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LLOwens's Replies
While the critic reviews continue to trickle in, there was just one review submitted within the past few days from a top film critic. However, this glowing review is the highest praise Kristen has received thus far from any high-profile critic for her stellar performance in Personal Shopper:
"An award-winner at Cannes last year, Personal Shopper has turned into an excuse for many film critics to re-assess Kristen Stewart and say, “Wow, she can really act!” To which I say, “Where have you all been? I was saying the same thing eight years ago.” However, don’t let my sense of vindication obscure this French-made film’s achievements. This highly unusual work is a spellbinding meditation on grief and loss, Stewart’s performance in it is nothing short of astonishing, and you can see it all when it opens this weekend at AMC Grapevine Mills or on the weekend of April 21 at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.
The setup places a great burden on Stewart, who effectively plays many of her scenes alone and at one point even has to walk through that haunted house ranting at empty air. A scene like that will make many actors look bad, but Stewart pulls it off effortlessly. Frequently looking so drawn and haggard that she might disappear like her character in Assayas’ Clouds of Sils Maria, Stewart shows the toll of grief on Maureen and her desperate desire for closure. The actress’ trademark nervous intensity serves the role well, especially in one scene on a train when Maureen breaks down in the face of a series of vaguely threatening text messages that may or may not be from Lewis. The movie climaxes with Maureen meeting her sister-in-law’s new boyfriend (Anders Danielsen Lie) in a backyard garden, and as she finds a degree of comfort from this relative stranger, Stewart makes the scene deeply moving.
Kristen Stewart is having the career that Hilary Swank was supposed to have.
Stewart has the same sort of androgynous beauty, which along with her offscreen bisexuality makes her a polymorphous object of desire for viewers of all orientations. After some extremely public growing pains, she finally seems to have grown comfortable with herself and everything that makes her different from other leading ladies.
Stewart’s restless intellect and impatience with the blockbuster franchises (which, after all, she’s done already) make her a harder case. Fortunately, she’s demonstrating a better grasp of her own best usage than those studio executives. She has worked for established great directors like Ang Lee and Woody Allen, but more often she’s drawn to low-budget filmmakers who have done fascinating work in the past like Kelly Reichardt or Assayas. Choosing good roles is half the battle, but she has brought her bristle to such different parts as a frazzled small-town lawyer in Certain Women to a lonely Texas antiwar activist in Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk to an ethically conflicted U.S. Marine in Camp X-Ray. She improved all those films, some of them greatly, and they also showed her willingness to take supporting or ensemble parts rather than only look for star vehicles.
Personal Shopper is a deeply ambiguous movie, right down to its troubling final touch, so it needs a star whose appeal lies in her ambiguity. Kristen Stewart is forging a career path that no one else has forged before, and here and elsewhere, she’s laying waste while she does it. Watching her do it is as thrilling as anything the movies have to offer right now. ~Kristian Lin
<a href="https://www.fwweekly.com/2017/03/31/personal-shopper-get-ghost/">https://www.fwweekly.com/2017/03/31/personal-shopper-get-ghost/</a>
If this is not high praise, than I don't know what is, being that I consider Hilary Swank to be one of the most talented actresses working in Hollywood today.
"I would think that most actors with so many roles are doing lighter type roles, romantic comedies or action movies which while those require good work they also aren't as demanding as getting into the persona of a troubled, ill or person in some kind of turmoil."
Kristen's grief stricken, sorrowful, agitated, desperate, shell-shocked, troubled, disenfranchised, lonely, terrified, vulnerable take on her character Maureen's inner turmoil in Personal Shopper is certainly no exception to her taking on demanding and challenging roles head on.
Like I mentioned on another thread, from her debut as a 10-year-old-child-actress in The Safety of Objects until her most recent role in Underwater, she has been cast in a whopping 37 full-length feature films! That would be an entire career's worth of projects for most Hollywood actors--but something tells me she's just getting started. She may end up with 100 films in her filmography before it's all said and done.
