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Sundance 2010: Kristen Stewart keeps it real at ‘Runaways’ premiere

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On Saturday afternoon, Kristen Stewart slipped into the Racquet Club Theater here unnoticed by paparazzi or a throng of salivating fans – at least two of whom had paid $2,000 for tickets on eBay -- into the world premiere of her gritty family drama “Welcome to the Rileys.” So low-key was the “New Moon Saga” phenom, she passed from her SUV to the movie’s red carpet line without raising the suspicion of the mob desperately searching for any vestige of her.

What a difference a day makes. Sunday evening’s premiere of the Stewart-starring coming-of-age drama “The Runaways” -- in which she portrays proto-punk superstar Joan Jett -- was a media-saturated environment thick with spotlights, shouting reporters, elbowing paparazzi and camera crews standing on ladders. And everybody knew it the moment Stewart stepped into the building.

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The actress seemed visibly recalcitrant on the “Runaways” red carpet at the Eccles Theater, answering no more than two questions per camera crew (and addressing the print reporter scrum for only a meager four minutes). As well, Stewart emanated her signature ambivalence toward stardom, biting her lip and running her hands through her hair in the face of many questions about getting in character as Jett, who co-founded the all-girl rock band in 1975.

“I talked to her all the time,” Stewart said of Jett on the carpet, appearing decidedly punk in an unzipped black hoodie, t-shirt and jeans. “To tell you what it was about would be me summing up for a soundbyte. And I don’t want to do that.”

She paused, knitted her brow and then continued.

“She’s incredibly outspoken and embodies freedom in every way,” Stewart said. “It wasn’t easy for me to get there.

Stewart’s remarks having been doled out in discrete (if somewhat oblique) soupcons and her artistic integrity still intact (even if the “Twilight” star left a few news crews more than a little disgruntled with her uncommunicativeness), she left the media bunch wanting more and was hustled off by a team of handlers, vanishing into the bowels of the theater.

-- Chris Lee

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