'Love Lies Bleeding' Interview: Kristen Stewart and Katy O'Brian

Moviefone speaks with Kristen Stewart, Katy O'Brian and director Rose Glass about 'Love Lies Bleeding.' "The movie's a mix between fantasy and a nightmare," Stewart said.

Opening in theaters on March 8th is the new romantic thriller ‘Love Lies Bleeding,’ which was directed by Rose Glass (‘Saint Maud’) and stars Kristen Stewart (‘Spencer’), Katy O’Brian (‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’), Ed Harris (‘Top Gun: Maverick’), Jena Malone (‘The Neon Demon’) and Dave Franco (‘Day Shift’).

(L to R) Katy O'Brian, Rose Glass and Kristen Stewart Talk 'Love Lies Bleeding.'

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of sitting down in-person with Kristen Stewart, Katy O’Brian and director Rose Glass to discuss their new movie, Stewart’s first reaction to the screenplay, O’Brian’s approach to playing her character, Glass’ process as a filmmaker, and striking the right tone for the film.

You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interview.

Related Article: Katy O'Brian Talks 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania' Blu-Ray and DVD

Kristen Stewart in 'Love Lies Bleeding.' Photo: A24.

Moviefone: To begin with, Kristen, can you talk about your first reaction to the screenplay and the aspects of your character that you were excited to explore on screen?

Kristen Stewart: The movie's like a mix between a fantasy and a nightmare. It's a real fever dream. It starts in this kind of isolated insular space, someone paralyzed by whatever kind of baggage she may be carrying around. Very addicted to the baggage, addicted to smoking, addicted to isolation, and just sort of stuck. She's like this immovable object, and then she sees the epitome of what the breadth of life could offer you, which is this vivacious, incredible, strong woman who takes up an unbelievable amount of space. Then she figures, "Oh, maybe I shouldn't delete myself." But then what happens is all her baggage starts spewing out into the world and ruining her relationship. I just thought that it was a good script. It was funny, it was scary and sad, and I wasn't sure if I loved or hated Lou, but ultimately, she's a nice guy and I think she's trying hard and so I do like her. I just thought Rose’s first movie was great. So, if I could be in her second one, that would be cool.

MF: Katy, can you talk about your approach to playing Jackie, both emotionally and physically, and her relationship with Lou?

Katy O'Brian: So, the prep was standard to an actual bodybuilding competition, which I thought was really fun because I'd done that before. I was like, "Yeah, let's do this." But I practiced my posing more for this than I did for an actual competition. Because I think when I do figure it's like four poses and this, we were doing kind of more in line with the '80s, which was the time for bodybuilding. Rose helped so much with that too, because I'm a tense person usually, and Rose is like, "I want it to be like this. I have pictures.” I loved it. I'm obsessed. Then, the character, it's one of the things that I love about acting is that you get to build off everyone else too. So, I had what I pictured for Jackie, and then it's like someone might feed you a response and you're like, "Oh wow." It just changes even your mindset, the character's mindset, everything. You just get to kind of play with each other and build this cool crazy thing. Then Rose adds, "Make it bigger, make it stronger." We were talking, but it's really an intuitive process. We sometimes had the luxury to find the moment and it was just cool and you just get chills.

Katy O'Brian in 'Love Lies Bleeding.' Photo: A24.

MF: Rose, is that typically the way you like to direct?

Rose Glass: I think you must. On the one hand, every moment of time is precious, so you plan things with a lot of precision. But then, it's like with these guys finding exactly what the version of that thing is that's going to feel real. So, I don't know, the whole thing's a weird sort of moving sculpture.

MF: Rose, can you talk about the challenges of finding the right tone for this movie?

Rose Glass: I guess that's something you're doing constantly at every stage, as you're writing it, as you're shooting it, you do different takes of like, “Now we'll do the big ridiculous one, and now we'll try the small one.” Then you continue doing it in the editing, the sound, and everything. There's just a lot of stuff that goes into it and a lot of people doing different things, and it's just trying to figure out how to smush them all together satisfyingly.

(L to R) Katy O'Brian and Kristen Stewart in 'Love Lies Bleeding.' Photo: A24.

MF: Finally, Kristen, what was your experience like working with Rose on set?

KS: She's a good director, somebody who has vision, and knows how to make sure it doesn't fall off the ledge.

Love Lies Bleeding

"Revenge gets ripped."

R1 hr 44 minMar 8th, 2024

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What is the plot of ‘Love Lies Bleeding’?

Reclusive gym manager Lou (Kristen Stewart) falls unexpectedly in love with a body builder named Jackie (Katy O’Brian) who stops in her New Mexico town. But Lou’s unsavory family history and Jackie’s rage issues pull them into an unexpected web of violence that neither one of them may escape.