Summary

Collider’s Perri Nemiroff chats with Kristen Stewart and Alia Shawkat for The Wrong Girls.

Stewart discusses the importance of Dylan Meyer directing and Seth Rogen’s support.

Stewart and Shawkat also discuss their on-screen dynamic and embracing bonkers moments, like impromptu Celine Dion dances, diva cats, and more.

The Wrong Girls producer and actor Kristen Stewart wasn’t about to let this female-led buddy comedy slip into the wrong hands. While talking with Collider’s Perri Nemiroff, she explains that the “wrong” hands would be anyone other than first-time feature writer-director Dylan Meyer, or in other words, “some dude.” Having just released her own feature debut as co-writer and director with last year’s The Chronology of Water, she champions the importance of Meyer’s hold on the reins, adding, “You don’t twist yourself into a pretzel to get your movie made; you stand strong in the middle of it and make it for what it is.” What The Wrong Girls is is a sci-fi stoner comedy about two best friends, Frankie (Stewart) and Molly (Alia Shakwat), on the trip of a lifetime when a mysterious experimental drug grants them telepathic abilities. Reading minds is cool and all, but this situation suddenly pits these two aimless stoners against dangerous rivals in pursuit of the very substance they’ve consumed. Meyer’s film also features a stacked cast with LaKeith Stanfield, Cate Blanchett, Kate McKinnon, Seth Rogen, Kumail Nanjiani, and Tony Hale. Don’t miss Stewart and Shawkat’s conversation with Nemiroff in the video above, with a transcript provided below, where they discuss working with Rogen’s Point Grey Pictures and how Stewart encouraged Meyer to maintain creative control over her script. They also tease their chaotic best friends’ relationship in the movie and reveal what it was like on the set of The Wrong Girls, with impulsive Celine Dion dance moves, diva cat co-stars, and keeping the vibes chill.
Kristen Stewart on Why Dylan Meyer Had to Direct ‘The Wrong Girls’

“It took me encouraging her to not accept the status quo, so to speak.”

Image via Neon, courtesy of Everett Collection

PERRI NEMIROFF: I was watching an interview that Dylan [Meyer] did for this movie, and she was talking a good deal about the lack of comedies that she was able to see herself in growing up, and then also emphasized the fact that a movie like Smiley Face made her realize that there aren’t enough stoner comedies and also buddy comedies featuring women out there. What’s the first comedy you saw yourself in, maybe even one that made you realize, “I’ve got to make sure that more stuff like this actually gets made?” ALIA SHAWKAT: That’s a good question. KRISTEN STEWART: The first thing that popped up was Now and Then, because we were so tiny, and they were so cool. SHAWKAT: They seemed so much older at the time, didn’t they? They were. [Laughs] STEWART: Yeah, because when you’re a little kid… SHAWKAT: Twelve is like 40. STEWART: And then you become a five-year-old when you’re, like, 15 because you’re being such a nimrod about stuff that doesn’t matter. SHAWKAT: For me, I did watch All That, and I really liked it. It was kind of the first thing that I was like, “Kids can do comedy like this, and just be outwardly so funny, and no one’s concerned about you?” STEWART: Really, nobody was. SHAWKAT: Yeah. Maybe they weren’t concerned enough, obviously. But, yeah, that was my kind of first reaction. Both A+ examples. I love both of them so much.

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Kristen, another thing that I heard Dylan mention in that interview was that the initial plan for this movie was not for her to direct it herself, but you are the one who encouraged her to take the leap. I find that it’s often one thing for somebody to tell somebody else, “You can do it. Give it a shot,” but it’s another thing to actively help someone make their dreams come true. So as a producer, what were some things you were able to do to make sure that Dylan not only got to make her first feature as a director, but got to make it the way she wanted? STEWART: There were so many iterations of this movie. She wrote it 13 years ago, and there has been, I think, just a deep craving for a movie like this for so many years. I think it took me encouraging her to not accept the status quo, so to speak. We worked with Point Grey, which is Seth Rogen’s company, and they’ve been working together forever. Dylan is such an accomplished writer, and we just entered a time where we can kind of look at our friends who are in positions of power and go, “I thought we were supposed to do stuff differently. Why are we hiring some dude to direct Dylan’s movie?” You know what I mean? This movie is so hers, and so it didn’t take tons of producorial work. I think it was just like the time in which you don’t twist yourself into a pretzel to get your movie made; you stand strong in the middle of it and make it for what it is. It was her connections, my connections, our belief in each other, and just how good the script was, and the fact that we could get someone like Ali on, too. It’s just like the proof is in the pudding. Everyone wants it. And nobody could have directed this movie like Dylan. It would have just become something else, which maybe would have been great, but this was just necessary.
Kristen Stewart and Alia Shawkat Channel a Beavis and Butt-Head Dynamic

“Kristen is the Frankie to my Molly.”

