Kristen stands out for her style - linear clothes, moderate and cosmopolitan taste - she played in some beautiful small indipendent movies that were also presented at the Sundance Film Festival, which she's always attenended even if she wasn't in competition. "I'm not a star", she claims. "I love being part of a group who shares the same projects". Thus, it's not surprise that she says "I wanted to play Marylou at any cost. On The Road has been fundamental for my upbringing".

She's introverted, able to refuse to answer the questions she believes are inappropriate or trivial, but also funny, like when she accepts the best kiss award with his Robert and says "doing it again on stage, between reality and fiction, embarrasses me. I'm sure you'd feel the same".

Kristen chose the best dresses for Cannes, where Rob, too, applauded her for On The Road. She returned the enthusiams for Pattinson's performance in David Cronenberg's Cosmopolis. "I went to visit him on set in Toronto", she says, "and I found myself fascinated by the setting and Juliette Binoche. I reread the book on my way back home on the plane".


"We both worked so hard in the past months", she says. "I was often in London to film Snow White and The Huntsman. It's a beautiful story of shadows and fears. It's exciting to always change roles and genres. For a year, despite the fact that we still had to finish some stuff of the last Twilight, I was deeply absorbed in On The Road".

Let her talk about herself, because if we ply her with questions, she shuts up like a clam. She's honest and vulnerable, all you have to do is not annoy her with the usual story of teenage girls wanting her boyfriend. She has different and lively interests, from painting ("I stand amazed in front of impressionist paintings. Touring museums is a real holiday for me"), to fashion (she loves Marios Schwab, Alexander McQueen, Monique Lhuillier and Christian Louboutin). She laughes if you tell her people all over the world know her tastes, like her predilection for blueberry jam.

But don't ask her the reason behind some of her gloomy expressions and her tendency to isolate herself, because Kristen has a genuine demure personality. She opens herself little by little, her immense fame has given her a lot, but it's also a double-edged weapon. She admits having "an instinctive self-difence against the press's intrusive curiosity and some tv shows that want to despoil you".

She says she seriously wants to be an actress until she'll be very old. She's 22, she's been given and wants to give a lot. "It was great to be in Cannes with Salles's movie. It was an experience that I'll always take with me. Portraying a world, a culture, the youth of many artists who have marked entire generations, going on the road with the crew was priceless".

It's not the whole interview. I translated what seemed legit and kind of new.

ELLE: "Any problems during those explicit sex scenes?" (OTR)
K: "No, because sex is not the key to the movie - the characters' souls and identities are; and I'll keep Marylou in my heart forever. She's a woman who never lies when it comes to her feelings, she lives wholly, she's generous, with no faux schemes. OTR is also a desperately idealistic and romantic movie about youth. It's a walk towards maturity, with the sorrows and changes it brings."

ELLE: "You're a role model for a lot of young girls. What matters the most in your life?"
K: "Living peacefully. Trying to win my fears. Growing as a person and helping others do the same. [...]"

ELLE: "Do you live a normal life?"
K: " Of course, as long as I avoid places with 100 paps on the lookout. I go out unnoticed with my jeans, my beanies, my rhythms. Sometimes it bothers me, but cinema gave me a lot. It depends on you to open this circle of notoriety in a positive way. [...]"

ELLE: "As a student, what subjects did you like?"
K: "History, Art History, Literature, Natural Sciences... I've also always like the world of fashion, I'm not talking about the environment but the language - fashion as an expression of authentic style and creativity. I'm fascinated by Stella McCartney's great work, by Gucci's style, by Prada, by legendary brands that have a history, like Balenciaga. [...] By the way, books are my biggest passion. They keep me company when I travel for work. I always have one in my bag. Steinbeck and Carver are my favorites. My movies often have literary roots. I'm fascinated by stray and extreme lives, like Bukowski's."

ELLE: "Is it true that for years your favorite actress was Gena Rowland, Cassavates's wife and muse?"
K: "True. I'm a movie buff. My friends and I used to go to the cinema to watch Godard's movies and study the style of English actresses like Julie Christie, and French actresses: Anna Karina was special. They all had style."

More quotes.
"Robert and I have grown up together, and together we've gone through a lot of experiences, but we've always been honest with our work [...]."

The title of the article is the title of the book. “The elegance of the hedgehog” and the journalist says she lets Kristen talk because if you keep asking questions she closes in on herself like a hedgehog.

"I’m not beautiful in a classic way, I have no love obsessions and Robert is not Edward Cullen" (last thing she says answering the question if she manages to live a normal life) "The fact that so many girls have identified with Bella is a positive thing. She wants a better world, that’s one of the reasons why she fights. I like saying many things to the girls my age through the characters I play." "I am no star. I like to feel part of a group with shared interests. I wanted the role of Marylou in OTR of Walter Salles at all costs: that book was fundamental while growing up."

The things this girl says about beauty. choose your roles? "According to scripts, directors, to the possibilities they give me to not be bound to an image. Take SWATH. Queen Ravenna, in the special interpretation of Charlize Theron, represents the most twisted and unhealthy aspiration to immortality, while Snow White is life. The Queen absorbed ideas that came from her mother, from a wrong society that demands that you are always young and beautiful. She walks a road that leads to evil, the same that today leads many women to dissatisfaction and unhappiness."

Question: Easy to say at 22... "It’s not a matter of age but of truth that you need to find. There will always be women younger and more beautiful than you. You need to be open to the world, not only to confrontation. My Snow White represents the solitude that often one feels while searching for maturity, the difficulty in finding honest relationships, the awareness, sometimes bitter, that appearance is constantly of greater value in this world." Seriously. I love her. It’s so true! I could cry.

When she answers the question about what matters the most in her life, the last thing she says is: "Keeping an ironic gaze on the so called star system" "From my mother I inherited the love for reading scripts. I would read hers and I would become attached to a character, I would study them. It’s a fantastic process: the possibility of a contact with the viewer comes from there."

Question: Now work commitments will cause you and Robert to be apart. Are you afraid?” "No. It’s our life and it goes on this way. I have fewer fears and insecurities. I get up in the morning and I eat bread and blueberry jam, I like to be bolder in my dress choices at events and on the red carpet, even though I feel a lot less sexy than Charlotte Gainsbourg: I adore her grace."

 Question: Your next projects? "I’ll work in a movie directed by Nick Cassavetes, the son of the great John. And I’ll take long strolls with Robert and his adorable dog"