made them,” Stewart says. “I’ve worked with great directors and Rose is absolutely one of them. I learned so much on set, but more so that you have to just kind of do your own thing.”
Contributing: Brian Truitt
veryGood! (2)
Related
- Sam Taylor
- Was endless shrimp Red Lobster's downfall? If you subsidize stuff, people will take it.
- Over 150 monkey deaths now linked to heat wave in Mexico: There are going to be a lot of casualties
- The nation's top hurricane forecaster has 5 warnings as dangerous hurricane season starts
- Mets have visions of grandeur, and a dynasty, with Juan Soto as major catalyst
- Iran says Saudi Arabia has expelled 6 state media journalists ahead of the Hajj after detaining them
- Does lemon water help you lose weight? A dietitian explains
- Executions worldwide jumped last year to the highest number since 2015, Amnesty report says
- Taylor Swift makes surprise visit to Kansas City children’s hospital
- Police search the European Parliament over suspected Russian interference, prosecutors say
Ranking
- All That You Wanted to Know About She’s All That
- BHP Group drops its bid for Anglo American, ending plans to create a global mining giant
- Former TikToker Ali Abulaban Found Guilty in 2021 Murders of His Wife and Her Friend
- Man accused of driving toward people outside New York Jewish school charged with hate crimes
- How to watch new prequel series 'Dexter: Original Sin': Premiere date, cast, streaming
- The nation's top hurricane forecaster has 5 warnings as dangerous hurricane season starts
- Chiefs' Isaiah Buggs facing two second-degree animal cruelty misdemeanors, per reports
- Argentina court postpones the start of a trial in a criminal case involving the death of Maradona
Recommendation
Trump invites nearly all federal workers to quit now, get paid through September
What's going on with Ryan and Trista Sutter? A timeline of the 'Bachelorette' stars' cryptic posts
Nebraska volleyball coach John Cook's new contract is designed to help him buy a horse
Authorities kill alligator after woman's remains were found lodged inside reptile's jaw
US appeals court rejects Nasdaq’s diversity rules for company boards
US Olympic pairs figure skating coach Dalilah Sappenfield banned for life for misconduct
Not-so-happy meal: As fast food prices surge, many Americans say it's become a luxury
Human remains found in jaws of alligator in Houston after woman reported missing