- Kristen Stewart opened up about her career and sexuality in a recent interview with Variety.
- Stewart, who played Bella Swan in the "Twilight" series, said the vampire movie is queer-coded.
Kristen Stewart has come to regard her most famous role as "such a gay movie."
Stewart discussed her filmography in a recent interview with Variety, which ran with the headline, "How Kristen Stewart Became a Queer Trailblazer."
In retrospect, Stewart said she recognizes glimmers of queerness in her array of characters — even Bella Swan, the ostensibly heterosexual heroine from the "Twilight" franchise.
The 2008 movie "Twilight" was adapted from Stephanie Meyer's novel of the same name. It follows Bella as she falls in love with Edward Cullen, a 104-year-old vampire.
"I can only see it now," Stewart told Variety. "I don't think it necessarily started off that way, but I also think that the fact that I was there at all, it was percolating. It's such a gay movie."
"I mean, Jesus Christ, Taylor and Rob and me, and it's so hidden and not OK," she continued, referring to her costars, Taylor Lautner and Robert Pattinson. "I mean, a Mormon woman wrote this book. It's all about oppression, about wanting what's going to destroy you. That's a very Gothic, gay inclination that I love."
It's well known that Meyer is an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She has acknowledged that her faith has influenced her storytelling, including her avoidance of "gratuitous sex," alcohol, drugs, and curse words. (On her use of the words "damn" and "hell," she told The Wall Street Journal, "If it's in the Bible I let it go.")
In a 2008 interview with Time, Meyer said resisting temptation is a key theme in "Twilight," especially regarding Edward's thirst for Bella's blood.
"I really think that's the underlying metaphor of my vampires," she says. "It doesn't matter where you're stuck in life or what you think you have to do; you can always choose something else. There's always a different path."
Some fans have speculated that "Twilight" is written as an allegory for Mormonism, in which the Cullen family patriarch Carlisle is a stand-in for the church's founder, Joseph Smith.
However, fans of "Twilight" have infused the story with personal meanings over the years, including queer interpretations of the movie. This is especially true since Stewart explicitly came out as bisexual in 2017.
"It wasn't even like I was hiding," she told Variety. "I was so openly out with my girlfriend for years at that point. I'm like, 'I'm a pretty knowable person.'"
"I have lots of different experiences that shape who I am that are very, very far from binary," she added. "But I did get good at the heteronormative quality. I play that role well. It comes from a somewhat real place — it's not fake. But it's fucked up that if I was gayer, it wouldn't be the case."