"Twilight: New Moon" will be arriving in theaters this month, November 20 to be exact. In the film,  the romance between mortal and vampire reaches an intense and dangerous new level, and reveals a conflict that will haunt Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) as the story continues. Delving into the age-old rivalry between the Quileute tribe and the vampires, which comes to a head with her best friend, Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), and her love, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), Bella quickly learns that the supernatural world that she longs to become a part of will put her at more peril than ever before.

At the film's press day, Reel Empire had the chance to talk with Kristen Stewart who plays Bella Swanson in the film.

Q: When you were doing press for Twilight, you seemed to be a shy, sensitive young actor. How has this past year been for you, in terms of this non-stop phenomenon?

Kristen: I think I've gotten a lot more comfortable with talking about myself and knowing that what you say people are really going to take into consideration. That always intimidated me so much that I minced every word that came out of my mouth. I couldn't finish a sentence because I was so concerned about how it was going to sound. I didn't want to come across insincere about something that I really love to do. So, I realized that, instead of refraining from saying, "I've put my heart and soul into this thing and I love it," that's what I should've said instead of the really logical, over-analytical reason why I love it. I just do. I've gotten more comfortable with it. The whole rumor and tabloid stuff is so obviously false to me. It's like a ridiculous show.

Q: A soap opera with your name in it?

Kristen: Exactly. With false realism, like a soap opera that seems real, but you're not quite sure. It doesn't bother me. I don't take it personally. Luckily, because I've had so much experience, it's gotten easier to talk about the work.

Q: How was the work on New Moon?

Kristen: I had a really good time on this movie. It was intense. Just because of the nature of the story, it goes in a completely different direction. We undermine the first film. We establish a very ideological love and basically tell our main protagonist that she was wrong. It's like, "Where's our story?" Edward's not there.

What I really love about New Moon is that you see this girl build herself back up and, by the time she makes this rash decision to spend eternity with a vampire, she's in a position where you actually believe her. You're like, "Okay, you're old enough and mature enough to know. You've lived life." She grows up.

Q: What was it like working with Bryce Dallas Howard on Eclipse?

Kristen: Really good. Bryce is scary. She's really oddly sweet as well. It's funny to see her switch back and forth. But, for Bella, Victoria is an ever-present fear. Even when Victoria isn't around, Bella is scared that she's coming back. Bryce is such a good actress and it was easy to be scared of her.

Q: Can you talk about working with Chris Weitz?

Kristen: Chris has everything. To be a good director, you have to be a good person and you have to care about people, and I don't know a more compassionate human being. I couldn't have done this unless I had such a believable, comfortable and safe environment to be so vulnerable in. He provided that tenfold. He's one of the coolest, smartest and funniest guys I know. He really loves the project as well. He wasn't just jumping on the next big thing. He only helped make everything better. He made everything what it is. He's incredible. I love him.

Q: Did he give you guys any guidance, when he came in? How did that work?

Kristen: Chris did a very different thing that I've never had a director do. He put together a syllabus of what we were supposed to achieve and how he was going to make it easier for everyone. It was an introduction to how he likes to work. It didn't only introduce the idea of collaboration, but it was like inviting everyone onto this project and saying, "Please, everyone love it. And please, everyone be invested and work hard." It was very encouraging.

It also had technical aspects of how he was so sorry that so much of the movie was going to be CGI stuff that we were going to have to react to, but that he was always going to make us aware of what we were acting with, and he was never going to leave us high and dry. A lot of the FX movies are hard to do because you don't know what you're reacting to. So, he had a full run-down of how he planned on making the movie.

Q: Taylor Lautner is emerging from this movie as a huge star. If you could wipe the slate clean and make a decision yourself, do you really think that Bella wouldn't have gone with Jacob?

Kristen: I know, trust me. I feel you, completely.

Q: Can you talk about working with Taylor in this film?           

Kristen: We needed to be sure that whoever played Jacob was going to be Jacob in New Moon. He's such a different person. He becomes a man. It's not just a physical transformation. He really becomes an adult. I always knew that Taylor could do that, but we just needed to make sure because it was so important.

So, once he actually proved himself, which wasn't hard to do, even seeing him walk around on set was a different experience. He's literally become a different person. He's just grown up. He's so confident, and the nicest guy that I've ever met. I know that I'm using this grammatically incorrect, but he's the funnest guy I've ever hung out with. He's great. I'm so proud of him.

