Kristen Stewart Falls In Love With A Bodybuilder In The Love Lies Bleeding Trailer
English filmmaker Rose Glass's directorial debut, "Saint Maud," is a great horror film with an all-timer ending, but it was tragically buried after COVID-19 stormed the world in 2020. Thankfully, her sophomore feature as a writer/director, "Love Lies Bleeding," will get the red carpet treatment, starting with a midnight screening at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The film stars Kristen Stewart as a gym manager who falls head-over-heels in love with a bodybuilder played by Katy O'Brian, an actor whom the internet has spent most of 2023 thirsting after looking at respectfully thanks to her roles as the brawny freedom fighter Jentorra in "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" and the treacherous Imperial turned New Republic double agent Elia Kane in "The Mandalorian." (Insert Denji from "Chainsaw Man" yelling, "[K-Stew] just like me Fr!")
Just as "Saint Maud" began as what Glass once described as "a weird f***ed-up kind of love story between a young woman and God," the story for "Love Lies Bleeding" changed and evolved throughout the film's development. "In the original script, there were a lot of 'Saint Maud' kind of moments. Like body horror, that kind of thing," O'Brian told Collider in February 2023. Over time, though, the central romance and thriller elements became the focus. "So it's a love thriller, kind of Western. It's shot like a Western," O'Brian added. You can check out the film's trailer above.
K-Stew is keeping it wild with Love Lies Bleeding
You can always count on Kristen Stewart to keep things wild these days. The actor, who justly earned an Oscar nomination for her turn as a haunted Princess Diana in "Spencer," has amassed an eclectic filmography over the years, collaborating with arthouse directors on whatever weird project strikes her fancy (this is a good place to interject that Stewart's hilariously mousy, organ-horny performance in David Cronenberg's "Crimes of the Future" was criminally overlooked) in between occasional ventures into the mainstream with fun genre movies like "Underwater" and "Charlie's Angels." That trend will only continue in 2024 as Stewart headlines a pair of unusual romantic dramas with "Love Lies Bleeding" and "Love Me," a sci-fi film about a romance between a satellite and a buoy (?) that is also debuting at Sundance.
The official synopsis for "Love Lies Bleeding" reads as follows:
Reclusive gym manager Lou falls hard for Jackie, an ambitious bodybuilder headed through town to Las Vegas in pursuit of her dream. But their love ignites violence, pulling them deep into the web of Lou's criminal family.
Among those joining Stewart and O'Brian in the "Love Lies Bleeding" cast are Ed Harris, Dave Franco, Jena Malone, and "Dickinson" star Anna Baryshnikov. A24 will release the film in theaters following its premiere at Sundance.