Image via Neon, courtesy of Everett Collection

There are many wonderful actors out there in the world, but there’s something about your chemistry in this movie that feels so incredibly singular, so can you each tell me something that you were only able to accomplish with your own character because Kristen was the Frankie to your Molly, and vice versa? SHAWKAT: Aww, Kristen is the Frankie to my Molly. It’s been fun actually talking about the characters outside of them and doing press now because I think, at least for me, I feel like I’m like realizing a little bit. It’s like when someone asks you to talk about yourself and your best friend, you’re just kind of like, “Yeah, I guess we are kind of like that.” But yeah, like how they kind of match each other, but they have different strengths and weaknesses, but they know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and so they’re okay with that, and how they accept that in each other, I think, is really rad. We’re different than Frankie and Molly… STEWART: We’re actors. SHAWKAT: We’re actors, and we are very serious people. We make lots of money. STEWART: [Laughs] And choices. SHAWKAT: But besides that, I think there is an essence in both of us that’s obviously very similar to the characters, and we just like hanging out. So, I feel like the chemistry was just kind of there. I was just like, “Yeah, we just get to hang out and pretend to be stoned?” “Pretend” to be stoned. STEWART: It’s so cool, too, because Frankie and Molly are kind of like the Beavis to the Butt-Head, and like the Ren to the Stimpy, where there’s kind of a neurotic one and then one that’s more chill. But because we didn’t have to play these kind of on-paper archetypes, we got to just half be these ideas, and then half bring ourselves to it. I think that she’s kind of like a Richter little guy in a way that made my… SHAWKAT: What does Richter mean? STEWART: Richter’s like a little bit wild. SHAWKAT: Oh, I like that. Okay, cool. STEWART: Molly could have been all sedate and, like, tired and stuff, but we were just chasing each other around. I mean, obviously, you’re Butt-Head, and I’m Beavis, and I’m Ren, and you’re Stimpy, but sometimes we flip-floppy.
Kristen Stewart and Alia Shawkat Kept the Vibes Chill on Set

Between Celine Dion and the cats, the stars learned not to sweat the small stuff.

CloseImage via Neon, courtesy of Everett CollectionImage via Neon, courtesy of Everett CollectionImage via Neon, courtesy of Everett Collection

I’ll ask you about just how delightfully bonkers this movie is and how cool your job can be when you’re swinging for the fences in a way that you want. Can you each tell me something that you did on this set that made you stop and think to yourself, “Isn’t it wild that we’re allowed to actually do this, and my job is just the coolest?” SHAWKAT: I mean, I would say the majority of this one. STEWART: Everything. SHAWKAT: Being like, “So we’ve got to choreograph a dance to Celine Dion, but it’s not supposed to be good, but it’s supposed to be fun.” STEWART: “And we’re not going to choreograph it.” SHAWKAT: Yeah! “And we’re going to do it right now because they’re filming right now.” [Laughs] I feel like so much of it.

STEWART: I just loved standing next to her and being like, “…what?” And then if we miss something, lose something, whatever, the sort of insulation of being like, “Yeah, but then if all goes wrong, if we just sort of go like,” [laughs] just together is really comforting, I guess, to be around. We got to actually smoke weed and blow, like, fucking rings in a car, we don’t see the bad guy, we run around, we fucking eat a bunch of good food. Like, that’s just how I want to spend most of my time anyway, not sweating the small stuff. And on a movie, you sweat all the time because it’s sweaty and it’s scary and you’re like, “This is a lot of pressure and money.” SHAWKAT: Yeah, our job was to be, like, “We just have to be giggling here while everyone is setting up the shot, and keep the vibes chill. STEWART: Yeah, exactly. SHAWKAT: We’re just like spoiled little kids. STEWART: “Everyone, calm down.” And hanging out with cats the whole movie. That was another big bonus in my eyes. SHAWKAT: Yeah! We really didn’t get to hang out with them as much as you think. STEWART: No, they were sheltered little divas. SHAWKAT: Yeah, everyone’s like, “Don’t look at them!” If anybody on set can be a diva, it is most certainly a cat. I’ll give them a pass. The Wrong Girls premieres in theaters on August 14.

Release Date

August 14, 2026

Runtime

100 Minutes

Director

Dylan Meyer