Kristen Stewart on Making The Chronology of Water—and Finally Saying What She Needed to Say

The first time Kristen Stewart read The Chronology of Water, she thought, “Goddamnit, that’s what a movie should do. That’s why you make your first movie,” she tells W. That was nearly ten years ago—the book, a searing memoir of abuse and recovery by Lidia Yuknavitch, came out in 2011—and in the meantime, Stewart starred in over a dozen films, received Academy and Golden Globe nominations for her portrayal of Princess Diana in Spencer, and married the love of her life, screenwriter Dylan Meyer.

But all the while, the actor, beloved for her role in Twilight, kept Yuknavitch’s book in mind, writing her own adaptation for the screen. After securing funding and casting Imogen Poots in the lead role, Stewart made her film. And this past May, she debuted her adaptation of The Chronology of Water at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Un Certain Regard Award and Camera d’Or for first-time feature filmmakers.

“It’s about being allowed to say something,” Stewart says about making the film, currently in theaters in New York and Los Angeles with a wider release on January 9, 2026. Below, she talks directing her first feature, women reclaiming their stories, and the next three movies she has her sights on.

Why did it feel important to tell this story now?

It’s a tough movie to make, because it sounds like a story you’ve heard before and don’t need to be dragged through again. “Woman flees abusive home and through swimming and art finds salvation after substance abuse.”

But the reason the book is so enlightening is that it focuses on how people see things and not what they see. Even though it’s a memoir and it’s hyperspecific about one woman, it’s about breaking form, and repossessing the terms and the words that have defined you and your worth for your whole fucking life. Women were really only allowed to be educated very recently, so those words weren’t created by us.

The movie took a long time to get funding and get made—eight years, you’ve said.

It was a really hard fucking sell. It was so much more difficult to read the script than it was to have incredibly striking, searing images embedded into your body that you’re never going to forget. It was easier to make the movie and show it to people than to get people to pay me millions of dollars to do so.

Did you have visual references?

I had such a visual experience with the book, and my references substantiated those instincts. But they did come from the inside. I mean, I love Lynne Ramsay, Tarkovsky. I love experimental film. I love Barbara Hammer.

But also, just having a little bit of faith in your own dreams—this is so pretentious, but you see shit when you close your eyes. That’s like watching a movie. It’s a meta thing because the movie is about not doubting yourself and allowing your own narrative to self-formulate and not be knocked off its path. That’s the crux of the tension in the movie: It's not what her dad does, it’s not what the husband does, it’s not the baby. It’s like, is she going to be able to finish the sentence? Are we going to get the book that we’re experiencing, or is she going to fuck it up? Is she going to write herself into being or is she going to doubt herself again?

You’ve spent much of your career in front of the camera. What was it like to not only step behind the lens but also to manage the whole production?

It’s important to dispel this mythology surrounding the authoritarianism of a director. Nobody can do everything by themselves. A good crew is so connected that there’s no hierarchy. The coolest thing about directing is being the kickstarter. I’ve been around directors on set, and I’ve seen this drive manifest in a look in their eye that just is like, “Holy shit, they’re unstoppable. I want to go where they're going.” It makes you want to prove that you figured out how to want it as bad. I’ve done that as an actress since I was fucking nine years old. The coolest part about being on the other side is being this conjurer. You get to get everyone going.

Is this the first of many films you’ll be directing?

Oh my god, yeah. I’m dying [to direct more]. I’m attached to some incredible projects as an actor, too, that have taken a long time to find themselves. [Directing] is such a huge responsibility, and it’s so scary, but I feel a gnawing in the other direction. I love being an actor, and I can’t wait or whatever the fuck, but I’m writing three movies, and I want to make them yesterday.

Do those movies share any themes?

I’m so fucking disinterested in watching people do things. I hate pedantic filmmaking. I hate the morality of the three-act structure. It’s crazy how we keep watching the same movie over and over, and just how chained-up they all feel. I want to make a big, huge experimental film, but I want it to be hyper-commercial.