Kristen Stewart talks about Cannes Film Festival ‘Full Fill’ and being fed up with Hollywood studios

Kristen Stewart was ready to join Quentin Dupieux’s Full Fill before she even read the script.

The Oscar-nominated actor and director has long been a fan of the French filmmaker, known for his absurdist and surreal style, and was intrigued by his DIY approach to shooting projects on short budgets and in short order.

“I love his movies. They don’t look or feel like anyone else’s movies. He’s the type of director that actors are very lucky to emulate,” Stewart tells Variety from an airport lounge in the Canary Islands, where he is currently filming Panos Cosmatos’ vampire thriller Flesh of the Gods. “He’s always holding the camera. You’re with him, completely connected. He knows how to edit by the end of the day. If you miss a shot, he’ll find it. He’s more than a writer, he’s like a mastermind.”

The one-hour, 20-minute “Full Fill,” which debuts in Saturday night’s Midnight Screening section, tells the story of an American father-daughter duo, played by in-form Woody Harrelson and Stewart, who travel to Paris to reunite. Their plans are quickly thwarted by protests, nosy hotel employees, an obsession with ’50s horror movies, and endless French cuisine, but each obstacle is more ridiculous than the next.

“It’s a Quentin Dupieux special because he packs so much into such a short amount of time,” Stewart says. “His movies are kind of like a big punch, but they’re gentle movies.”

Below, Stewart opens up about finally working with Harrelson, eating an obscene amount of food during filming, and his disdain for the American studio system.

You’ve just started filming Flesh of the Gods, a vampire thriller co-starring Wagner Moura. How are you doing?

It’s only the first week, so everyone is giving it their all right now. We’re just knee deep and it’s like we’re having an incredible time. Panos is shit. It’s as if we’ve wandered into his psychedelic dream world.

Please tell us why you joined “Fulfill” and what attracted you to it.

I heard[about Dupieux’s process]and thought, “Oh my God, I would love to work with him.” And that’s kind of new to me. His wheelhouse is down to earth and gentle, but also decidedly surrealist and at times broad. Plus, I’m totally in love with Woody and always will be. As an actor, I really respect him and he’s a really nice guy. It’s a really nice story about a father and daughter trying to reunite and doing all kinds of wrong things to achieve that, but in a very absurd, kind of subversive, ironic, messed up way. I thought, “Oh, this could be a really great movie.” And I just wanted to work in Paris and meet that director. I’m pretty obsessed with him.

What was it like working with Harrelson and playing his daughter? Is this your first time meeting him?

We’ve been trying to work together for years, but it just hasn’t worked out. When I was a teenager, I had quite a falling out with him. We were talking about another movie and he came and took me to a vegan spot in the valley and we had a great time. I think we became friends even when I was a kid. When I heard he was doing this movie, I was just like, sometimes you don’t connect with people and you don’t understand, “Oh, I could be your kid,” but with him, it was such an easy fit. And it’s perfect because we kind of drive each other crazy in real life (life). He reminds me of my father in some ways. Sometimes I think, “Okay, I’ll stop yelling at Woody,” and then I find myself thinking, “No! You don’t understand!”

You two basically argue throughout the entire movie. How much was in the script and how did you establish the father-daughter banter?

It all comes from Quentin. He has a young daughter, and I think he’s kind of scared about the future. I mean, he was gleefully encouraging me to be as cocky as possible. Because I think he was just trying to make his worst dreams come true. Also, Woody’s character Phil is actually just wearing a blindfold. And it’s so sad and endearing to see someone so desperate for love, only to see it done in the wrong way. He’s a total narcissist, but at the same time they still have a history that he’s trying to extract from. It can be very difficult to have real transparent conversations with family members, especially mothers and fathers. He needs to actually see her as someone she is not. That’s the problem, some narcissistic fathers, I don’t mean to belittle this, but it’s actually rampant. They love you for as long as they can claim you. It’s as if their pride has to do with the fact that they created you. And you’re like, “No!” I am me! I’m not you.

You keep eating food throughout the movie. Did you actually eat? How did you eat it?

