Following the resounding success of her debut feature film Saint Maud, acclaimed director Rose Glass made her American debut with A24’s Love Lies Bleeding earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival. Anchored by spellbinding performances from Kristen Stewart and Katy O’Brian, Glass lets their unfiltered talents shine in her second feature. Kristen Stewart’s Oscar-nominated prowess takes center stage, showing once again how adept she is at picking bold projects and elevating them to the next level. While Katy O’Brian has already been seen in numerous populist projects, including The Mandalorian and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Love Lies Bleeding feels like a defining moment in a rising star’s career as she takes a prominent position for the first time and knocks it out of the park.
Love Lies Bleeding follows a reclusive gym manager Lou (Stewart) as she falls hard for Jackie (O’Brian) an ambitious bodybuilder headed through town to Vegas in pursuit of her dream. However, they soon find that their love ignites violence, pulling them deep into the web of Lou’s criminal family. What follows is a thrilling, daring, and wild ride that feels like a narrative and formal step up in Glass’ directorial talents.
Earlier this week, we sat down with Stewart, Glass, and O’Brian to discuss their career inspirations, their creative process, and how they fell in love with Love Lies Bleeding
Exclusive Interview with Actors Kristen Stewart, Katy O’Brian, and Director Rose Glass for Love Lies Bleeding
So, taking it all the way back before Love Lies Bleeding, what was it that inspired you all to pursue careers in your current fields?
Kristen Stewart: I grew up watching my parents make movies. My mom was a script supervisor and my dad was on set for TV shows as an AD. There was like this really blue-collar, faithful attachment that they had to their jobs. And I was like, “What is that? I want to come hang out!” and then I was introduced to film. I’ve processed my whole life through the world of creating cinema. I’ve really had most of my formative experiences on a movie set or watching a movie. I don’t really know what I would do without movies. I would figure something out. But I really am so lucky, I fucking love doing this and don’t want to stop. I got to start when I was so young, so I don’t even know who I am without it.
Rose Glass: This is all that I’ve wanted to do from a very young age. I think it probably came from being a fairly awkward, lonely kid who didn’t have many friends and felt a bit uncertain about who I was. But films, making stupid films on like home video cameras, dressing up in stupid costumes, that sort of escapism was the first world and thing which made me feel confident and excited, so it’s just all I wanted to do from quite a young age.
Kristen Stewart: Such a good answer.
Rose Glass: …and then also Lord of the Rings (laughs)
Katy O’Brian: Yeah, you can bring a little bit of childhood to it, which is really fun. There’s not a lot to do [where I grew up] in Indiana, so we would go to the movies as our family bonding thing. My brother and I would read stories, act them out, and play them. I would put on all these ridiculous outfits, and it felt like a place to process stuff if you wanted, but also just to play and have fun.
Rose Glass: Filmmaking, and making this film in particular, felt like some weird kind of teenage wish-fulfillment experience. A lot in this film is the kind of stuff that a teenage me would have had fun with and like “Oh, that’s so cool”
Kristen Stewart: Me too, me too (laughs)
So, what drew you to tackle Love Lies Bleeding as your next project?
Rose Glass: I wanted to do something that didn’t seem sensible or tasteful next, as well as make something really fun, take some risks, and try something I wasn’t sure I could pull off. Doing something about a bodybuilder seemed like a really interesting place to start, and then I developed it from there with my co-writer, Weronika Tofilska.
Kristen Stewart: That’s so fun. If I heard that on TV or something and I hadn’t seen the trailer for the movie, I’d be like “Well, what did you do?”
And for you both, Kristen and Katy, as actors, what drew you to Rose’s story?
Kristen Stewart: It feels time capsule-y and oddly feels like a culmination of other movies that I really love, shoved into something that isn’t derivative somehow. It feels like it was made in a different time. But for us, it just felt loaded with so much reactive, petulant baggage that I find satisfying. And it’s also just classically a good time. I was like, “Oh, this movie is about stuff and people will talk about it in interviews after” but watching the movie and making the movie, it’s just genuinely a blast.
Katy O Brian: I’ve been bored of cinema for the last couple of years. Some good stuff has come out, for sure, but a lot of times, it’s pretty predictable, and you’re just like, “Ugh, come on.” But reading [Love Lies Bleeding] was totally unique, super interesting, and really weird. It felt like a cool, wild challenge, and I was very excited that I got to do it.
That’s a perfect segue into our final question for Rose. As with Saint Maud and now Love Lies Bleeding, your films have received a lot of acclaim for their bold narratives. At this point in your career, what does your creative process look like, from initial inspiration and formulation of an idea to a final draft and shooting it on set?
Rose Glass: I mean, this is only the second feature I’ve done. I’m quite slow at writing and you spend a lot of it going “ugh”. I don’t know… panic, self-doubt, some fun, then a script, and then film…
Katy O’Brian: Amazing (laughs).
Rose Glass: Unlike Saint Maud, I co-wrote this with Weronika. So, the process of this one felt a bit different because we were just trying to entertain each other, surprise each other, and make each other laugh. So, it was a very joyful experience writing it.
Kristen Stewart: This movie is clearly made by somebody who had wants and desires and didn’t think about everyone else, but thought purely from a personally selfish place. That’s always when a movie is good. It’s not made thinking, “Oh, well, how is everyone going to receive this?” but “I want to make something that I want.”
Love Lies Bleeding hits theaters everywhere on March 15!
Directed by Rose Glass.
Written by Rose Glass & Weronika Tofilska.
Produced by Andrea Cornwell & Oliver Kassman.
Main Cast: Kristen Stewart, Katy O’Brian, Jena Malone, Anna Baryshnikov, Dave Franco, & Ed Harris.
Cinematographer: Ben Fordesman.
Composer: Clint Mansell.
Production Companies: Film4, Escape Plan, & Lobo Films.
Distributor: A24.
Runtime: 104 minutes.
Rated R.