Kristen Stewart On The Challenge Of Following "Twilight" With "Camp X-Ray"

Kristen Stewart might be a terrible bowler, but the woman knows how to make a comeback. After taking a break in 2013, following the success of the Twilight saga, Stewart is back on the Guantanamo Bay-set drama Camp X-Ray, currently playing at Sundance Film Festival. Camp X-Ray has received mixed reviews, but Stewart’s performance as a guard at Gitmo seems to be almost universally liked. It’s a bit of a surprise, since her role as Bella Swan became a universal punch line in bad movie jokes during the Twilight years. Maybe that was why Stewart was so nervous to take on the new and radically different role this time around.

Stewart's break in 2013 meant that audiences could get some distance from her stint as Bella Swan.

"I was so nervous when I first started working and preparing because I didn't think that people would believe me or think that I looked tough in a uniform," she said for MTV News at Sundance "that I could do that job, that I could wrangle detainees that are massive and scary."

Even so, the role of an idealistic soldier appealed to Stewart, precisely because of the challenge, the actress said in her MTV interview.

When the opportunity for Camp X-Ray came around, Stewart was ready.

“I was excited to play someone, who was standing up to something much larger than herself,” Stewart said. “[Who] very unselfishly wants to do something worthwhile and good and then gets it all shoved back in her face. [She] doesn’t necessarily question everything, but has a very eye opening and cathartic experience.”

The fact that Camp X-Ray was produced independently means that it still doesn’t have a release date. However, Sundance is the place to go for distribution deals, so with a little luck and if the film is as good as the reviews say, a release date might be announced before the end of the month.

Stewart says she could never be a soldier herself, but that she found it easier to step into her character's shoes during filming.