MovieChat Forums > Kristen Stewart Discussion > Finally got to watch Underwater and Sebe...

Finally got to watch Underwater and Seberg


Yeah, Underwater currently has a Rotten Tomatoes score of just 48%, but interestingly, several of the critics whose reviews I pay special attention to, rated it positive: Ty Burr, Justin Chang, Mick LaSalle, David Ehrlich, Katie Walsh, John DeFore, Bilge Ebiri, Christy Lemire, and James Berardinelli.

Seberg had an even lower RT score of only 34%, but even in this case, this film received favorable reviews from critics whom I hold in high regard: Peter Travers, Rex Reed, Guy Lodge, David Rooney, Mick LaSalle and Stephanie Zacharek, who mentioned how Kristen had one of the top 10 performances of 2019 for her role as Jean Seberg. I'm still a bit downhearted, SMH, that I missed the opportunity to watch it on the big screen at the Hawaii International Film Festival back in November of last year as, unbeknownst to me at the time, it was showing on the exact same day and at the same theater multiplex that I went to see the "Charlie's Angels" reboot.

While Kristen did well in Underwater--this film is currently #23 as far as highest grossing films domestically so far in 2020, which doesn't say much because of the current pandemic--and exceptionally well in Seberg. Unfortunately, here are two more examples of films where she more than held her own as an actor, yet the limits of the storyline and screenplay put a damper on how this film was received by many of the critics whom I haven't mentioned previously as well as among many moviegoers. But it was still well worth the watch in large part because of her talent as an actress. In my opinion, she showed more range in Seberg than any of her roles to date. So without further ado, let me introduce my two latest Kristen Stewart music videos which showcase what I loved most about these two roles:

Kristen as Norah Price in Underwater: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RCTr6NWXAc

Kristen as Jean Seberg in Seberg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u7PKwmx7dg&t=2s

And lastly, her characters in these two films, along with many of her previous ones, share many character traits as her character in the screenplay I'm currently working on--sort of like a culmination of all her roles up until this point in her career. I completed the rough draft of my script back in December and have since been rewriting it.

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I've seen Underwater but haven't yet seen Seberg. I liked Underwater though I felt the writers and studio could have done more with the story line. It had some good thriller sci-fi aspects which I feel weren't fleshed out as well as could have been. But in this film and especially in Charlies Angels I felt Kristen showed additional range, taking on roles that were quite different from what she's done before. In CA she seemed almost another person in portraying her character.

I liked the videos, good job on those again!

How is your screen play coming along? Interesting to see more info about it. It's not easy to be a writer, takes some creative talent to bring characters to life. My best books reads are often from writers who can add a lot of color and depth to their characters and stories.

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Underwater definitely provided lots of edge-of-your-seat action and suspense, however, like you mentioned, it wasn't as fleshed out as it could have been regarding the protagonist (Kristen) who we don't know much about other than she's a crackerjack mechanical engineer who is brave enough, even in the face of death, to want to help rescue her colleagues from the threats they face on the sea floor, seven miles beneath the surface, as well as the antagonists (humanoid creatures) who are physically imposing and fierce, yet that's all we really know about them.

As far as my screenplay, Kristen's character will be loosely based on a biblical figure, who I believe is the perfect choice in the sense that throughout the film, she will be going on what is known as the hero's journey, where the character starts off living in an ordinary world with a relatively normal life until she is faced with extreme temptations and challenges which will test her physical, psychological and moral fabric to the very core. Her character will hit rock bottom and descend to the darkest recesses of her life. The character would then begin her transformation from a figurative death to rebirth, meet her maker so to speak, and eventually return full circle to the woman she once was, only this time, she will be the master of her own destiny. Without question her character will be very layered, multidimensional and deep. But I don't worry about whether Kristen can pull this off as she's done so time and time again throughout her career--most notably in Seberg where her character's aspirations fall in line with what the character I've written for Kristen aspires to be.

Although her character's Biblical counterpart lived thousands of years ago, the story is set in the not so distant future, where the backdrop will be much different than it is even compared to today. Her character will struggle to do what is right, but every step of the way she is confronted by opposing forces that force her to change for the better or for the worse, as even those closest to her and whom she holds most dear, will eventually betray and abandon her. She will get to the point that she is so confused and disheartened that death appears to be the only way out. I should also add that her character will be very likeable, not so much in the beginning, but by the time her journey comes full circle, she'll be one that her friends will highly admire and even her enemies will come to respect.

