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Kristen Stewart Now Sees Twilight as a Queer Allegory: "It's Such a Gay Movie"
"It’s all about oppression, about wanting what’s going to destroy you. That’s a very Gothic, gay inclination that I love."
Nearly two decades after the release of Twilight, Kristen Stewart has reevaluated the hit vampire film (now streaming on Peacock alongside its four sequels) as a subtle, queer allegory.
Why Kristen Stewart Considers Twilight a "Gay Movie"
"I can only see it now,” the 33-year-old actress, who played the character of Bella Swan, said during a recent chat with Variety. “I don’t think it necessarily started off that way, but I also think that the fact that I was there at all, it was percolating. It’s such a gay movie. I mean, Jesus Christ, Taylor [Lautner] and Rob [Pattinson] and me, and it’s so hidden and not OK. I mean, a Mormon woman wrote this book. It’s all about oppression, about wanting what’s going to destroy you. That’s a very Gothic, gay inclination that I love."
Stewart came out as gay during her very first stint as the host of Saturday Night Live in early 2017. “I hated it that details of my life were being turned into a commodity and peddled around the world,” she explained to the Sunday Times (via MTV) a few months after the episode aired. “But considering I had so many eyes on me, I suddenly realized [my private life] affects a greater number of people than just me. It was an opportunity to surrender a bit of what was mine, to make even one other person feel good about themselves."
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The actress has been engaged to her screenwriter girlfriend, Dylan Meyer (Moxie), since 2021. Celebrity chef Guy Fieri — aka the Mayor of Flavortown — happily agreed to officiate the ceremony, but Stewart recently stated that she and Meyer probably won't take him up on the offer. "I think we'll probably just marry each other and then call Guy and say, 'You were here in spirit, babe,'" she said.
Based on the bestselling novels written by Stephenie Meyer, the Twilight films grossed over $3 billion at the worldwide box office. Catherine Hardwicke kicked off the supernatural phenomenon before handing the directorial reigns over to Chris Weitz for New Moon. David Slade helmed Eclipse, while Bill Condon carried the story over the finish line with the two-part Breaking Dawn.
What's the latest on the Twilight television series?
Last spring, news broke that Lionsgate had tapped Raised by Wolves writer Sinead Daly to adapt the books for television. As of this writing, it is still unclear if the show will be a direct translation of the material, à la the movies, or a brand-new take.
Twilight, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1, and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 are now streaming on Peacock.
