Kristen Stewart Is Furious About Hollywood 'Backsliding'

Kristen Stewart took aim at Hollywood's treatment of female directors during a keynote speech at the Academy Women's Luncheon in Los Angeles on Tuesday. She told the crowd that despite the hope sparked by the MeToo movement, the industry remains resistant to authentic stories by and about women.

• "In a post-MeToo moment, it seemed possible that stories made by and for women were finally getting their due, that we might be allowed or even encouraged to express ourselves and our shared experiences, all of our experiences without filter," she said, per Variety. "But I can now attest to the bare-knuckle brawling that it takes every step of the way when the content is too dark, too taboo, when the frankness with which it serves up observations about experiences routinely experienced by women, frequently provokes disgust and rejection."

• Stewart, 35, is a longtime actress and first-time feature film director. Her directorial debut, The Chronology of Water, hits theaters next month. The Guardian reports that she spent eight years trying to get the project off the ground.
• Stewart, in front of an audience of female powerhouses including Tessa Thompson, Patty Jenkins, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Kate Hudson, didn't shy away from addressing the frustration many women feel. "We can discuss wage gaps and taxes on tampons and measure it in lots of quantifiable ways, but the violence of silencing ... It's like we're not even supposed to be angry," she said. "But I could eat this podium with a fork and f---ing knife, I'm so angry."

• "The backsliding from a brief moment of progress is statistically devastating. It is devastating," she said. "Such a pitiful number of films from the past year have been made by women. We obviously need many more women's luncheons in our lives. We need to become ladies who lunch all the f---ing time," said Stewart, who received multiple rounds of applause during the speech.
• "I am thankful to you," she told the audience. "I am not grateful to a boys' club business model that pretends to want to hang out with us while siphoning our resources and belittling our true perspectives. Let's try and not be tokenized. Let's start printing our own currency."