I think we’re about to get another round of Kristen Stewart lip-biting angst because The Runaways is about to open in the UK, and probably around Europe, maybe. Kristen gave a big interview to The Telegraph, and it is… ugh. This chick. I mean, I’ll totally defend her about some things. I think she is genuinely nervous and uncomfortable doing press. And I think it’s all kinds of wrong to question her sexuality just because she walks a certain way, or because she’s happier in Chuck Taylors than Jimmy Choos. She’s a tomboy, and yes, she’s kind of butch. Lots of heterosexual girls are, and I feel like she gets so much criticism for how she comes across mainly because she’s not putting herself out there like an oversexed, girlish, oh-I’m-so-gorgeous starlet.

Unfortunately, I cannot and will not defend Kristen on some things. Sometimes she just comes across as such a pill, such an ungrateful little snot. This Telegraph interview is one of those times. Here’s one part that made me roll my eyes until it hurt:

It’s tough being Kristen Stewart. Her performance as the indecisive, lip-biting heroine, Bella Swan, in the Twilight films has seen the 20-year-old American actress emerge as a rather reluctant poster-girl for 21st-century teenage angst…. It’s not surprising that she has struggled to cope with the media attention, and her discomfort when dealing with interviewers has opened her up to accusations of being surly and defensive. I have not found her so on the previous occasions we have spoken.

She can be unnervingly silent – she thinks carefully about each question and often has many stabs at a reply before settling on a finished sentence – but she is intelligent and engaging. In truth, like many women her age, she’s probably just a little bit embarrassed.

“I am quite shy and people think I’m aloof,’ she explains, sitting opposite me in a suite at a sumptuous Beverly Hills hotel. “I get that all the time: ‘She should not be in this position because she can’t handle it,’ and, ‘She is stuck up and doesn’t want to talk to anybody. She is miserable, and if you are so miserable stop doing it.’ But do you have a choice? I want to be an actor, I am just not very comfortable talking about myself.”

“When I did the first Twilight movie they were like, ‘Now you have to go and do media training,’ and I was, ‘Screw you! Do you think you are going to wrap up all my little insecurities and throw them out the window? Do you think you are going to put soundbites in my mouth? I’ll do your course, but that’s not going to happen.’”

[From The Telegraph]

Yes, producers knew her lip-biting angst act would grow tired, and so they offered to PAY for Kristen to undergo media training so that she could actually sound like a professional and learn to deal with the vital part of her job, promoting her work, and her reaction to that was to yell “Screw you!” and whine about her insecurities. Ugh. At some point, she has to grow up and sack up, you know? We get it. You’re insecure. Now act like a professional. You’re getting paid millions of dollars for it, so do it. Here are more highlights from the piece:

On The Runaways: ‘The Runaways started everything for chicks in rock and roll,’ says Stewart. ‘So many women in bands say, “I’m in a band because of the Runaways.” It was initially a small movie, then because of the whole Twilight thing it got a lot of attention. I now know Joan and I have a relationship with her, and if we didn’t do a good job everything would fall away, so it was important we got it right. I felt comfortable in Joan’s clothing. It’s like armour. Punks put it on because they are protecting themselves, because they are outsiders, and because they are fighting something. And it’s weird – I did a lot of press for the second Twilight movie when I was shooting The Runaways, and I was feeling a little insecure, which doing those press things makes me, and I didn’t go to my normal defences, I went to Joan’s.’

On always being angst-ridden: “I wore a T-shirt in kindergarten that said kick butt first. ask names later on the back,’ she says suddenly. ‘I just thought of that randomly, sorry, but I think it might show that I’ve always been overly indignant in my reactions to not being able to be myself. And when other people are in that position I get enraged, too, so I think that I share that with Joan. I’m a bit easier than Joan, although she’s really thoughtful and quiet underneath. With everything she wears she’s not trying to be cool, she is trying to be tough, she’s compensating. At the time, it wasn’t normal to do what she did and she was always told, “You’re not right, you’re different, so you’re a bitch.’”

On leaving public school for private tutoring: ‘I was glad to leave school. I was missing a lot of classes and they were failing me’ – and says that she does not feel as though she was deprived of a normal childhood (she’s since completed her high-school education via correspondence courses). ‘I couldn’t relate to kids my own age. They are mean and don’t give you any chance. Once you have done with school, you realise that it is just a smaller version of life, and really I have felt that I should have been an adult since I was aged about five. I remember when I turned 18 everyone asked me if I felt more mature, but I felt the same as I always did. Juggling work and school, and helping my mother; I’ve always had a lot of responsibility.’

On her relationship with Sparkles: ‘It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve spoken to someone or how well they know me, I’m just not going to talk about that,’ she says when I ask. But it is weird with the paparazzi. We are not on the top of the paparazzi list, but it is definitely tougher for Rob.’

She writes: “Not stories per se, just thoughts and bits of prose.”

On her cat, Max: “He’s insane. He’s like the antichrist when I try to travel with him. I like to take him with me when I’m away filming.”

Working on On the Road: “I play Marylou and I am f–ing freaking out about it. Nobody has ever tried to make it and yet, reading the book, it is insanely iconic. It is my favourite book. It is so f–ing cool that I am doing it. A friend introduced me to it when I was 14 and I have read it a couple of times.”

[From The Telegraph]

Once you get past the angst, she’s just a normal kid. Not exceptionally bright, but not really stupid either. She likes to read and write and she’s in her second long-term relationship ever. She tries to be a good actress, and… well, I give her credit for trying? Maybe? I don’t know. I rented The Runaways a few weeks ago, and I really disliked it. Maybe it was too “authentic” to me, what with poor little Dakota Fanning acting her ass off as Cherie Currie. But Kristen really fell flat as Joan. It was just “Bella Gets a Bad Haircut and Slouches A Lot”. There was so little dialogue for the women too – everything is in artsy set pieces and knowing looks between Dakota and Kristen. Eh. I was not impressed.