Right now I'm reading the screenwriting bible "Story" authored by creative writing instructor extraordinaire Robert McKee who mentions how some great screenwriters and playwrights started off as actors--so besides acting and directing, screenwriting may be another career Kristen may be pursuing as she has expressed an interest in writing as well. That would be amazing if she could one day star in a film which she has written and directed.
"I was trying to think of several actors who have very similar mannerisms in their roles."
Or we could word it, there are very few actors who are able to completely disappear into a role making them virtually unrecognizable--while pretty much all the other actors in Hollywood carry over their various personality mannerisms and quirks from one film role to the next.
A few actors who are an exception to this rule are: Daniel Day Lewis the ultimate method actor is so different and distinct in every role he plays in films such as My Left Foot, The Last of the Mohicans, There Will Be Blood, Gangs of New York and Lincoln. One of the most underrated actors in terms of getting into character in several of his films yet still not winning an Oscar is Gary Oldman whose acting is as diverse as his roles in movies such as Sid and Nancy, Bram Stokers Dracula, The Fifth Element, The Professional and The Dark Knight. Then we have Heath Ledger, an actor who excels in being a ladies man in films such as Casanova and 10 Things I Hate About You, but then did a 180 degree turn in Brokeback Mountain, then turned his acting career completely on "its side" as the Joker would say in The Dark Knight with his disappearing act as the Joker in TDK. And finally we need to recognize one of your fave actors, Johnny Depp who portrayed just about every type of character imaginable, from someone who couldn't hurt a fly to a ruthless gangster and everything in between, his impressive filmography including roles in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Cry-Baby, Edward Scissorhands, Benny and Joon, Pirates of the Caribbean, Finding Neverland, Chocolat, Secret Window, Donnie Brasco, Public Enemies, From Hell and Black Mass.
While Kristen isn't in the same league as these aforementioned uber talented actors, she has shown good versatility and range in her roles in films such as Panic Room, The Cake Eaters, Speak, Into the Wild, Adventureland, The Runaways, Clouds of Sils Maria and Personal Shopper to name a few.
One more thing I might add about Daniel Day Lewis is that over the past 24 years, he has starred in only 8 films, an average of about one movie every three years. In comparison, Kristen has starred in a whopping 37 full length feature films over the course of just 16 years, which doesn't include her performances in short films, music videos, SNL hosting, etc. While I love for her to star in as many films as possible, perhaps she's spreading herself out too thin. Just wondering how great her performances would be if she just focused on one quality film role every three years like Lewis does. I recall Kristen mentioning how she needed to take a break from acting after her role in Personal Shopper because this performance took so much out of her. I'm guessing that the same is true for actors such as Lewis who totally immerse themselves into each and every one of their character roles.
"But do moviegoers criticize performances by other actors who certainly use similar quirks or personality traits in different roles. And that's ok because those traits are part of who they are and how they react or show emotions. In fact, probably to change such things would mean not being natural or believable and open them up for criticism."
Exactly Ron. Kristen sometimes stammers in her films when in deep thought, but so does Jeff Goldblum to an even greater degree as he uses word whiskers such as um, ah-ha and uh interspersed frequently throughout his conversations in all of his films. Kristen is sometimes criticized for keeping her mouth open, those open-mouthed gazes which I actually find endearing--and yet other actresses such as Keira Knightley do it even more excessively yet no one seems to be making a big deal out of it. Kristen sometimes resorts to nervous tics, especially in Twilight, yet Harrison Ford gets away with it, most notably his nervous twitch smile in every single film he has ever starred in. Kristen is sometimes criticized for occasionally pausing at inappropriate places while reciting her lines--yet actors such as Christopher Walken make a habit of pausing unnecessarily while uttering most of his lines while emphasizing words that shouldn't be emphasized. Kristen takes on a wide variety of roles which require her to speak in multiple accents and is sometimes criticized for not being completely authentic and yet we have actors such as Liam Neeson, who regardless of the roles he is cast in, always reverts back to the accent he's most comfortable with, in Nesson's case, his Irish accent.
