OK, pop quiz. Guess who recently said the following: "The reasons why people make films here in France are very different from the reasons why people make movies in America, and I prefer it here a little bit."
Woody Allen? Richard Linklater? Kristin Scott Thomas? All good guesses, but I'm betting none of you picked Kristen Stewart. Yes, that Kristen Stewart, of "Twilight" and tabloid fame. She made the above remark upon receiving a Cesar Award (France's equivalent of an Oscar) for best supporting actress.
Her Cesar win — the first for an American actress — was for her role in "Clouds of Sils Maria," an intense, meta film by director Olivier Assayas about performance, generation gaps and female intimacy. Stewart spends most of the film mano-a-mano with the ever-formidable Juliette Binoche, which could have proven fatal, but Stewart kills it. In fact, if you look at any movie she's done sans vampires — including "The Runaways," "Still Alice" or "Adventureland" — Stewart has proven to be a promising young actress. She ups her game even further here.