Kristen Stewart going further from ‘Twilight’ with prestige-film slate

Not long ago, Kristen Stewart was the face of one of Hollywood’s biggest franchises. But even as she skyrocketed to fame as the star of the blockbuster “Twilight” films, the actress never seemed entirely comfortable as a headline-grabbing international celebrity.

Stewart proved eager to show her range beyond the vampire-romance genre during the series’ five-year run, appearing in small-scale indies like “On the Road” and “Welcome to the Rileys.” In the two years since the final “Twilight” movie hit theaters, she’s only ramped up those efforts.

Now, with a slate of upcoming prestige pictures and nary a big commercial project in sight, Stewart is poised to put further distance between herself and her “Twilight” past.

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FOR THE RECORD
Oct. 7, 12:15 p.m.: An earlier version of this post said “Camp X-Ray” screened at the New York Film Festival. It did not screen at the festival but had its New York premiere.
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Stewart, 24, will next appear on screen in the military drama “Camp X-Ray,” which premiered in New York on Monday and opens Oct. 17 from IFC. The film has received mixed to positive reviews so far, and Stewart has earned good notices for her performance as a loner Army guard who forms an improbable bond with a Guantanamo Bay detainee (Peyman Moaadi).

Later this year, Stewart will star opposite Julianne Moore in “Still Alice,” Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland’s buzzed-about drama focusing on a linguistics professor diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. Moore is widely considered an awards-season contender for her lead performance, but distributor Sony Pictures Classics will also be pushing Stewart’s supporting turn: She plays the daughter who both cares for and clashes with Moore.

Stewart matches up with another veteran actress, Juliette Binoche, in French filmmaker Olivier Assayas’ drama “Clouds of Sils Maria,” set for release in spring from IFC. In the film, which bowed to positive reviews at the Cannes Film Festival in May, Stewart portrays an assistant and confidant to a famous, aging actress (Binoche), and the two share a relationship that occasionally veers into intimate and disturbing territory.

Looking further ahead, Stewart is attached to an eclectic bunch of films: There’s Tim Blake Nelson’s ensemble drama “Anesthesia,” Drake Doremus’ sci-fi romance “Equals,” Nima Nourizadeh’s action-comedy “American Ultra” and Steven Shainberg’s erotic comedy “The Big Shoe.”

For all her recent dramatic efforts, though, Stewart hasn’t totally left the “Twilight” world behind. As of last week, she’s set to participate in an online contest in which aspiring female filmmakers will make a series of short films based on the franchise’s characters.

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