And lastly we have 7-time Oscar nominated actor Denzel Washington, who is perhaps better known for his personality acting than his character acting, an actor who never disappears into a role but instead fully embraces all of his personality quirks, traits, eccentricities and tics and emotes these onscreen. Some that come to mind is the way he repeats the same word excessively, repeats phrases such as "My man" and "My brother" excessively, stammers excessively, uses his New York accent excessively, points his finger excessively, flails his arms excessively, licks and smacks his lips excessively, wipes his nose with his index finger excessively, grins excessively, forced laughs excessively, shakes his head and nods excessively, opens his eyes wide then blinks excessively in each and every one of his films. And yet we never hear of movie directors, critics or the majority of moviegoers for that matter, telling him to dial down his personality quirks and for good reason since if they did and Denzel obliged, we wouldn't have the actor millions of moviegoers around the world have come to know and love him for. Here are some YouTube videos of Denzel Washington impersonators who illustrate the mannerisms he is renowned for:
Dean Edwards: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcCdZr_sklI">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcCdZr_sklI</a>
Jay Pharoah: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLn4ckxt9i8">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLn4ckxt9i8</a>
London Brown: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6nj-IWwrYk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6nj-IWwrYk</a>
Reggie Reg: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-mmxFdva4w&t=151s">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-mmxFdva4w&t=151s</a>
Even when Kristen isn't acting in full length feature films she's so busy with her fashion career, starring in short films, music videos, making appearances on talk shows, hosting SNL as well as directing short films.
"And of course, the message that The Messengers are throwing in is "BUY THE CHANEL GABRIELLE BAG, OR ELSE!!!""
I've heard of subliminal advertising, but this one takes the cake lol!
I believe her most recent fashion shoot is her Chanel Gabrielle Bag campaign which will include a short film that will be released on April 3rd on Chanel.com: <a href="http://www.instyle.com/fashion/kristen-stewart-chanel-gabrielle-bag-campaign-ghost">http://www.instyle.com/fashion/kristen-stewart-chanel-gabrielle-bag-campaign-ghost</a>
I'll dub it "Personal Shopper" meets "Coco Chanel" or "Once and Forever" the sequel.
"Stewart. Emma Watson still has to prove herself."
I believe most other young actresses have is easier than these two, as the main thing they have to prove is that they can act. For Kristen and Emma they must constantly churn out performances that are much different and much more substantive than their roles as Bella Swan and Hermoine Granger. Carrying over even the slightest mannerism, accent or quirk from the roles they are most known for will have moviegoers claiming they act exactly the same in every film even though this clearly isn't the case.
Good to see Emma getting out of her comfort zone by choosing challenging roles in films such as The Colony and Regression. But she still has a ways to go in terms of receiving critical acclaim on par with Kristen.
"Some Personal Shopper pics, behind the scenes and leaked footage. No idea if the leaked stuff was done on purpose or against studio wishes. I didn't look at it since I'll save it for when I see the film."
This site doesn't appear to have any leaked footage of Personal Shopper since all this footage was released months prior, such as the GIFs which appear to be derived from PS trailers along with YouTube links to months old PS trailers and behind the scenes footage captured by Paris based video news agency Storm Shadow Crew which was uploaded a year and a half ago.
Anyhow, thanks Ron for posting this as some who do not peruse YouTube regularly may not have come across all these pics and links, which will be "new" to them despite these being dated.
"Kristen in Elle magazine. This is supposedly current but I think it's of a previous photo shoot as I think I've seen it before."
