Theron Intimidates Stewart On 'Snow White' Set

MANILA, Philippines - Charlize Theron need not get into her evil queen ''Snow White and the Huntsman'' character to intimidate Kristen Stewart, who plays heroine in the film. The ''Twilight'' star admitted she struggled from the Oscar-winning actress' A-list weight at first because she has always admired Theron's body of work.

In fact, Theron was the reason Stewart climbed on board ''Huntsman.''

''I was really nervous and intimidated. Charlize was one of the main reasons I wanted to do the movie,'' Stewart opened up in an e-mailed statement sent through the movie's local distributor, United International Pictures.

''I've grown up admiring Charlize. She's talented on a whole other level. She's in her own category and just awesome. She was attached to 'Snow White and the Huntsman' before any of us. That was a huge draw for me. There's always a criteria for me. I look at a movie and it could have a great script and then I see who is involved. The fact that Charlize was involved with this movie just made me trust the project. I knew it was going to be good. And it's exciting to work with somebody that you respect and admire and who is acting for the same reasons that I am. So it was awesome. I was also intimidated and I wanted to make sure that it was a good working relationship.''

Stewart added, ''I think she's great at what she does and I also really respect her as a woman. I loved the script and I loved everything surrounding this project but there was one concrete pillar in the middle of it and that was Charlize. When I met her I was like 'oh wow, you're crazy!' She's really funny and quick. And she commands a lot of attention. You can't help but look at her when she walks into a room. She's very cool. Charlize exceeded my expectations.''

Ironically for Stewart, working on scenes that required her to go head to head with Theron's character helped the young actress relax opposite the evil queen Ravenna. ! ''When y ou work with people like that, you want to impress them and you want to deliver. It went really well. We were able to riff with each other and it felt natural acting with Charlize. A lot of the scenes we had to do were really intense and before we filmed them we talked a lot about the story and our characters. When we were doing the scenes a lot of them are almost like fight scenes because there's a lot of conflict with our characters. It was so great to work with her.''

Ass-Kicking Snow White

In this dark retelling of the classic fairy tale, Snow White traded her Disney singing voice for battle gear. Stewart also got to do most of her stunts.

''I jumped off a rock that was really tall. I heard that it was about twelve feet tall and but it seemed like twenty feet. I had to jump into frigid water and it was horrifying. I didn't think I had a problem with heights but it was really scary. That was definitely the hardest stunt.''

''Snow White and the Huntsman'' is the second film lifted from the fairy tale to hit cinemas this year. The first one, ''Mirror Mirror,'' which saw Lily Collins as Snow White and Julia Roberts as the evil queen, had a lighter, comedic tone to it unlike ''Huntsman'' which borders on the Brothers Grimm's kind of Snow White and far detached from the Disney type.

''I know Lily really well and so it's kind of crazy. I think both films will be really cool and very different. But yes, I think there's room for both of them,'' said Stewart.

The Rupert Sanders-helmed film made a scary, action-peppered account of the story through characterizations. ''He (Sanders) makes these characters live in an incredibly dangerous world. The setting and the landscape is like a character on its own. His use of imagery is always very evocative. He has a really good ability to see things in a unique way.''

Hating Prince Charming

Stewart, who had little time jumping from ''Twilight'' to ''Huntsman,'' said she doesn't have an idea! for a p rince charming and hates having to have a set list for her dream guy. ''I really don't have a list. I would hate that.''

Often criticized for her inability to suit up a sunshiny personality in front of the media, Stewart explained she just feels nervous talking about her projects. ''It's funny thing because I get pretty nervous talking about my movies and things like that. I hate the idea that people think that it's because I don't care. And so if they hate me for that, then really, I would be able to prove them wrong. If they hate me for other reasons then, it doesn't bother me because I'm happy doing what I'm doing.''

Being silver screen's Bella Swan somewhat required the actress to speak to female youth who comprise most of her followers. She also admitted to enjoying girl time bonding with one her best friends, Dakota Fanning, with whom she shared screen time in the movie ''Runaways.''

''I grew up with somebody who is one of my best girlfriends and that's because she's crazy and funny and she really gets me. Also, Dakota (Fanning) is one of my best friends. I respect her so much and I love her. She's funny and crazy and lovely. [Loyalty is important to me] and both of my best friends are really loyal.''

In the movie, Queen Ravenna believed too much in the power of beauty and youth. ''With the Queen, she is brought up and told that beauty is the one card she can play to a fault. I think one of the really beautiful things about Snow White is that she can see even through Queen Ravenna's evil character that there is beauty there.''

In reality, Stewart said, ''Some of the most beautiful people, who use their beauty as a weapon, are grotesquely ugly inside.''

The actress said she did not grow up with fairy tales. She is more of a Disney fan and named ''The Jungle Book'' as her favorite Disney film.

The 22-year-old actress realizes the advantages of juggling independent films and big Hollywood productions. ''They offer such different opportunities. I love going som! ewhere f or five weeks and living in a dingy little hotel room and sort of half writing the script the night before you go on set, that's fun. At the same time, it feels great to be supported by hundreds, of talented people on a big budget film. So I love doing both.''