Kristen Stewart Is Directing Her First Film, The Chronology Of Water
Kristen Stewart has found critical acclaim in recent years in films like the drama Spencer, the horror movie Crimes of the Future and the action thriller Love Lies Bleeding. Now, though, she’s set to move from being in front of the camera to being behind it, directing the upcoming film The Chronology of Water. A romantic drama, it’ll star actress Imogen Poots (The Father) and tells the story of a woman escaping an abusive household to pursue a career as a swimmer. Here’s everything we know so far…
What is The Chronology Of Water about?
Stewart’s directorial debut is a biopic based on the memoir of the same name written by writer Lidia Yuknavitch. The book follows Lidia’s life and how she escaped a tumultuous household, with her father being abusive to her and her mother suffering from alcoholism and suicidal tendencies. A way out is offered to her when she takes a swimming scholarship at a college in Texas, having found a talent for it and dreams of making it a career. Some day, she even hopes to compete at the Olympics, but these hopes are left in ruins due to her issues with alcohol and drugs, which eventually causes her to lose her scholarship.
The film is set to adapt the book closely, taking us to Lidia’s early life and her swimming training, as well as her later relationships and personal life. The synopsis explains that The Chronology of Water is about turning “trauma into art” and how she would eventually make a career as a writer. Lidia herself is played by Imogen Poots, and a first-look image of her in character with Stewart directing her has been released. Challenging themes, such as sexual identity, orientation, and BDSM, are also in the mix, and the director has described the film as a long-time passion project. Rather than the US, where the story is set, production has been underway in Europe, with filming in Latvia and Malta.
What else do we know, and is there a release date?
Long in the works, the film has a screenplay written by Kristen Stewart alongside Andrew Mingo, and will also star Thora Birch (The Walking Dead), Earl Cave (The Sweet East), Kim Gordon (I’m Not There) and Jim Belushi (Good Girls Revolt). There’s currently no trailer, but it is likely to be released sometime in 2025.