Q: These films are coming out so fast, one after the other. Can you talk about the intensity of that? Do you think you'll even remember all of it, in five years?

Kristen: There's already a lot of stuff where I have to say, "Okay, Kristen, be here. Experience it. Make sure that this isn't another fleeting situation that you're going to barely remember." You have to force yourself to be present. But, I feel like the fact that I have the opportunity to pick and choose moments that I want to remember and I have to focus on remembering cool moments, only tells you that I literally have an influx of them. I've had the coolest two years, and I'm so lucky.

Q: What's it been like to work in Vancouver, since you've been there for a while now? Do you have favorite hang-outs?               

Kristen: I love Vancouver. When we're doing the Twilight series there, I don't get to go out as much as I'd like to. I'm also a boring person. I really don't go out to bars a whole lot, unless it's an event. It's a beautiful place to be.

Q: What are your favorite spots in the city?           

Kristen: I just like being outside there. I don't have favorite spots. The climate is so different from what I'm used to. I don't really have any favorite spots.

Q: Did you actually get to ride the motorcycle? How did you feel about the bike?   

Kristen: I'm definitely never going to be a biker. I'm scared of cars, so the idea of riding a motorcycle is just never going to be something that I'm into. I was towed, ridiculously. I was on the back of this truck and I probably looked funny doing it. Taylor rode motorcycles really well. There's one part that's undeniably him. He rides up and skids. I left that to him. I wasn't about to do that. I don't even think that they would let me, necessarily. They had more faith in Taylor to do that.

Q: Would you ride on the back with a guy?

Kristen: Yeah, I did that and I didn't like it. It's so precarious. It literally feels like you're going to fly off of it. I'm not into that.

Q: What do you find the most rewarding part of being involved in something so popular?

Kristen: I think my favorite thing about this is the fact that I can keep it personal. It's still something that, if the saga didn't become a franchise and it was literally just a series of movies that I had done, they would mean just as much to me. Also, the fact that so many people are affected by it and are invested in it, just as much as me, if not more. If you don't like people and if you don't want to make movies because you care about people, then you probably are just wanting to be rich and famous. So, the fact that this is so important to so many people makes me so happy.

Q: Having such an avid fan base, where do you draw the line between what the public wants to know about your private life and what you want to keep to yourself?

Kristen: I don't know. I don't think that anyone can get a handle on that. As soon as I stopped trying to control everything that came out of my mouth and every picture that came out, that's when I became so much happier and it was so much easier to deal with. I've just grown into not having to care so much and not trying to think that I'm going to be able to plan out the way that everyone perceives me. There are no false impressions. Everyone's impression of you are going to be what they are, in that isolated moment. It's people not considering where you are in that moment, when you give that impression. I'm fine with that. I'm going to own it. I should just stop trying to control what's coming out of my mouth. I'm always going to keep what's important to me in mind. I completely understand, considering that we're playing characters that are so coveted by so many people. I get why they want to know more about us and they want us to be together, and all of that. I just have to not think about it.

Q: How did filming in Italy add to the romance of your character?

Kristen: The fact that we didn't have to be on a set and we were really in Italy, made it so much easier to immerse yourself in this world. It was so cool that we got to go to Italy and that we didn't have to fake it. I think it really did add a scope to the film that wouldn't otherwise be there. To go from Forks to Italy is such a stark contrast and is romantic, just in the idea of it. So, to be there and feel it, of course it helps to have the real environment.

Q: How emotional was it to do the break-up scene with Bella and Edward?

Kristen: That was the scariest thing. I was almost as worried about messing it up as I was about what I actually should have been thinking about, which were the issues that Bella is dealing with. Reading it, it's so iconic. There's nothing like that moment in reality. It's not even a normal break-up scene. I know what it like to get broken up with, but I don't know what it's like to get broken up with by a vampire who I've now been physically and chemically altered by. Suddenly, you take an addict and you take whatever they're addicted to away from them, and there's withdrawal.

That was the most intimidating scene in the entire movie. I don't know how to explain how I did it. Chris really helped me out. It was just about talking to him and reading the book. I had no other actors play off. The actual break-up scene that I did with Rob was not even where it happened. That was not where I was intimidated. She didn't seven believe it yet. It was the absence of him that I was scared of. I was like, "How am I going to be by myself in the woods with 100 guys standing around me, filming me?" Basically, it was literally having the equivalent of a death scene, but stay alive and get up and keep walking. It was hard. It was really intimidating. I've seen the movie. I really like the movie, but I don't know if anyone ever really would've been able to bring that to life, the way that Stephenie [Meyer] wrote it.

