Kristen Stewart: I loved scaring myself in 'On The Road'

By Oliver Gettell

May 23, 2012 12 AM PT

Kristen Stewart, the 22-year-old star of the “Twilight” films and the upcoming “Snow White and the Huntsman,” told reporters at the Cannes Film Festival, “I love scaring myself” — and she wasn’t talking about vampires or evil queens.

Stewart was referring to her role as a fee-spirited, sexually adventurous beatnik in “On the Road,” Walter Salles’ adaptation of the classic Jack Kerouac novel. Stewart said she embraced playing the character of Marylou, which involved sex scenes and nudity.

“I love pushing,” Stewart said at a news conference at the festival, in reference to a scene in which she appears topless while riding in a car with costars Sam Riley and and Garrett Hedlund.

In preparation for the film, which had its world premiere at Cannes, Stewart and her cast mates participated in a monthlong “beatnik boot camp,” she said. “I got to live more in those four weeks than I ever usually do in my life.”

Salles first heard of Stewart after friends saw an early screening of the 2007 film “Into the Wild,” then brought her on board with Riley and Hedlund.

The film’s debut marks the end of a long journey for the “On the Road” adaptation, which filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola purchased the rights to in 1978 (Coppola is an executive producer on the film).

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