That was the hardest part of the whole job because we kept talking the whole time. I’d been running the line for weeks saying, “Wow, I can do this, this, this.” And I thought, “Nothing is coming out of my mouth, considering he doesn’t want me to be empty!” It was also logistically difficult to work with a famous French chef who had no understanding of the filmmaking process and wanted it to taste really good. And I thought, “You guys are going to kill me! This has got to be like cauliflower, damn it, or I’m going to die.” Honestly, it’s an incredibly grotesque, and honestly hilarious, and very real kind of metaphor. I mean, you’re walking down the street in Paris eating donuts and they start a riot and you’re like, “Where are we going for dinner?” So food was really important, and I walked a lot of hills and just ate a lot. There was no way around it. We only did very long takes, so there was no spitting. There was no cut point. Sometimes I thought, “I have to stop.” The bite was never big enough. He literally comes up to me and makes some kind of pig face so he realizes I’m not eating enough and he’s like, “Oh, well, okay, let’s do more on this.”

You’ve talked a little bit before about how difficult it is to make films in America and your desire to work more internationally. How did your experience with “Full Fill” emphasize that feeling?

I’m tired of rules and systems. It is not designed for artists to express themselves. We’re just really ruled by different priorities that don’t align with the actual realization of our dreams. I mean this in a literal sense, and I don’t mean to wax poetic, but I think it’s impossible to produce some kind of radical and important work under capitalist conditions. In particular, most of the people in charge are a bunch of guys who came out under a bunch of other guys, and those people don’t really resonate with the type of things that I personally want to say or the people that I’m aligned with want to say.

You know, the three successful films that go to Cannes get acquired by studios that I somewhat respect, who are good at distributing and winning Oscars. That’s cool. But I feel like it’s not enough. And do we want to wait to be chosen like a golden ticket? It’s like, “I got a golden ticket! I can make one damn movie!” You need to try harder. More work, more accomplishments, more connections, less fear, less shitty bureaucracy, less millionaires needing less millionaires. It drives me crazy. We love spending so much money and building something with a system that honestly wasn’t designed for us. It’s just not possible, just like you can’t shoot in LA, and that’s where our whole business was born. There is no way to play the game anymore.

There are no studios in Cannes this year!

It’s okay, because imagine what would happen if things broke or died. I think it’s good. Especially since I’ve been working since I was 9 years old, I can see horizons I’ve never seen before. This is very new because our industry is completely decimated. And actually, I think there’s a lot of hope there. I have no choice but to grab it.

You were here last year with your directorial debut, The Chronology of Water. How do you feel about that moment now, especially the experience of trying to get distribution for your film?

Oh, that was really difficult. I had just designed the record art for the soundtrack release, so it was really the last creative thing I had to leave on the table for the film and move on completely. The next two films I want to make are very clear to me. After working on this show for Amazon, I hope to have a production by the end of the year. And next April, I’m planning to shoot another piece that I have in mind. This is what I wanted to do and realizing that particular project completely changed my life. Really just pushing it as hard as I can. So I feel like I lost so much time. It’s been a year since then and I feel like I’ve appeared in three more movies. what? ! I love every director I’ve ever worked with. I absolutely love my job. That’s why I love directing. But at the same time, I can’t do that anymore, or I’m not going to make my own films.

All in all, how do I get my work seen and share it with people who actually care, no strings attached to me…but my goal is to create something really free with my friends by the end of the year and post it on fucking YouTube. And seriously, all the money you make from it goes into the next production, creating a trickle-down effect. I don’t want to talk to these brothers anymore. By the way, I would be lucky if something I worked on was distributed by A24, Neon, etc. By the way, I’m your friend. Like, these are my buddies. But I don’t want to make them…I love Hollywood, I love big movies, (but) I don’t think I’m very good at making them. I want to make something strange. And I’m totally fine with doing it in a kind of detached and weird way. But I don’t want to wait five years for someone to give me a million dollars to build something. I’m going to make a lot of it tomorrow. I was like, what the heck? I have been working for a long time, do I just sit here and do the same thing over and over and accumulate wealth? No, that’s a stupid way to live life.

I wanted to ask you, at the Cannes Film Festival last year, Kim Gordon told me that at one point there was a biographical series that the two of you were working on together. Is it still a work in progress?

The memoir she wrote is one of my favorites, and it’s called “Girl in a Band.” And I think they were trying to come up with a beautiful anthology approach to portraying her life, but in a kind of episodic, elliptical way, with different directors. But things have changed and I think Kim is working on devising the best approach. They were talking to me a little bit about that, and actually I think that’s what happened when I met Kim a few years ago. She came up to me once at a Chanel afterparty. she said, sounding like a punk rock Joan Didion. “I’m sorry, I can’t hear you very well here, but I’m really happy to meet you.” Just like the warmest and coolest woman, she really feels like an energetic godmother. I mean, I’d love to be part of that project, but I don’t know how they actually do it. I know someone is taking care of it, but I’m really looking forward to it.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.