Kristen Stewart made some provocative remarks during her keynote address at the Academy and Chanel Women’s Luncheon in Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon.
The actress and director, whose feature film directorial debut, The Chronology of Water, will be released in theaters next month, accused Hollywood of failing to live up to its post-MeToo goals and efforts.
“In the post-MeToo moment, it seemed like stories created by women, for women, could finally be given their due recognition, where we could be allowed or encouraged to express ourselves, our shared experiences, and all of our experiences without filters,” she said after being introduced by Academy President Lynette Howell Taylor. “But I can now attest to Bare Knuckle Fights that we will go to any lengths to fight when the content is too dark, too taboo, or often provokes disgust and rejection because it provides candid observations about experiences that women go through on a daily basis.”
She insisted that these experiences were real and should be told with truth.
Stewart said as the moment erupted into laughter and applause. “I’m in a severe state of PMS today… but I’m happy to say my nerves are close to the surface of my skin. It’s a great day for that.”
She went on to say, “We can talk about the wage gap and the tampon tax and measure[inequality]in quantifiable ways, but the violence of silence is something we shouldn’t be angry about. But I can eat this podium with a fork and knife. I’m so angry.”
Looking out over the luncheon guests, including Tessa Thompson, Sarah Paulson, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Patty Jenkins, Alicia Silverstone, Riley Keough, Zoey Deutch, Joey King, Claire Foy, Odessa Azion, Ruth E. Carter, Kate Hudson, Indya Moore, Embeth Davids, Diane Warren, Katie O’Brien, Tig Notaro and more. Gathered on the Dolby Family Terrace at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Stewart said, “Any momentary setback in progress is statistically devastating. It’s devastating. Such a disastrous number of movies have been made by women in the past year. We clearly need more women’s luncheons in our lives. We need to be the women who always have lunch.”
“There are too few of us. We’re all here together right now, but it looks like there’s a lot, Jesus Christ, it’s not. It’s not our fault. Sure, our business is in an emergency, come on, the last thing I want to do here is get mad. It’s about losing the celebration under a pile of rubble. We can be proud of ourselves and perhaps even allow each other to regain the gift of performance and gratitude that made us truly talented, from the inside out. ”
Stewart received repeated applause during her seven-minute speech.
“I appreciate you,” she said. “We don’t appreciate the boys’ club business model that pretends to want to hang out with us while siphoning our resources and disrespecting our real perspectives. Let’s try not to be tokenized. Let’s print our own currency.”
On the red carpet, Kate Hudson told me about a moment when she saw powerful women in Hollywood and was inspired by them. “For me, it was Anne Margaret in ‘Bye Bye Birdie,'” the “Son San Bleu” star said. “I was obsessed with ‘Bye Bye Birdie.’ There was a dance where she was doing it and her hair was flying and I was like, ‘Oh my god, I have to do this.'”
‘Train Dreams’ star Felicity Jones recalled speaking out for herself when she was just 12 years old, leaving the TV series ‘The Worst Witch’ after just one season. “I didn’t want to come back and do a second (season),” she said. “I remember clearly thinking, at that age, one (season) was enough and I didn’t want to go back any more. I look back on it now and think, ‘Wow, at that age I was obviously decisive and knew what I wanted.’
In the afternoon, Oscar-winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter also appeared to introduce this year’s Gold Fellowship for Women winners, Alina Simone and Maren Viñayo.