Q: Other than that, were there any other challenging scenes or moments for you?

Kristen: For me, this was the most difficult film. Bella is so sure all the time, and this is the one movie where she's actually baffled and totally like, "I don't know." It was weird to play Bella like that because she's so not like that. That was difficult. I can't think of a particular scene. It was really hard to go back and forth because you don't shoot a movie in sequence. I had to do stuff with Jacob, where I was alive and happy and out of this depression thing. And then, after lunch, I'd have to go back and scream in my bed for six hours. That was difficult.

Q: What's the craziest thing that you've had happen to you with the fans, since starting this?

Kristen: The funniest thing in the world just happened to me in Brazil. I've had a lot of really varying experiences. Some are absolutely touching, overwhelming and daunting, ans some are just crazy. Then, sometimes, they're really funny. Me and Taylor went to Latin America this time, and Rob was in Japan. We're sent all over, and it means nothing, who we're with. We were in Brazil and this guy was chasing after us. There was a huge crowd anyway, but this one very persistent fella was like, "Where is Robert! Where is Robert!" I couldn't stop laughing, and I felt really bad because he was distraught and emotional. I was like, "It's just Robert." It was really funny.

Sometimes you get letters that are reassuring, when everyone is saying one thing about you. It's funny when you can actually relate to the fans on a human level, and it happens all the time. People assume that's impossible, so when that happens, it's a cool thing.

Q: Has anything scary happen?

Kristen: No. I'm scared of crowds, but individually, no, of course not. Just personally, I'm intimidated by a lot of people.

Q: When it was announced that Chris Weitz was going to direct, Stephenie Meyer was quoted as saying, "Let's see how a man does with the movie." Did you have any trepidation, when Catherine Hardwicke departed?

Kristen: Everyone is different. I'm not smart enough to sit here and analyze whether or not a female would've been more in touch. Both characters that the protagonist deals with are men. Everyone approaches relationships differently.

Q: Do you see Bella as a role model for young women?

Kristen: I think that Bella is such a good character for girls. She's normal. The most typically relatable thing is that she's awesome and she doesn't know it. She's very confident, but also not arrogant. It's a weird thing to be. I think she also has a lot of really innately female qualities that are rare, for a character in literature. It's awesome that so many girls can look up to her because she's unabashedly fickle. She's like, "I'm allowed to make mistakes, I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it right now and I'm not going to be ashamed of it." Bella is very much like that. I think she is a good example for a young girl.

Q: Do you appreciate it when fans want to relate you to Bella? Can you understand it?

Kristen: I totally understand why people have a hard time separating us from our characters. It's also just the way our world is going. People are obsessed. There's an incredibly large group of people that spend most of their time considering other people's lives. It's strange to me. I can't have anything to do with it, or else I step in and mess it up for myself. I just let it fall by the wayside. It doesn't really affect me.

Q: You've talked about living in the moment and enjoying it. Is there a memory from the set that you'll always take with you?

Kristen: The one moment that really stands out, throughout the filming of New Moon, was when we wrapped in Italy. The last thing that I did was run through the square, through a bunch of people, just around this corner. It was one little part of that montage, where I'm running through there. There were so many people around and there was so much energy. You could feel everyone was expecting the done date, and we were almost finished. I can't turn off. I need to fully and completely be on, until that very last moment. I remember the second that we wrapped.

At Comic-Con, I said that my favorite moment of New Moon was when we wrapped, and people took that the wrong way. It wasn't that I was so glad to be done. It was the most memorable moment for me because I literally fell apart. I almost couldn't handle it. It was one of the coolest experiences that I've had on a movie, so far. Chris was there and it was something that we had together. I just felt really good. That's the most memorable experience.

Q: How attached have you become to Bella since starting this project?

Kristen: I'm very protective of her. I feel a shared ownership. It's weird. If you were to talk about the character, in a way that was not at all thought out or flippant, I would be right there to say that you didn't know what you were talking about. I'm so defensive of her. So, yeah, I like her a lot.

Q: What was making Eclipse with David Slade like?

