Kristen Stewart calls Hollywood a “phony” for hiring the same female directors

Kristen Stewart recently graced the cover of Porter magazine and called out the “fake” Hollywood for often praising itself for abolishing the patriarchy when in reality Hollywood has only given preference to a select group of women in the studio world to act. While progress is being made, Stewart sounded the alarm by saying the changes for women in Hollywood are not as far-reaching as Hollywood would like to portray.

“[There’s a] I think we can check those little boxes and then abolish the patriarchy and how we're all made of it,” Stewart said. “It's easy for them to say, 'Look what we're doing.' We're making Maggie Gyllenhaal's film! We're doing Margot Robbie's film!' And you're like, 'Okay, cool.' They chose four.'”

“And I'm in awe of these women, I love these women, [but] it feels wrong,” Stewart continued. “If we congratulate each other for broadening our perspective when we haven’t really done enough, then we stop broadening the perspective.”

Stewart has struggled in recent years to get financing for her feature debut, “The Chronology of Water.” she said diversity Earlier this year, before the Sundance Film Festival, she announced that she was no longer interested in new acting projects until she got her directing work underway.

“I’m going to do this movie before I ever work for anyone else,” she said. “Yeah, I’m going to quit the damn business. I won't make another film until I make this film. I will definitely tell you that. I think that will get things going.”

Stewart later said at Sundance that in addition to premiering new films, she also attended the 2024 festival to seek financing for the film. “That’s why we’re here,” she said. “I’m going to make this damn movie!”

Speaking to Porter magazine, Stewart had no new information about when filming on “Chronology of Water” will begin. The film is an adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch's memoir of the same name and has starred Imogen Poots in the lead role for several years.

“My film is about incest and periods and a woman forcibly taking over her voice and her body, and it's hard to watch at times… but it's going to be a hell of a thrill,” Stewart said. “I think people would like to see that, but then… I think maybe people want to see movies about Jesus and dogs.”

Visit Porter's website to read Stewart's full cover story.