'Love Lies Bleeding' Director Talks Kristen Stewart and 'Showgirls'

Regardless of one's orientation, “Love Lies Bleeding” will undoubtedly be one of the sexiest movies of the year, filled with longing glances and explicit encounters. But it is also much more: a gripping crime thriller, an elegant black comedy and a film brimming with a bold, ambitious energy that makes anything seem possible within its world.

From the moment Jackie (Katy O'Brian) walks into the run-down gym run by Lou (Kristen Stewart), the two have an immediate connection. Jackie dreams of being a championship bodybuilder, while Lou looks for a way to get out of town to get away from her controlling father, Lou Sr. (Ed Harris), a local crime boss. Their mutual attraction pushes them to do things they would have previously considered unimaginable.

Directed by Rose Glass from a screenplay by Glass and Weronika Tofilska, the film continues a subjective magical realism explored by Glass in her first feature, 2019's “Saint Maud.” The story of a young nurse overcome by a terrifying religious fervor, “Saint Maud” saw its release delayed by the pandemic, only to gain critical traction and become a fan favorite.

Glass, 34, born and based in London, was recently in Los Angeles to promote “Love Lies Bleeding,” which premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival. The film opens in select theaters on Friday and nationwide on March 15.

Be warned, there are some light spoilers ahead about some of the film's most fantastic twists.

Katy O'Brian, left, and Kristen Stewart in the film “Love Lies Bleeding.”

(Anna Kooris / A24)

I'm trying to consider “Saint Maud” and “Love Lies Bleeding” together. W.hat that inspires your identity exploration as well as desire?

I think that as someone who writes and makes films, I feel in a privileged position to be able to explore quite intimate personal ideas within myself. But through the lens of completely fictional people, you can hide behind fiction, but I guess a lot of that comes from somewhere internal. I don't know what that says about me, given the amount of blood and murder and stuff that happens in them.

In an interview that you did around the time of “Saint Maud,” you were asked what you were going to work on next and you roughly described what became “Love Lies Bleeding.”,” saying, “I'm interested in bodies and brains.” Can elaborate a bit?

I think it simply has to do with the strangeness of human existence and consciousness. And the fact that we all share the same physical space and the same physical world, but we all experience reality completely individually and subjectively only from our little brain bubbles. And something about the disconnect between how far our thoughts and emotions and ideas can go inside our heads and yet we're confined to these weird kinds of meaty things that go wrong and need maintenance in a messy, inelegant way. And it can also be all those other sensual and wonderful things. I don't know. Humans are weird.

“Love Lies Bleeding” combines many genres. It's a neo-noir crime story, a lovers–in–he-rUnited Nations drama That's darkly funny too. Can you untangle all that? Where is that combination comes from?

It's hard to undo it. I think it's just what comes naturally and instinctively. And that's for better or worse. The kind of movies I feel capable of making, I don't think I'm particularly good at trying to turn them into something more sensible. I'm also figuring it all out. It's just a second feature film. Life is strange and varied and we all contain many contradictory things within us. In terrible times there is humor and darkness and sometimes you can still really like characters who are doing terrible things. The contradictions are what I find interesting.

In the press conference for the film at the Berlin Film Festival, you and Kristen Stewart speak a little bit about how you had made him watch “Showgirls.” What did you get out of that? movie specifically?

It was just to give the actors a taste of the flavor of the world we'd be in, so they knew they had permission to make big changes and calibrate their performances a little bit in terms of tone. And “Showgirls” has obviously achieved cult status. It's not one of those that I watch over and over again or anything, but I'm a big fan of Paul Verhoeven and I think I also suggested they watch “Starship Troopers.” They both have this delightful kind of satire, which may be the result of non-Americans making movies about America.

And just with “Showgirls” specifically, it's also the drive of that movie and its energy. Regardless of what people like or don't like, just the kind of energy bubbling under the skin of it all. The camera is constantly moving, the momentum is simply extraordinary. He's very committed and serious in some ways, but also very camp. And camp is a hard thing to quantify or do super consciously, but I think I wanted to make sure they saw it.

Although I think Kristen only saw it halfway through filming. She came out of her trailer, like we'd already filmed half of it, and she said, “Oh, ah, OK.” Because I kept telling her to go bigger and bigger with different shots and I think she was resisting a little bit. And then she saw that and I think she, hopefully, gave him permission to make big changes. What movie.