Funny how this site filed it under "BREAKING FILM NEWS" since this Elle UK September 2015 photo shoot is from a year and a half ago: <a href="http://www.elleuk.com/life-and-culture/news/a26641/kristen-stewart-is-elles-september-cover-star/"> http://www.elleuk.com/life-and-culture/news/a26641/kristen-stewart-is-elles-september-cover-star/</a>
Agreed Ron. Several of my fave actors working in Hollywood today also shun the limelight such as Daniel Day Lewis, Denzel Washington, Harrison Ford, Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio and Joaquin Phoenix. Of course they promote their films and walk the red carpet when they have to, but they mostly prefer to stay out of the spotlight, which is sometimes hard to do considering their A-list status.
"I think Emma is very good and capable and in Beauty and the Beast she's getting a lot of notice, as the film broke box office records in its opening weekend."
In 10 days this film has grossed nearly $700 million at the box office.
I sure do miss Paul Hogan as well--although I must say the only character which drew crowds of moviegoers was Crocodile Dundee. The first film was the second highest grossing film in 1986 raking in $328 million worldwide on a $8.8 million production budget, while the sequel also did well grossing nearly $240 million on a $14 million production budget. Most of his other films outside of the Crocodile Dundee franchise failed to earn more than their production budgets.
"Assayas has a lot of good things to say and gives some in depth views on Kristen as an actress."
In his most recent interview, Assayas describes her down-to-earth, off screen persona <a href="https://moviemovesme.com/2017/03/27/olivier-assayas-talks-personal-shopper-and-kristen-stewart/">https://moviemovesme.com/2017/03/27/olivier-assayas-talks-personal-shopper-and-kristen-stewart/</a> :
"Personal shopper is much more grounded and I think that it was inspired by Kristen in a way. So the question is why was I inspired by Kristen Stewart? I think that as opposed to big movie stars she’s incredibly simple, natural, easygoing and that’s what I like the most in her. She has this kind of media persona where she’s in the tabloid and looks like a nutcase but she isn’t! She’s great, she’s simple, she’s very protective of her intimacy and she’s not the girl next door. She’s really someone who’s just so here and now. I like her regular person, this everyday person and I like the idea of representing someone who has some healthy perspective on her celebrity culture!"
I find it ironic that we're discussing the death of her career when earlier this week there were false rumors about another internet death hoax, this time involving Sobieski:
<a href="http://en.mediamass.net/people/leelee-sobieski/deathhoax.html">http://en.mediamass.net/people/leelee-sobieski/deathhoax.html</a>
It appears that Sobieski has been putting her acting on hold for the past few years to spend more time with her two children. In addition, she told Vogue magazine that, “Ninety percent of acting roles involve so much sexual stuff with other people, and I don’t want to do that.” She then added, "It’s such a strange fire to play with, and our relationship [with her husband Adam Kimmel] is surely strong enough to handle it, but if you’re going to walk through fire, there has to be something incredible on the other side.”
So I guess Sobieski is really putting her family first over her career, which to me is a noble reason for hanging up her acting shoes.
That being said, it does sound a bit superficial that we prefer watching actors who we find attractive to be cast in lead roles and am guessing most moviegoers likewise also do the same, for this is after all show business where looks are king. But then again, Kristen's not just another pretty face but is also a critically acclaimed actress who adds substance to her looks.
"I would say whether its Emma or Kristen, anybody and everybody is a better actress than Leelee Sobieski."
Sobieski was her at her best during her teen years and showed promise of being a highly sought out A-list actress, from her first supporting role in the feature film Deep Impact and the role which garnered her some critical acclaim in A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries in 1998, to challenging roles in Eyes Wide Shut, Joan of Arc and The Glass House in 1999, to Joy Ride and Uprising in 2001. Unfortunately for her and her fans, her career seems to have gone downward since then.
