Kristen Stewart: Bella in 'Twilight'

This is your first big lead in a movie. How does that feel?
It feels good. I feel like I started somewhere huge, and there's sort of nowhere to go from here... I feel like it was a big responsibility and I was really intimidated for a while, but now that it's done and I've had some breathing time to step away from the project and I'm not living it anymore, I feel good. I'm really proud. I've never worked so hard on another movie and you wouldn't expect that.. It's a big studio movie, but...

Well, it was a pretty emotionally intense experience for you.
Yes, it was.

How long did it take to shake off the character of Bella?
I bought a truck, the truck that Charlie [Bella's dad] has in the movie, and I drove it home from Portland, and it was like driving away... Not that it was something I had to get away from. It was just, it was such a complete experience. I got over it. I drove all the way home. I mean, it was okay. [laughs] It didn't take that long. Just the drive home, I guess.

Edward, whom Bella falls for, is a vampire, but it seems like he could be the equivalent of the sensitive bad boy in real life, too.
Well, yes. There are a million guys like that, and most girls have the same feelings for them. Yeah, there are a bunch of little themes like that. I mean, yes, it's a fantasy, and we're at Comic-Con [so it's in the] comic book genre, but it's very close to home. It's about real human beings, even though the vampires aren't human. He is. That's what differentiates him between the good and the bad vampires, is that he still has a connection to his human self. He's not just given to the animalistic side.

What appeals to you about Bella?
Bella is a very honest... I mean, I could relate to her because she's just a very straight-up, good-natured girl who found herself in an insane position... [She's] seemingly logical, and then all of the sudden she's thinking of herself as a psychotic person and [she's] just swept away by something more powerful than her. Every girl wants to lose herself. And Bella started out hard and just lost it, and that's what I really loved about it.