LOS ANGELES (AP) 鈥� knows that not everyone should make movies. She also knows that Rose Glass should.
The 34-year-old English director and screenwriter is one of those rare original storytellers with daring things to say and the vision to do them justice. In other words, definitely not 鈥渆verybody.鈥� Glass' first film 鈥� ,鈥� was a chilling picture of faith and madness. Her second, 鈥� 鈥� (expanding in theaters this weekend) is also kind of about madness but of different sorts 鈥� that of love, of power and of strength (the literal kind).
鈥淚 wanted to make something kind of fun and sweaty and violent,鈥� Glass said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Moviemaking may be a risk-averse business, but Glass and her collaborators are not. Set in the American West in the 1980s, Stewart plays Lou, an introverted gym manager and daughter of a local conman (Ed Harris) who gets swept up in the fever dream of new love with an aspiring bodybuilder, Jackie (Katy O鈥橞rian), who's passing through town.
鈥淚 loved that it felt a bit like mythology, like a comic booky, throwback 鈥�80s,鈥� said Stewart. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 finish any of these sentences but the movie is good.鈥�
鈥�(Rose) made this audacious and singular, unique experience personal for us and let us be our own individuals and just, like, traipse all over her thing,鈥� Stewart added. 鈥淚t鈥檚 so fun to work with people who are like cuckoo birds but also really concerted.鈥�
Glass, Stewart and O鈥橞rian spoke to The Associated Press in an expletive-filled and slightly R-rated conversation about the twist on the idea of 鈥渟trong female characters,鈥� their aversion to a certain overused shorthand and 鈥淪howgirls.鈥�
Remarks have been edited for clarity and brevity.
AP: What were some of the things that really excited you about 鈥淟ove Lies Bleeding鈥�?
STEWART: I guess, like, in your dreams, you don鈥檛 always do the right thing. And in movies, somehow girls are kind of expected to make everyone feel really comfortable. I think that鈥檚 a very default setting for women in general. And in this case, it was like, yeah, but what if I鈥檓 (expletive) and my rage is boiling out and bubbling over? And it also really turns me on to share that with another person?
O鈥橞RIAN: It wasn鈥檛 like just about resilience or just about one thing. There鈥檚 so much that you can read into it if you want to, which I think is cool. Or you can just watch it and have fun.
AP: Why do you think it鈥檚 subversive to make a movie about female power that鈥檚 also literally about bodybuilding?
GLASS: Maybe it鈥檚 just something you haven鈥檛 seen. I don鈥檛 know many films which have female bodybuilders in it.
STEWART: You said something recently about looking at a female body like that, like there鈥檚 something kind of punk about it. Because when you think of feminine qualities, unfortunately, we defer to like demure, or soft or elegant or sort of like something languid. And you鈥檙e like, well, she鈥檚 a woman, so she鈥檚 inherently feminine. That鈥檚 just not the shape that you鈥檙e used to. But it is definitely female strength.
I think also just playing with toys that we鈥檙e not usually allowed to play with in a petulant way. I鈥檓 like looking at Rose and going, 鈥渂ecause you鈥檙e a brat and you鈥檙e (expletive) hilarious that鈥檚 why you wanted to do this.鈥�
The idea of the strength, it must have come from annoying conversations that you were having in rooms with people who fund movies. And I could be wrong, but that鈥檚 my take.
GLASS: Like, 鈥淥h do something with a strong female character"? I鈥檒l make her really muscley.
AP: It sort of makes me think about women being described as 鈥渒ick (expletive)鈥� which always makes me wince.
STEWART: Like 鈥渂ad (expletive).鈥�
O鈥橞RIAN: The words 鈥渂ad (expletive)鈥� together.
STEWART: We鈥檝e had it a lot today. And I don鈥檛 mean to diminish anyone who used it, because it was really nice for them to say and it came with good intention. But it makes my toes curl so far into my body that I no longer have an (expletive). AP! Let鈥檚 go.
AP: We鈥檒l put a demure 鈥渆xpletive鈥� in there. Katy, how did Jackie come alive for you?
O鈥橞RIAN: What really helped me was everything else around: The wardrobes and the hair and makeup. Then getting to see Jackie next to Lou and see Jackie in the gym. I was trying to tell the costumers, I was like well people wouldn鈥檛 really work out in this. And she鈥檚 like, 鈥淜aty, people also don鈥檛 grow to be 35 feet鈥e鈥檙e going for the magazine vibe, the sexy vibe.鈥� And it鈥檚 100% what Jackie needed. Even the workout equipment that you got from the '80s, it鈥檚 made for men because women didn鈥檛 work out (that way). They did aerobics, Jane Fonda. You had to adjust your own height to try to figure out how to get the right muscle because it鈥檚 bigger equipment.
AP: I read that Rose had the cast and crew watch Cronenberg鈥檚 鈥淐rash鈥� and 鈥淧aris, Texas鈥� and 鈥淪howgirls.鈥� Were any of those new to you, or did you find different dimensions as they related to this?
STEWART: I had never seen 鈥淪howgirls.鈥� I watched it in the trailer halfway through the movie and came out and was like ok, I鈥檓 not big enough. I鈥檓 not thrusting hard enough.
GLASS: Not walking away dramatically enough.
STEWART: Like ohh that鈥檚 why you wanted me to go bigger.
O鈥橞RIAN: I wasn鈥檛 able to find 鈥淐rash鈥� in anything other than French, which I don鈥檛 speak.
GLASS: That鈥檚 crazy!
STEWART: It wasn鈥檛 on MUBI.
AP: This has played at Sundance and Berlin and is now rolling out wide in the US. Do you feel like people are getting it?
GLASS: It鈥檚 great to be there in the audience in particular hearing people make involuntary gasping noises and laughing in all places you hope they would鈥�
So far it鈥檚 been very nice and positive and for people who don鈥檛 like it, I鈥檓 like 鈥渇air enough!鈥� It鈥檚 not for everyone.
STEWART: There鈥檚 a line in Chronology (鈥淐hronology of Water鈥� which Stewart is adapting) where it鈥檚 like, 鈥淚 started weeding out friends based on their reactions to 鈥楨mpire of the Senseless.鈥� It was like, the women who were grossed out and walked out of the room, I stopped being friends with. And the women who smiled quietly to themselves and touched themselves were the friends that I kept.鈥� This movie kind of does the same thing 鈥� not to be alienating and sort of us and them-y about it. But it is like, hey, ready? I鈥檓 going to sell the movie: Not for everyone. But that鈥檚 why it actually should be for everyone!
Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press