Kristen: Just like New Moon, Eclipse becomes a completely new movie. Just as soon as you think you're going to get the same story, all of a sudden, it completely changes. Bella is much more back to herself. She's content now. She's comfortable and self-assured, in a way that she wasn't in New Moon. What I really love about Eclipse, and what was interesting for me to explore, was the different levels of love and acknowledging that the ideals that you maybe had a little while ago aren't true.

Bella is innately honest. That's something that I feel she is. In Eclipse, she lies to herself and everyone around her about the fact that she's in love with Jacob. It's not that extra thing that you can't really even describe. I loved watching the three of them. I loved playing with the three characters together. There's literally a scene where Edward and Jacob, who are mortal enemies, are in a tent with a sleeping Bella in between them. It's a ridiculous circumstance to find yourself in. We had so much to work with.

Then, the FX were even more. There's a big battle that happens, that was more than we had to deal with on New Moon. It was cool.

I've always gotten to do things for really short periods of time. To follow a character this long, surprises me every time. I can't wait to do the fourth one because I actually know Bella more  now. We have such established dynamics. The way that I know Bella deals with Edward, you can't mess with that. I know how she deals with Edward. I know how she deals with Jacob. I know how she deals with Charlie, her dad. And, to have people come in and help that process out is only cooler. You always get a different perspective. So, working with David was like, "Okay, let's see what you've got." He came up with a lot of stuff that I would've never thought of, and he's quite good at the whole technical aspect of movie making, which is so completely over my head. I got to feel safe that he had that handled, and me and Rob and Taylor just did our thing.

Q: Have you heard of a start date on the fourth film, Breaking Dawn? Is there any truth to the rumor that it might be two films?

Kristen: I don't know.

Q: How do you relate to the idea of being immortal?

Kristen: I can only relate to that as Bella can, because she is still human. The way that I consider immortality, from both my perspective as Kristen and my perspective as Bella, is that it's so completely unknown, but given the right motivating factor, I'd be willing to explore it. Bella is very willing to acknowledge that she doesn't know, but that she's willing to give it a chance because of Edward, and because she's willing to sacrifice anything for him. A big thing for Bella is change. She's so terrified of change because she's been thrust into this world. It's not necessarily a healthy way of looking at things because nothing is going away.

Basically, if you're facing something that is completely unknown, but you're willing to take everything that is hard about it because of what you might get, that's hope. That's people. That's why we get up, every day. Immortality is almost more scary, in our story, than mortality. To live forever seems like a really cool thing on the surface, but in our story, it's terrifying and it means taking your soul, at least to Edward. It's about the lines of personal belief, theology and your faith, and what you think is going to happen after you die. These are things that we think about incessantly in the movie, and they're things that Edward and Bella argue about.

Q: How did you balance playing Bella with playing a character like Joan Jett?

Kristen: I can only play characters that I feel like are real people, in a complete way, and in such a whole way that, if I fake any aspect of it, I will have failed them and, literally, they're slaughtered. It's like they don't exist anymore, unless I do it. So, in terms of approaching parts, it just happens.

I got to know Joan, not only as her now, but also through footage and the script and story. I feel like I got to know who she was, in such a whole way that it's not about imitating, even though I was really concerned about details being right, like gestures and stuff. I really wanted to do a good impersonation, but I also didn't want it to be imitation. I wanted it to be natural.

Playing Joan Jett had nothing to do with Bella. It was a small period of time that I had to do it, but it was an opportunity that I jumped on because it was going to go away if I hadn't. I would've liked more time.

Q: You talked about Bella being a good role model for young girls, and yet she seems willing to sacrifice everything for Edward.  She gets depressed about a love affair that ends and becomes an adrenaline junkie who's trying to kill herself, in a way. Are you worried about 12- or 13-year-old girls watching this and getting a terrible idea of what that's like?

Kristen: It's a very extreme story. I think people take to this story who are more mature than that. The only way that I can justify that, and maybe I'm an immature girl as well, is that I really feel like, if you feel like you need to do it, then do it, with anything. After you're told that you've made a mistake and that you're wrong, if you're willing to say that you made a mistake and that you were wrong, and that you're going to try the next thing, there's nothing to be ashamed of, at all. Be extreme. Go for it. I think that's the point. I know this is a movie about immortality, but you only live once. I'm also not preaching to anybody, I'm just standing behind the story. That's what I think.