So far, I've written almost 170 pages of script and have cut it down to 150 pages, which is the rough equivalent to a two-and-one-half hour movie, if you go by the rule of thumb of a page per minute of screen time. For the past five months I've tried keeping it under two hours, yet every time I shave off some dialogue or unnecessary action, I think of something new, which adds to the page count. So this may turn out to be more of a bigger budget epic film which exceeds well over two hours instead of the lean and mean, micro-budget indie flick I initially set out to write. If Kristen ever decides to direct and act in a film based on this screenplay, I'm not sure how she will secure enough funding to make it into a big budget production--although the heart and soul of the film is her character and the characters she interacts with, so it should easily be in the realm of possibility to make this into a medium budget, or even a small budget indie. From the start, I intended on writing this for a four-quadrant film that will appeal to both males and females of all ages, well except for children under 13. If it ever gets the green light, I guess she'll have to go with cheesy CGI and special effects if they choose to go the small or even micro-budget route.

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LL, your screen play is quite intriguing, an inspirational story that strongly develops as it goes along. Most of all the character description and development that she goes through is a big draw for a story. You've done a lot of work and put much thought into it. Do you have any connections or methods of getting it seen and read by a studio or producer or someone who can help move it along?

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Thanks for asking, Ron. The screenplay is ultimately about the battle between good versus evil, with underlying social justice implications which are huge, relevant and timely, especially in light of the pandemic and the protests rocking the nation, in large part due to social, racial and economic inequality and injustice--yeah, I regard Kristen as the premiere social justice warrior actress of her generation--pitted against the backdrop of a looming existential crisis which threatens the very survival of mankind. This may sound like a post-apocalyptic scenario, but it's much more than that, since it's mainly a cautionary tale of what could happen if mankind doesn't make major changes to avert such a worldwide catastrophe. Without giving away much of the storyline, I would describe it as a script where the beginning and ending scenes are utopian while the rest of the script is predominantly dystopian.

I don't have any connections in Hollywood other than knowing a few who work in the industry, one of whom played an integral role in producing, directing, shooting and editing a low budget film. One of my coworkers starred in a medium budget animated feature produced by Village Roadshow Pictures and has a casual relationship, you know the kind that send text messages to one another on occasion, with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Not sure if he knows The Rock well enough that he would give him the time of day if he sent my screenplay query letter his way. Another workmate of mine works on the sets of local Hawaii television productions such as Hawaii Five-O and Magnum P.I., as well as on sets of some Hollywood feature films that are shot in Hawaii.

So most likely I'll probably have to go the traditional route of either hiring an agent or taking my chances by submitting a query letter to some production companies which have an open submission policy. Another option would be to enter my screenplay into screenwriting competitions to get the needed exposure.

But before I do any of this, hopefully there is a way to send my script directly to Kristen, as she is one of the biggest motivational factors behind writing it in the first place, as I believe she is the perfect actress to play the part. I recall Kristen mentioning on more than one occasion that if someone had a script that she might be able to use, to send it her way. For this reason I've been watching several of her past interviews to find which one it was. So if this is true, I'm guessing it will mean to send a query letter to her agent. I know she's currently busy with writing and making preparations to secure financing to direct her own feature film, "The Chronology of Water," so even if she were interested, she would have to put it on the backburner.

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At least you have some connections, though a bit tenuous perhaps. And that's a good point about what Kristen said regarding the kinds of scripts she would be open to considering or working with. Plus you're writing the script based on the kinds of stories and roles that Kristen enjoys taking on. So those points could open up some possibilities. Sending it to her agent may get her to see it, as I recall that she has said she sees many scripts. You getting an agent may be another good route.

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The character I'm writing for Kristen is a culmination of several of her previous roles, either in the way her character acts and behaves, her character's ideologies, or the situation her character is confronted with. These roles which bear similarities include: The Safety of Objects, Panic Room, Speak, Fierce People, The Messengers, Into the Wild, The Cake Eaters, Welcome to the Rileys, New Moon, Breaking Dawn - Part 1, Snow White and the Huntsman, On the Road, Camp X-Ray, Clouds of Sils Maria, American Ultra, Still Alice, Equals, Cafe Society, Personal Shopper, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, Seberg, and Underwater. In other words, I know she has the range to pull it off, for if you combine all these roles, she's pretty much played the wide ranging and layered part I have written for her.

