Actress Kristen Stewart called President Donald Trump’s proposed movie tariffs \u00ab\u00a0terrifying\u00a0\u00bb and revealed she shot her directorial debut in Latvia instead of the U.S.<\/b>
\nKristen Stewart is eyeing a move out of the United States due to President Donald Trump.
The \u00ab\u00a0Twilight\u00a0\u00bb actress revealed in an interview with The Times that she’s cultivating her directorial career around being able to create films in Europe because she \u00ab\u00a0can’t work freely\u00a0\u00bb in America.
Her directorial debut, \u00ab\u00a0The Chronology of Water\u00a0\u00bb, was shot in Lativia as \u00ab\u00a0it would have been impossible to do in the States.\u00a0\u00bb
Stewart added that Trump’s threat of tariffs on movies made outside the country is \u00ab\u00a0terrifying\u00a0\u00bb for the film industry.
\u00ab\u00a0Reality is breaking completely under Trump\u00a0\u00bb, she said. \u00ab\u00a0But we should take a page out of his book and create the reality we want to live in.\u00a0\u00bb
The bi-coastal actress \u2013 who spends time in Los Angeles and New York \u2013 admitted that she’s \u00ab\u00a0probably not\u00a0\u00bb going to live in the states for much longer.
\u00ab\u00a0I can\u2019t work freely there\u00a0\u00bb, Stewart said. \u00ab\u00a0But I don\u2019t want to give up completely. I\u2019d like to make movies in Europe and then shove them down the throat of the American people.\u00a0\u00bb
In September, four months after initially musing the idea, Trump proposed a 100% tariff on films made outside the United States.
\u00ab\u00a0Our movie making business has been stolen from the United States of America, by other Countries, just like stealing \u2018candy from a baby.\u2019 California, with its weak and incompetent Governor, has been particularly hard hit!\u00a0\u00bb Trump wrote on Truth Social at the time. \u00ab\u00a0Therefore, in order to solve this long time, never-ending problem, I will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any and all movies that are made outside of the United States.\u00a0\u00bb
\u00ab\u00a0Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!\u00a0\u00bb, he concluded.
Governor Gavin Newsom’s press office responded with a statement on X: \u00ab\u00a0The Governor tried to explain this to Trump months ago \u2014 when this was initially proposed \u2014 that his actions will cause irreparable damage to the U.S. film industry. Today\u2019s move is 100% stupid.\u00a0\u00bb
Trump’s proposal has not yet gained further momentum.
Stewart struggled to get the film made since she first announced the project in 2018 at the Cannes Film Festival, but told Porter Magazine in 2024 that she planned to shoot in Latvia.
\u00ab\u00a0It\u2019s a fledgling film culture there. Look, I\u2019m all about the way we make movies here [in the U.S.], but I needed a sort of radical detachment. I am not a director yet. I need to make a student film. I can\u2019t do that here\u00a0\u00bb, she explained at the time.
Her history with the president goes back more than a decade. While she was dating \u00ab\u00a0Twilight\u00a0\u00bb co-star Robert Pattinson, Stewart was involved in a cheating scandal with her then-married \u00ab\u00a0Snow White and the Huntsman\u00a0\u00bb director, Rupert Sanders.
Trump posted a string of tweets at the time, including, \u00ab\u00a0Robert Pattinson should not take back Kristen Stewart. She cheated on him like a dog & will do it again \u2014 just watch. He can do much better!\u00a0\u00bb
Trump followed up days later with another post on the platform, and wrote, \u00ab\u00a0Everyone knows I am right that Robert Pattinson should dump Kristen Stewart. In a couple of years, he will thank me. Be smart, Robert.\u00a0\u00bb
Last month, the \u00ab\u00a0Adventureland\u00a0\u00bb actress slammed the entertainment industry as a \u00ab\u00a0capitalist hell\u00a0\u00bb which hated women and \u00ab\u00a0marginalized voices.\u00a0\u00bb
\u00ab\u00a0We\u2019re in a pivotal nexus, because I think we\u2019re ready for a full system break. Do you know what I mean? I mean that across the board and also specific to the world that I live in, which is very exclusively the entertainment industry\u00a0\u00bb, Stewart said in a sit-down with The New York Times’ \u00ab\u00a0The Interview.\u00a0\u00bb
She argued, \u00ab\u00a0It’s just so difficult to make movies, it just doesn’t need to be. I’m just trying to think of some sort of weird, like Marxist, Communist-like, situation that other people can definitely think, of course this psycho is saying that, but I think it’s possible, especially in these kind of narrow and exclusive environments. I’m not talking about the world at large, but for us, the system has barred people and made it too difficult to be honest.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n