I was recently asked what I thought of the Kristen Stewart situation.
To which I responded, quite honestly, that I didn’t. Ever. Not even for a second.
Sure, I’d seen the headlines, which told me everything I needed to know: that she’d been caught having an affair with a married man. None of my business, really. And certainly not something that will have an impact, one way or the other, on my thoughts about her as an actress.
But, apparently, there is a wave of misplaced concern about what will happen to her standing with that massive tween/teen fan-base from her “Twilight” films (the final one hits theaters in November) and this year’s “Snow White and the Huntsman.” What will happen to her career? And what about Robert Pattinson’s career?
As for the latter, never fear – he’s a talentless pretty-boy who lucked into the kind of fame that only a series of franchise films can produce. He’s fine doing his James Dean impression as Edward; step outside of it and he flops. Give him points for trying adventurous fare like “Little Ashes,” “Bel Ami” and the upcoming “Cosmopolis” (which I have yet to see) – but for my money, the guy is an empty suit, a pair of bedroom eyes attached to a crash-test dummy with about that much expressiveness.
Stewart, on the other hand, is a real actress, capable of a wide range of roles, as she showed before she got sucked into the “Twilight” vortex. If, in fact, her personal life somehow hurts her standing with her young fans (who, apparently, are confusing her with her “Twilight” character, the steadfast Bella) – if the fans can no longer look up to her as a role model because she’s a 22-year-old who got tired of one man and was tempted by another – well, I’d say it’s the best thing that could happen to her.
This commentary continues on my website.