How would you describe the movie?
It’s a really dark, scary meditation
on isolation. Basically, it’s like a sur-
vival movie about a bunch of people
that don’t know each other, and the
strange, occasionally existential
conversations that ensue, and the
weird relationships being formed
really quickly. The underlying story
of [disrupting] something that really
should be left in its natural state,
and what you can unearth—that’s
what keeps it scary.
What appealed to you about your
character, Norah?
I have a real protective feeling for
that character and how they wrote
her. There’s this fragile nature that
this girl has, and you just never
Under
water
Kristen Stewart
really know why. Information about
her filters out throughout the really
traumatic events. That’s where
you start to get to know each
other, and the deepest parts of
yourself come out.
You wrapped production more than
two years ago. How are you feeling
now that it’s finally hitting theaters?
I’m stoked. I haven’t made a movie
of this scale maybe ever. It was not
an easy movie to make—really long
and just drippy and cold and f---ing
hard. I want to see how we all
reacted in such precarious circum-
stances. It really pulls out the best
and worst parts of people.
What were some of the biggest
challenges of filming?
The suits were really heavy, hon-
estly. We couldn’t move around.
I really don’t like being held down,
I don’t like confined spaces, I’m not
a strong swimmer. The reason that,
like, huge f---ing surly dudes who
typically do action movies do them
is because they’re actually really
hard and scary and they hurt.
I think none of us in the movie—
except for maybe Vincent [Cassel],
who’s, like, a f---ing wild banshee—
really knew what we were getting
ourselves into. And that’s why
there’s some comedy in the movie
every once in a while; in the most
dire situations you kind of laugh,
[like at] a funeral. That’s kind of
what it felt like to make the movie
as well, like we were all dying!
S
↑ Kristen Stewart
and Vincent Cassel
↓ Cassel,
Jessica Henwick,
T.J. Miller,
Stewart, and
Mamoudou Athie
SOON AFTER HER UPCOMING TURN
as one of Charlie’s Angels, movie
goers can catch Kristen Stewart not
in the heavens, but in the deep. The
actress stars in William Eubank’s
upcoming actionthriller Underwater
(out Jan. 10) as one of a group of sci
entists trapped underwater following
a devastating earthquake. We asked
Stewart about taking the plunge.
First Take
EW● COM SEPTEMBER 2019 27
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