As more and more actresses have begun speaking out about the gender-specific challenges they face in Hollywood, Kristen Stewart has weighed in on the issue.
Asked during an interview with Variety about the “lack of great roles for women” and dearth of female directors in Hollywood, and if Stewart had noticed things “changing,” the actress responded, “In any business that’s so old, it’s going to have a somewhat narrow view. And it’s expanding quickly on so many levels.”
She added, however, that it was difficult for her to comment on the issue. “I’m so f—ing lucky and so stimulated and driven and not bored,” Stewart said. “I have something in front of me all the time. It sounds weird for me to sit around and say, ‘It’s not fair.’ Guys make more money because their movies make more money. Let’s start making more movies … it makes sense. If you’re bored or if you feel like there’s a lack of something in front of you, it’s silly for me to say go ‘do something.’ But I came from a family – my mom’s an artist, she’s a painter, she’s a script supervisor as well. When she wasn’t working, she was making something. She was never bored. Instead of sitting around complaining about that, do something. Go write something, go do something for yourself. And that’s easy to say, like, f—, it’s hard to get movies made. It’s a huge luxury, just who gets to make movies. That subject is just so prevalently everywhere right now, and it’s boring.”
(The actress’ comments to Variety were originally presented as being about diversity in Hollywood, causing a firestorm online. The publication issued a correction to clarify Stewart’s remarks soon after.)
Stewart has often spoken out about her views on Hollywood and its treatment of women. During an interview in 2015 with Harper’s Bazaar, she called the industry “disgustingly” sexist. “It’s crazy. It’s so offensive, it’s crazy,” she said. In a 2014 interview with The Daily Beast, Stewart said it was a “really ridiculous thing to say you’re not a feminist.”
Stewart’s new film, Certain Women, made its premiere at this year’s Sundance, and Kelly Reichardt’s small-town ensemble drama follows three Montana women: a small claims lawyer (Laura Dern) trying to diffuse a hostage situation, a wife and mother (Michelle Williams) trying to build a new home, and a young lawyer (Stewart) who befriends a rancher.