If I were to compare this role to a compilation of similar roles played by other actresses I would include, for the dystopian scenes:
Jodie Foster in "The Silence of the Lambs" and "Flightplan"
Emily Blunt in "A Quiet Place"
Alice Braga in "Elysium"
Jennifer Connelly in "Dark City"
Audrey Tatou in "The Da Vinci Code"
Amanda Seyfried in "In Time"
Juliette Lewis in "Strange Days"
Natalie Portman in "V for Vendetta"
Mia Farrow in "Rosemary's Baby"
Jessica Chastain in "Zero Dark Thirty"
Carrie-Anne Moss in "The Matrix"
Samantha Morton in "Minority Report"
Alicia Vikander in "Ex Machina"
Sean Young in "Blade Runner"
Geena Davis in "Thelma & Louise"
Michelle Monaghan in "Eagle Eye"
Jennifer Lawrence in "The Hunger Games"
Marion Cotillard in "Inception"
Angelina Jolie in "Changeling"

And for the utopian scenes:
Carrie Fisher in "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope"
Michelle Dockery in "Downton Abbey"
Emilia Clarke in "Game of Thrones"
Scarlett Johansson in "The Other Boleyn Girl"
Liv Tyler in "The Lord of the Rings"
Julia Roberts in "Erin Brockovich" and "Conspiracy Theory"
Saoirse Ronan in "Mary Queen of Scots"
Robin Wright in "The Princess Bride"
Geena Davis in "A League of their Own"
Keira Knightly in "Pride & Prejudice"

As far as the backdrop for the dystopian scenes, of all the films Kristen has starred in, the fictional world would most resemble that of "Equals". If I were to compare it to all films released in the past, I would bear similarities to films such as "Blade Runner", "Ready Player One", "Elysium", "The Hunger Games", "Strange Days", "Logan's Run", "A.I. Artificial Intelligence", "Nineteen Eighty-Four", "Transcendence", "In Time", "Minority Report", "Soylent Green", "V for Vendetta", and "In Time".

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Good points about her range in high lighting her roles in your opening paragraph. Your story sounds like quite a thriller, if not dystopian or post-apocalyptic. I'd like to see her in more roles/stories of this type and hopefully the story line you create will appeal to her for that reason, and especially for the strong character development which always has a strong appeal to the types of roles she takes on. This seems quite similar to the strong woman characters that she's talked about, whether that woman is a kick-butt type or not.

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I've been saying for years that the role I would want Kristen to play most would be a challenging role in a dark drama, as I know she will excel in such a part. While my story definitely has its thrilling moments, of the psychological thriller type. For example, it plays out more like a dark drama than a thriller. It's more similar to films like "Being John Malkovich", "Mulholland Drive", "Vertigo", "Pans Labyrinth", "The Road", "Get Out", "Brazil", "A Clockwork Orange", "Signs", "Donnie Darko", "Room", "Shutter Island" and "Eyes Wide Shut" as opposed to other films in the thriller genre such as "Seven", "Taken", "Sicario", "Oldboy", "Heat", "John Wick", "The Equalizer", "Prisoners", "Cape Fear", "American Psycho", 'Dressed to Kill", "The Untouchables" or "Basic Instinct".

This is in large part due to the lack of overt violence that is depicted in my story, although, an existential threat during the dystopian scenes is always looming large in the background, and is at times quite menacing, keeping Kristen's character constantly on edge, as her life is at times, hanging by a mere thread. You see, the psychopaths and sociopaths who play the lead antagonists in my story don't even have to engage in violence of any sort to command attention and strike fear in anyone who crosses their path, just as the speak softly and carry a big stick ideology would dictate, not even having to rule with an iron fist but with soft power, simply because they their power is absolute.

