Kristen Stewart has said the reboot of Charlie’s Angels in which she stars is not “trying overtly to make any statements”.
The Twilight star appears opposite British actresses Naomi Scott and Ella Balinska as the next generation of angels working for the mysterious Charles Townsend in the latest big-screen reboot of the classic 1970s TV show.
The film, which makes reference to ways women can be overlooked and underestimated and are not perceived as threats, has been directed by Elizabeth Banks, who also wrote the script and stars as Bosley.
Discussing what the new film has to say about women in 2019 as she arrived at the film’s UK premiere, Stewart told the PA news agency: “I think it approaches it with kind of ease, I think it’s very confident in itself.
“I don’t think that it’s trying overtly to make any statements, even though it’s easy to think that’s the only thing it’s about, because it’s important and it’s topical and urgent, but at the same time it’s just about women having fun together and trying to do good things.”
Stewart, Scott and Balinska follow in the footsteps of Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu, who played Charlie’s Angels in the 2000 film and its sequel Full Throttle, and Jaclyn Smith, Cheryl Ladd, Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Shelley Hack and Tanya Roberts, who starred in the initial series.
Asked how she thinks it will compare to previous incarnations, she said: “All I really hoped for this movie to do is just make people feel good about themselves and their friends and the work that they do and everyone is valuable and everyone has a place.
“This really cool thing about our movie, there is not just three angels, there is women across the globe connected and helping each other and I think the movie has a good time and it’s silly sometimes and poignant at others, I’m really proud of it.”
Scott said: “Really it’s about seeing things from within and having a female perspective on things, instead of a male gaze on it.
“Elizabeth Banks is the perfect person to take the lead on this movie, not just because she’s a woman, obviously that’s part of it, but also just everything about her and her sensibility, the comedy, the writing, everything.”
Banks, who previously directed Pitch Perfect 2, said she had been inspired by the crime-fighting women since she saw them on TV as a child.
She added: “I started developing this movie quite some time ago and I just wanted to make a movie that celebrated women at work, there is no grand statement being made here.
“The fact of the matter is it’s so rare to see three women on a poster and three women do an action movie that everyone wants to think that it’s really political but honestly it is just a story about these three women.”
Asked if she thought films about women are held to a higher standard to be deemed a success, she said: “I just think they are so rare so of course when something is rare there is more pressure on it, because they are fewer and further between.”
Charlie’s Angels will be released in UK cinemas on November 29.