Kristen Stewart And Nicholas Hoult Bring Love And Lust To The Big Screen In ‘Equals’


Kristen Stewart tackles the science fiction genre in Equals and, for an actress once shamed for lacking emotional range, it seems this role was tailor made for her. Equals places Stewart and co-star Nicholas Hoult in a Utopian society, presumably far in a future where emotions have been eradicated. Of course, the twist comes in when the characters played by Stewart and Hoult fall in love.

For Kristen, the premise of the film reminded her of her first kiss and her past loves, which were flawed, to say the very least. Still, the Twilight actress opens up about them in a frank discussion.

Kristen Stewart And Nicholas Hoult Bring Love And Lust To The Big Screen In Equals

As the new trailer for Equals makes its debut, it seems clear that this Drake Doremus sci-fi epic will not appeal to all tastes. Even the premise of Equals suggests that action and suspense may be limited. After all, how exciting can a society be if it’s devoid of all emotion? In the film, Kristen and Nicholas become infected with a virus that produces a range of the forbidden emotions within each of them and, even as their characters begin to fall deeply in love, viewers are left with the sense that this will not end well for either of them.

Adding to the idea that this film will not appeal to everyone is the lack of spoken words throughout the entire trailer. Stewart and Hoult communicate strictly through looks and body language. If this is so in a limited trailer, should we expect more of the same throughout the entire film? Has speech been eliminated along with emotions?

Even Vulcans could talk.

For those looking for a futuristic love story, this may be just what the doctor ordered. At its base, it seems Equals is essentially a story of forbidden love, though even that can’t be stated with any real conviction, because so little is known about the actual plot of Equals. Relying on the tagline, it seems Kristen and Nicholas are bringing us a story of epic love.

“Would you risk everything to feel something?”

Equals Helped Kristen Stewart Overcome The Heartbreaks Of Her Own Love Life

Stewart says that making Equals was a great stepping stone for Nicholas Hoult, as well as for herself, because each of them came to the project fresh from highly publicized breakups. She says their Equals roles helped them by forcing them to explore their feelings on an internal basis.

“This movie was a meditation on firsts, and a meditation on maintaining, and a meditation on the ebbs and flows of what it’s like to love someone—your feelings versus your ideals, the bursting of bubbles, the shattering of dreams you thought were possible, and what you have to contend with as things get more realistic.”

Stewart says that Equalsdeals with the lack of emotions in our own society, or, perhaps more precisely, the ways in which emotional reactions are penalized in our society. Kristen says as we’ve moved away from patriarchal families where emotions were kept strictly in check, public displays of emotions and emotional responses in general are now treated as mental illness.

“You think about your grandparents or their grandparents, and you think about the patriarch of the family never showing emotion—with women, too. As we’ve gotten past that, the meds have upped. It’s bizarre. The two things don’t really go together.”

Kristen makes it clear that she doesn’t agree that drugs are always the answer. Pointing out that we each only get one shot at this life, Stewart questions why anyone would want to numb or dull the experience.

[Photo by Ian Gavan/Getty Images]

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