Kristen Stewart didn't know what Crimes of the Future was about while filming

Crimes of the Future star Kristen Stewart has said she didn't know what the David Cronenbeg film was about while she was making it. 

The film is set in the near future where humans are able to alter their genetic makeup. Viggo Mortensen plays Saul, and Léa Seydoux is Caprice – they're a performance artist couple who remove Saul's organs live on stage. Kristen Stewart is an investigator from the National Organ Registry who is looking into the disease Accelerated Evolution Syndrome, which is what makes the couple's performances possible.  

"I told [Cronenberg] I have no idea what this movie is about, but I'm so curious and maybe we can just figure it out," Stewart said at a Cannes press conference (H/T Insider), recounting what she told the director during casting. 

But, Stewart finally understood the movie when she watched it. "We, the actors, spent every single day after work being like, 'What the fuck are we doing?' But then I watched the movie last night and it was so crystal clear to me," she explained. "It [was] so exposing, and it does feel like you're hacking up organs when you're making something, and if it doesn't feel that way it's not worth it."

So far, Crimes of the Future has been spurring dramatic reactions. There have been walkouts at Cannes, as predicted by Cronenberg, but the film also received a six-minute standing ovation. 

Crimes of the Future arrives in US theaters this June 3, but doesn't currently have a UK release date. In the meantime, check out our guide to all of 2022's major movie release dates for everything else the year has in store for us.