My script contains no vulgar language, while the violence and sex will be mostly implied, so much so that this may receive a PG rating if it's ever made into a film, even though the subject matter is virtually as dark as it gets. For this reason, I'm attempting to inject comedic moments for comic relief purposes. A perfect example of this is would be the film "Fight Club", where humor was interspersed and woven throughout the immensely dark themes of its storyline, which made it much more palatable, a film I'm hoping to emulate. By comparison, as far as Kristen's previous films goes, this was done to a lesser degree in "American Ultra".

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I've seen many or most of those films you list. Great inspiration. I see more good info and description of your plot and character. Looks to me well thought out, a deep plot with interesting and perhaps iconic themes to it. I also find it refreshing that it's not necessary to be overly violent nor vulgar.

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I believe many directors mistakenly think they have to create films with an R rating just for the sake of it in order to be taken seriously in Hollywood, as life is rated R if you were to portray mature events onscreen exactly how it occurs in real life. I say this because I often watch rated R films that could have easily been given a PG-13 rating had the film had less gore, nudity and f-bombs. Film is an art form, so directors should be able to find creative and ingenious ways, even masterful means to imply violence, sex, vulgar language, vice activity and the like. One of the things that my favorite directors of all time have in common is their innate ability to churn out powerful, profound and compelling films that aren't Rated R:

Stanley Kubrick:
"2001: A Space Odyssey" - Rated G
"Dr. Strangelove" - Rated PG
"Barry Lyndon" - Rated PG
"Spartacus" - Rated PG-13

Steven Spielberg:
"Jaws" - Rated PG
"Empire of the Sun" - Rated PG
"Close Encounters of the Third Kind" - Rated PG
"Minority Report" - Rated PG-13
"Bridge of Spies" - Rated PG-13
"War Horse" - Rated PG-13
"A.I. Artificial Intelligence" - Rated PG-13

Francis Ford Coppola:
"The Conversation" - Rated PG
"The Outsiders" - Rated PG
"The Rainmaker" - Rated PG-13

Sergio Leone:
"Once Upon a Time in the West" - Rated PG-13

Alfred Hitchcock:
"Rear Window" - Rated PG
"Vertigo" - Rated PG
"The Birds" - Rated PG-13

Of course it should also be mentioned that the aforementioned directors ratcheted up the rated R content if need be, to produce some of the best and most riveting films of all time, such as: Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket", "The Shining", "A Clockwork Orange" and "Eyes Wide Shut", Spielberg's "Schindler's List", "Saving Private Ryan" and "Munich", Coppola's "The Godfather", "Apocalypse Now" and "Bram Stoker's Dracula", Leone's "Once Upon a Time in America", and Hitchcock's "Psycho".

This is a major reason why Martin Scorsese isn't in my top 5, despite the fact that he directed several critically acclaimed films such as "Goodfellas", "Mean Streets", "Taxi Driver", "Raging Bull", "The Departed", "The Irishman", "Gangs of New York", and "Casino", which included heavy doses of his particular brand of unflinching graphic and realistic violence. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate Scorsese's masterful storytelling--I just wish he would tone down the violence a bit. More so with Quentin Tarantino, whose trademark is extreme violence.

For this reason, Christopher Nolan may one day crack my top five as most of his critically acclaimed and commercially successful films are rated PG-13: "Dunkirk", "Interstellar", "Inception", "The Dark Knight Rises", "The Dark Knight", "Batman Begins", and "The Prestige".

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"order to be taken seriously in Hollywood, as life is rated R if you were to portray mature events onscreen exactly how it occurs in real life. I say this because I often watch rated R films that could have easily been given a PG-13 rating had the film had less gore, nudity and f-bombs. Film is an art form, so directors should be able to find creative and ingenious ways, even masterful means to imply violence, sex, vulgar language, vice activity and the like. One of the things that my favorite directors of all time have in common is their innate ability to churn out powerful, profound and compelling films that aren't Rated R:"

Yep, very good points about R rating, especially given all those excellent movies you list there!

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And conversely, many of the films I listed previously, such as Jaws, Empire of the Sun, Bridge of Spies, Minority Report, The Outsiders, The Birds, Barry Lindon, Rear Window and Once Upon a Time in the West, could have easily been rated R had the directors of these movies included a bit more bloody violence, nudity or vulgar language. Thankfully they didn't. This may be a major reason why many argue that the films made in the past were on average better than the films made today.

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