Continued
"Review: Kristen Stewart shines in ‘Personal Shopper'
It’s a drama, it’s a thriller, it’s a horror tale; it’s all those things, and Stewart is remarkable
Kristen Stewart, who starred in “Clouds,” is marvelous as Maureen, an assistant to a high-powered celebrity named Kyra." ~Adam Graham
<a href="http://www.detroitnews.com/story/entertainment/movies/2017/03/23/movie-review-kristen-stewart-shines-personal-shopper/99564612/">http://www.detroitnews.com/story/entertainment/movies/2017/03/23/movie-review-kristen-stewart-shines-personal-shopper/99564612/</a>
"Olivier Assayas’s latest film, the genre-composite ghost-story thriller meets slow-burn Kristen Stewart-starring workplace drama, is a riveting, impossible-to-shake masterwork that leaves the audience spooked, not by its telling but by its commitment to abstract themes of grief, solitude and coming of age.
Stewart, who plays a young American living in Paris, remarkably navigates the loss of her character’s twin brother while seemingly communicating with spirits, all the while juggling the demands of a celebrity boss’s idiosyncratic wardrobe needs." ~Durga Chew-Bose
<a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/film-reviews/personal-shopper-ghost-thriller-meets-workplace-drama-with-riveting-result/article34405693/">http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/film-reviews/personal-shopper-ghost-thriller-meets-workplace-drama-with-riveting-result/article34405693/</a>
"Kristen Stewart was easily the most beguiling thing about Assayas’ overrated The Clouds of Sils Maria. In my review of that film, I wrote the following: “Stewart, with her natural, unforced performance, provides us with a window into the bubble of [the main character’s] artificial world. We feel her absence when she's gone.” For Personal Shopper, the filmmaker isn’t faced by the dilemma of coping with her disappearance because his lead actress is never far from the camera’s gaze. The word “unforced” applies here. Stewart never seems to be acting. Her distracted, aloof performance is perfect for a character who is more interested in the next life than this one." ~James Berardinelli
<a href="http://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/personal-shopper">http://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/personal-shopper</a>
"At the center of almost every shot, Kristen Stewart is sharply focused and totally committed to the role of a woman for whom life, death and the everyday environment don’t add up anymore. Her second collaboration with French director Olivier Assayas (after 2014’s “Clouds of Sils Maria”) is a handsome, peculiar amalgam of supernatural thriller, character portrait and crime story. It’s also a challenging choice for Stewart, who is film-by-film erasing memories of her “Twilight” work." ~Colin Covert
<a href="http://www.startribune.com/mini-reviews-of-raw-power-rangers-and-personal-shopper/416944784/">http://www.startribune.com/mini-reviews-of-raw-power-rangers-and-personal-shopper/416944784/</a>
The positive reviews for Personal Shopper and subsequent high praise for Kristen's performance continue to pour in. There are a total of 123 critics so far who liked this films, with the vast majority of these attributing the success of this film in large part to Kristen. Since these positive critic reviews are so numerous, I'll continue to post excerpts from just the top critics in the industry:
"Kristen Stewart adds value to ‘Personal Shopper’
The only thing certain about the new film is that Kristen Stewart gives a tremendous performance in the title role, as nuanced and minutely observed as we require from our best actors. Let the wars be over: Stewart may be a minimalist — and with a less strong or sympathetic director she doesn’t seem to know what to do with her hands; see the recent “Billy Lynn’s Halftime Walk” — but she’s the real deal, and at moments in “Personal Shopper” she breaks your heart.
What’s the point of “Personal Shopper”? Perhaps simply being in the presence of an uncertain young woman played by a luminous young performer as she fully comes into her own." ~Ty Burr
<a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movies/2017/03/15/kristen-stewart-adds-value-personal-shopper/vVgoAIqxKgVzWxJrHanWuM/story.html">https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movies/2017/03/15/kristen-stewart-adds-value-personal-shopper/vVgoAIqxKgVzWxJrHanWuM/story.html</a>
"At the risk of belaboring the obvious, nothing Kristen Stewart did mooning around in the awful 'Twilight' franchise could have predicted what a magnetic actress she has become.