One of the most extraordinary things about “Love Lies Bleeding” is that the entire movie has this horny, exciting energy. Is it so difficult for both of you? build first but also maintain?

Not precisely. I mean, to be honest, that's how it came about and a lot of the weirdness and excitement was incorporated into the story. You shoot movies so disjointedly in all these little parts, that it's almost not until you've shot all the parts and cut them together that you say, “Oh yeah, it's very exciting all the way through.” It is a love story. They are people who meet and fall in love for the first time and those first weeks are like a whirlwind. Going into it, I don't think I was specifically thinking of it as slutty, but I definitely knew I wanted it to feel sweaty and intense.

I'm increasingly aware that “Love Lies Bleeding” feels a bit like a strange teenage wish-fulfillment: the kind of movie I really would have loved to see as a kid. And part of that is “Showgirls,” I'm pretty sure the first time I watched it, I probably saw it halfway through on TV, like one night when I snuck downstairs and I should have been in bed. This was before millions of channels existed and before sex was so available on the Internet. It probably just had an impression on me, so there are things in this movie that I feel would have been exciting and nice to have included in the mix of horny movies you see in those impressionable years.

From the first moment Lou sees Jackie, it's almost as if Jackie is the person Lou was waiting for. Some reviews even He suggested that Lou evokes Jackie, that she is not real. How do you feel about that?

Someone came up to me after the movie and said, “Jackie's not real, is she?” And I said, “What?” Which I find a fascinating interpretation. I'd be lying if I said that was really what I was thinking. I think she's definitely real. She shows up and gives Lou exactly what she needs when she needs it in her life.

It's not a completely balanced power dynamic between the two of them and perhaps it's changing throughout the film, perhaps in ways the characters aren't aware of. Lou is stuck and emotionally constipated, he needs to act and basically can't, he doesn't want to, whatever. And Jackie is like the ID or something that comes up. Lou needs to get out of his routine. But one person's dream is achieved at the expense of another's. If Jackie is Lou's dream, Jackie's dream is derailed by Lou's love. It's one of those relationships where there is some codependency.

The biggest jump in the film is when Jackie briefly grows to 35 feet tall. For you, Is that a subjective moment? Are people supposed to take that literally?

I think people should take it however they want. I felt that way with “Saint Maud,” I found myself overexplaining everything and I think there are many ways to interpret it. Far be it from me to tell anyone that her version is wrong. I think it probably takes the fun out of it.

Without spoiling it, youThe last shot of the film plays through a car window with Jackie in the foreground and Lou going through this big deal. in the background that lasts a long time. Because Did you conceive of ending the film that way?

It seemed like that was the end of it all. It's trying to get through these moral puzzles to justify certain things to themselves. In the end, everyone has the potential to do horrible things if they get what they want. And I think people are pretty good at justifying to themselves whatever gets them what they want and makes them feel good. So I didn't want to let anyone off the hook. We all eventually become our parents. So I felt it was the right thing to do.

Do you think it will work for those two crazy kids? Do you have any ideas about what will happen to Jackie and Lou a little later?

Short term? Sure, I think it'll probably continue to be great for a while and then I'm not sure how sustainable long-term whatever they have going on is. I'd be interested to see what happens at the next place they stop. I figured they would go on tour together and Lou would become Jackie's cheer manager while she entered bodybuilding competitions and everything became more toxic. But she'll feel great along the way.

In your two films there are a boldness to the narrative. the films are willing to go to some pretty scandalous places. Where does the strength and confidence to do it come from?

I guess I don't know any other way to do it. And I am incredibly lucky and privileged to be in this position. So I'm not thinking about it that consciously or analytically. It's just: Great, I can make another movie. I'm literally talking about: What am I going to find interesting and entertaining? Let's do that. And I think having wanted to make movies since I was very young and making silly short films and stuff my whole life, I've always been guided by enjoying surprising people.

The response to “Saint Maud” was encouraging, terrifying, exciting and all of those things at the same time. So I feel like I have to seize the moment. And don't take it too seriously either, trying not to be too precious about it and just go with what you think is entertaining and interesting. And if you think it's entertaining and interesting, hopefully other people will too.

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