Copyright Variety
Kristen Stewart delivered rousing remarks Tuesday afternoon during the keynote address at the Academy and Chanel’s Women’s Luncheon in Los Angeles. The actress and director – her feature film directorial debut, “The Chronology of Water,” is in theaters next month — slammed Hollywood for failing to live up to its post-MeToo goals and efforts. “In a post-MeToo moment, it seemed possible that stories made by and for women were finally getting their due, that we might be allowed or even encouraged to express ourselves and our shared experiences, all of our experiences without filter,” she said after being introduced by Academy president Lynette Howell Taylor. “But I can now attest to the bare-knuckle brawling that it takes every step of the way when the content is too dark, too taboo, when the frankness with which it serves up observations about experiences routinely experienced by women, frequently provokes disgust and rejection.” She argued that these experiences are true and deserve to be told with authenticity. In a moment that earned laughs and applause, Stewart shared, “I am in a severe state of PMS today…But I relish being able to say that my nerves are close to the surface of my skin, and it is a great day for that.” She went on to say, “We can discuss wage gaps and taxes on tampons and measure [inequality] in lots of quantifiable ways, but the violence of silencing, it’s like we’re not even supposed to be angry. But I can eat this podium with a fork and fucking knife. I’m so angry.” Looking out at the luncheon guests – including Tessa Thompson, Sarah Paulson, Julia Louis Dreyfuss, Patty Jenkins, Alicia Silverstone, Riley Keough, Zoe Deutch, Joey King, Claire Foy, Odessa A’zion, Ruth E, Carter, Kate Hudson, Indya Moore, Embeth Davidtz, Diane Warren, Katy O’Brian and Tig Notaro, among many others – gathered on the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’ Dolby Family Terrace, Stewart said, “The backsliding from a brief moment of progress is statistically devastating. It is devastating. Such a pitiful number of films from the past year have been made by women. We obviously need many more women’s luncheons in our lives. We need to become ladies who lunch all the fucking time.” She continued, “There are too few of us. We’re all here together now, and it seems like there’s a lot, Jesus Christ, there’s not. It’s not our fault. Sure, our business is in a state of emergency, man, and you know the last thing that I wanna do here is lose the celebration under a pile of pissed off rubble. We are allowed to be proud of ourselves and maybe to allow each other to reclaim the gratitude we’ve all become talented at performing and really taste it from the inside out.” Stewart received several rounds of applause over the course of her seven-minute speech. “I am thankful to you,” she said. “I am not grateful to a boys’ club business model that pretends to want to hang out with us while siphoning our resources and belittling our true perspectives. Let’s try and not be tokenized. Let’s start printing our own currency.” On the red carpet, Kate Hudson shared with me the moment she saw and was inspired by a woman in power in Hollywood. “For me, it was Ann-Margaret in ‘Bye Bye Birdie,’” the “Song Sung Blue” star said. “I was obsessed with ‘Bye Bye Birdie.’ There’s this dance that she does and her hair’s going and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I have to do that.’” “Train Dreams” star Felicity Jones recalled speaking up for herself when she was just 12 years old and quitting a television series show called “The Worst Witch” after just one season. “I just didn’t want to come back and do the second [season],” she said. “Even at that age, I remember being very clear that one [season] was enough and I didn’t want to return for any more. Now I look back and think, ‘Wow, I was obviously very decisive and knew what I wanted at that age.’”