Assayas doesn’t answer all the questions his film asks, but that’s fitting: Maureen is still searching, as well. And thanks to Stewart we’re willing to wait, and watch. She moves through the movie almost like a ghost herself, a controlled minimalism making us look for more. She holds the screen — but don’t ignore its edges, because Assayas puts information there, too.
“Personal Shopper” draws you in, interesting from all angles." ~Bill Goodykoontz
<a href="http://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/movies/billgoodykoontz/2017/03/23/personal-shopper-movie-review-kristen-stewart/99489906/">http://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/movies/billgoodykoontz/2017/03/23/personal-shopper-movie-review-kristen-stewart/99489906/</a>
"Stewart has her moments: When it comes to appearing shell-shocked, she has few equals, and she clearly has a screen presence that the camera loves. In films from “Panic Room” to “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,” her performances have been spellbinding. But there’s little that she can do with an underdeveloped script." ~Calvin Wilson
<a href="http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/personal-shopper-starring-kristen-stewart-skimps-on-thrills/article_7211ace2-cd3e-5769-a65b-7d3ba54c8863.html">http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/personal-shopper-starring-kristen-stewart-skimps-on-thrills/article_7211ace2-cd3e-5769-a65b-7d3ba54c8863.html</a>
"Yeah, Euro films are different and it's often a refreshing change IMO, especially from the often typecast plot lines of US films."
One way of avoided cliched filmmaking is by mixing genres which Assayas has done with Personal Shopper as some critics have labeled this film's genre as undefinable.
"Each type film has its place and the character driven stories often reflect more on the human story much more so."
This is what makes Kristen more versatile than most give her credit for, as she's an actress who does well in both character driven films as well as plot driven storylines which often rely more on an actor's physicality. For example, she helped anchor a $3.3 billion film franchise, has received critical acclaim for the great chemistry she displayed with Juliette Binoche in the dialogue driven film Clouds of Sils Maria, along with other actors such as Jesse Eisenberg in Adventureland and Cafe Society as well as with Dakota Fanning in The Runaways, has more than held her own starring opposite Oscar winning actors such as Julianne Moore in Still Alice and Jodie Foster in Panic Room, can steal scenes even with her small supporting roles in films such as in Into the Wild, Certain Women, Anesthesia and Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, has the screen presence and physicality to star in big budget movies such as Snow White and the Huntsman and can even succeed in solitary roles such as Speak and of course, Personal Shopper where in several scenes, she is the only visible character onscreen which requires subtle and nuanced acting to accompany her reticent persona.
Olivier Assayas recently commented on Kristen's versatility in an interview with AMNew York:
<a href="http://www.amny.com/entertainment/olivier-assayas-on-kristen-stewart-personal-shopper-1.13301495">http://www.amny.com/entertainment/olivier-assayas-on-kristen-stewart-personal-shopper-1.13301495</a>
"What, to you, makes Kristen such a great screen presence?
I think she’s incredibly gifted. I think also she has this completely fascinating relationship with the camera. It’s something beyond her own talents. She has it. It’s something that’s obvious. It’s something that struck me the first time I saw her onscreen in Sean Penn’s film, “Into the Wild.” She stands out. There is something that happens when she’s onscreen that’s beyond analyzing. What’s exciting about her is the mixture she has of animal instinct and deep technical knowledge of what she’s doing.
Do you encounter that much?
It’s very rare to have a combination of the two. You have great, very technical actresses, you have intuitive actresses, but actresses who have both, who know how to use their instinct to control in very nuanced ways what they do, it’s pretty unique.
What about for “Personal Shopper,” specifically?
In terms of a movie like this one, which deals with the supernatural, with the invisible, I thought it was really important to have an actress that’s as grounded and real as Kristen. The thing is, Kristen brings everything back to something very human, simple, obvious, and she connects that with the audience.
Are you guys going to work together again?
I would make another film with her tomorrow. I just don’t have the subject yet, but I’m sure I will find it. I think there’s really space for us to make another film. I would love it to happen."