WHO'S NEWS
February 5. 2004
Meet Kristen Stewart, actress
Kid Reporter Henry Rome talks to the star of the movie Catch That Kid
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In the movie Catch That Kid, which opened nationwide on February 6, Kristen Stewart plays a 12-year-old struggling to come up with enough money to pay for her father's surgery after he is injured in a climbing accident. Working under the mastermind plot of Maddy (played by Stewart), three kids rob a maximum-security bank where her mother works to get the money. TFK Kid Reporter Henry Rome recently spoke with Stewart about the movie, her role models and her acting career.
TFK: What do you think kids will like best about Catch That Kid?
Stewart: I think it shows that if you have a best friend, you help them no matter what happens. I think kids can relate to that.
TFK: Why do you think spy movies featuring kids are popular?
Stewart: I think that it empowers kids and kids like that because in real life when they're at school teachers are kind of overbearing. Sometimes older people can kind of be patronizing. But, when movies empower kids I think they like it a lot.
 |  Stewart and pals are on a "mission without permission" to rob a bank. |
Stewart: I haven't seen Spy Kids but I've seen Codey Banks. There's a different story line. Basically (in) Agent Cody Banks and Spy Kids, it is pretty much like a light, a happy movie. There's really not that much of a problem going on and it's kind of funny. (In Catch That Kid), most of the time you're laughing but you're also really worried. It's about a girl and her two best friends who try to rob a bank to save my character Maddy's father. He was paralyzed in a climbing accident.
TFK: What was the funniest thing that happened during the filming of the movie?
Stewart: I remember one time we were shooting a scene where I tell both of the boys that I like them to get them to do the heist with me. So, I'm leaning over this fence to talk to Gus and right when I lean up to kiss him the fence drops and I fell out of frame. All they (production staff) saw when they were watching the monitor was all of a sudden I was in the shot and all of a sudden I was out. It was pretty funny.
TFK: What was it like performing stunts, for example, climbing a water tower?
Stewart: It was really fun. I actually got to do a couple weeks of training for climbing prior to the actual climbing of the water tower and the heist and everything. I didn't get to go all of the way up because I could have fallen and I wouldn't be able to do the rest of the movie. It was really fun. I was on a crane so I wasn't technically climbing but I had to get myself up there.
|  Stewart's character tries to disable a high-tech security camera. |
Stewart: You know what, there was no specific advice. We got along so well, though. It helped a lot to just sit and watch her, because she's so amazing. She's completely professional and she knows everyone's name on the crew and she's always on time. She was great.
TFK: As an actor, who do you look up to in the business?
Stewart: I would say Jodie Foster because she's not just an actress. She's a director, she's a producer, she's a writer. She's conquered the business. You don't see her much in the press. She's very, very well respected, very professional. She's awesome.
TFK: Do you see yourself staying in acting as a career?
Stewart: I'd like to. But that's definitely not all I want to do. It's not the most intellectually stimulating thing that you can possibly do. I want to go to college. I'm going to take four years off. I don't want to miss that. I want to be a writer. I think that'd be awesome.
TFK: Do you attend a regular school?
Stewart: I've been so busy this year that I had to switch. I had to go online. So I'm finishing the eighth grade on an online school service. I?m going to a public high school. I don't want to miss that either.
TFK: What do your friends think of your being a movie star?
Stewart: Most of my friends that I hang out with have known me since I was in kindergarten because you have to do that. If you make new friends once everything's starts happening, you never really know who's really being your friend.
TFK: What do you think people will be thinking when leaving a movie theatre after seeing the movie?
Stewart: They will leave with a really happy feeling. It's a really feel-good movie. When they leave, they will probably want to call their friends from when they were really little.
