Elizabeth Banks: Charlie’s Angels reboot won’t ‘label’ Kristen Stewart as gay

Nov 09 2019
Written by Emma Powys Maurice

Charlie's Angels Kristen Stewart as Sabine Wilson

Kristen Stewart as Sabine Wilson in the Charlie’s Angels reboot. (YouTube)

If you were one of the countless people praying for a gay Angel in the new Charlie’s Angels reboot, we’re sorry to disappoint you.

Fans had hopefully dubbed the upcoming remake “Charlie’s Gayngels” in celebration of the casting of bisexual actor Kristen Stewart. But the film’s director Elizabeth Banks has ended speculation over the sexuality of Stewart’s character.

In an interview with Digital Spy, Banks confirmed that Stewart won’t be depicted as LGBT+ in the spy movie, explaining that she was reluctant to put any kind of “label” on the character.

“It’s interesting. When I cast [Kristen Stewart], I just wanted her to be… I just felt like she’s almost the way Kristen is. I don’t feel there is a label that fits her,” she said.

“The only thing that was important to me was to not label it as anything. It’s fine if the media wants to label it, I think that’s okay, but I didn’t do that. I just let her be herself in the film. Yeah, I know, and I am.

“But that was almost in response to someone who was like, ‘What are all the boxes there in or whatever?’ There was no mention of it in the script whatsoever.”
But she reassured fans: “It’s still gonna be fun and Charlie’s Angels-y. But it will also be current and modern.”

Elizabeth Banks, director of the new Charlie’s Angels reboot (Digital Spy)

Stewart’s relationships have been subject to intense scrutiny over the years. She has previously revealed that she was told to hide her sexuality in order to further her career.

“I have fully been told, ‘If you just like do yourself a favour, and don’t go out holding your girlfriend’s hand in public, you might get a Marvel movie,'” she told Harper’s Bazaar.

“I was informed by an old school mentality, which is – you want to preserve your career and your success and your productivity, and there are people in the world who don’t like you, and they don’t like that you date girls, and they don’t like that you don’t identify as a quote unquote ‘lesbian’, but you also don’t identify as a quote unquote ‘heterosexual.'”