Summary
Directed and co-written by Rose Glass,Love Lies Bleedingboasts a truly top-notch cast. InKristen Stewart’s action thriller with 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, the Oscar-nominated actor plays Lou, a reclusive gym manager living in New Mexico. Set in 1989,Love Lies Bleedingstraddles several genres. At its core,the film is a neo-noir crime thriller, but it’s also a romance with dark comedy elements. However,Love Lies Bleeding’s plot is straight-forward enough: a rising bodybuilder, Jackie (Katy O’Brian), drifts into town on her way to a potentially star-making competition in Las Vegas.
Not only do Lou and Jackie fall hard for each other, but Lou introduces the ambitious bodybuilder to some seemingly run-of-the-mill steroids. As the film progresses, it becomes clear that the drugs are doing a number on Jackie’s psyche, pushing her toward committing extremely violent acts. When Jackie gets pulled deeper into Lou’s crime family drama — which stems from the ruthless Lou Sr. (Ed Harris) —the mind-altering steroids prove to be an incredible liability, culminating inLove Lies Bleeding’s wild ending.
Kristen Stewart as Louise “Lou” Langston
Date Of Birth: June 09, 2025
Actor:A British Academy Film Award and a César Award winner,Kristen Stewart got her start in Hollywood as a child actor. She rose to prominence in David Fincher’s 2002 thrillerPanic Room, which saw Stewart co-starring alongside Oscar-winning actor Jodie Foster. However, Stewart’s fame hit a new high when she landed the role of Bella Swan inThe Twilight Sagamovies. The Oscar-nominated actor has since appeared in Olivier Assayas' acclaimed filmsClouds of Sils MariaandPersonal Shopper, as well as Clea DuVall’sHappiest Season, Kelly Reichardt’sCertain Women, and Pablo Larraín’s biographical dramaSpencer.
Spencer
Diana, Princess of Wales
Character:The reclusive manager at the Crater Gym, Lou is pretty immediately approached by FBI agents who want details on her estranged father, the local criminal Lou Sr. Upon meeting the ever-confident bodybuilder Jackie,Lou comes out of her shell and shares more about her harrowing — and violent — past. Ultimately, Lou winds up at the center of the crime thriller’s antics, marking animpressive genre comeback for Kristen Stewart.
Love Lies Bleeding Review: Kristen Stewart Is Better Than Ever In Thrilling Crime Romance
With action, crime, and romance mingling and building toward an explosive and engaging finale, the film is a thrilling ride from start to finish.
Katy O’Brian as Jaqueline “Jackie” Cleaver
Date Of Birth: August 22, 2025
Actor:Martial artist-turned-actorKaty O’Brian’s true breakout movie isLove Lies Bleeding, but she gained attention a few months before the film’s debut for her prominent role as Imperial Officer Elia Kane inThe Mandalorianseason 3. O’Brian has landed roles in a number of genre shows and movies, from zombie showZ Nationto superhero fare likeBlack Lightning,Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., andAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Most recently, O’Brian appeared alongside Glenn Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones in the record-breaking blockbusterTwisters.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
The Mandalorian
Elia Kane
Character:Katy O’Brian plays Jackie, a rising bodybuilder who drifts into town on her way to a competition in Las Vegas. Ahead of the competition, Jackie takes a job at Lou Sr.’s gun range and starts training at the Crater Gym. Shortly after meeting Lou,Jackie decides to take the reclusive gym manager up on her offer of using steroidsto enhance her training — and, eventually, the two start dating. Since the steroids start to mess with Jackie’s psyche,Love Lies Bleeding’s ending will prompt viewers to wonderwhat, exactly, happens to Katy O’Brian’s Jackie.
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Kristen Stewart’s new movie Love Lies Bleeding has put her back on track after her last movie’s Rotten Tomatoes score broke her best “Fresh” streak.
Jena Malone as Bethany “Beth” Langston
Date Of Birth: July 28, 2025
Actor:A long-time Hollywood vet,Jena Malone landed her first major role in the 1996 made-for-TV filmBastard Out of Carolina— a project that earned her Independent Spirit and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. After that, she had a Golden Globe-nominated turn inHopeand a Saturn Award-winning performance in 1997’s Jodie Foster-ledContact. From cult classics likeDonnie DarkoandSaved!to big-budget romps likeSucker PunchandThe Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Malone continues to boast an impressively diverse catalog of film and TV projects.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Johanna Mason
Character:Jena Malone plays Lou Sr.’s daughter andLou’s sister Beth — a woman trapped in an abusive marriage. It’s clear that Lou has a strong bond with her sister, and will do anything to protect her, but that goes a little too far once Jackie is pulled into the fold.
Anna Baryshnikov as Daisy
Date Of Birth: August 05, 2025
Actor:The daughter of ballet dancers Mikhail Baryshnikov (Sex and the City) and Lisa Rinehart, Anna Baryshnikov’s first major film role came in 2016 when she landed a part in the critically acclaimed dramaManchester by the Sea. After starring in the short-lived TV seriesSuperior Donuts, the stage and screen actor appeared inher most acclaimed and well-known project to date:Dickinson, Apple TV+’s period comedy-drama.
Manchester by the Sea
Good Girls Revolt
Kathy
Character:InLove Lies Bleeding, Anna Baryshnikov plays Daisy, a woman who’s obsessed with Lou. Often,Daisy tracks Lou down or stops by the gym to incessantly ask her out— despite Lou’s continued (and overly polite) rebuffs. Unfortunately, Daisy’s persistence lands her in the middle of the crime thriller’s biggest moments.
Love Lies Bleeding Is A Dark Mirror To Two Actors' $158 Million Movie
Love Lies Bleeding is a dark mirror to a completely different movie from 1998 starring two of its actors in similar but also different roles.
Dave Franco as J.J.
Date Of Birth: June 06, 2025
Actor:After minor roles in popular projects likeSuperbadandScrubs, Dave Franco landed his breakout role in the 2012 buddy comedy21 Jump Street. From theNow You See Memovies toNeighborstoFright Night, Franco continued to appear in everything from horror to comedies to heist films. Some of his most acclaimed projects to date include the medieval black comedy The Little Hours, Barry Jenkins’If Beale Street Could Talk, and the Apple TV+ whodunnitThe Afterparty.Franco made his directorial debut in 2020 withThe Rentaland has produced hits likeZola.
Now You See Me
Jack Wilder
Character:Lou Sr.’s son-in-law and Lou’s brother-in-law,J.J. is Beth’s mullet-sporting, abusive, and unfaithful husband. Understandably, there’s a lot of tension between J.J. and Lou because of how J.J. treats Beth, which leads to some violent complications — and some ofLove Lies Bleeding’s biggest WTF moments.
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Ed Harris as Lou Langston Sr.
Date Of Birth: July 14, 2025
Actor:Academy Award-nominated actor Ed Harris is incredibly prolific, but some of his most acclaimed performances were in films likeApollo 13,The Truman Show,Pollock, andThe Hours. A genre-hopping performer, Harris has also appeared inA Beautiful Mind,The Rock,A History of Violence,Creepshow,Snowpiercer, andTop Gun: Maverick, among many other films. For portraying John McCain in the HBO filmGame Change, Harris nabbed a Golden Globe, whilehis starring role in HBO’sWestworldearned him an Emmy nomination.
Top Gun: Maverick
Rear Admiral Chester “Hammer” Cain
Character:As his name suggests, Lou Sr. is Lou’s estranged father, who’s currently the target of an FBI investigation. In addition to his criminal ties, Lou Sr. runs the local gun range and employs Jackie as well as J.J., his abusive son-in-law who’s married to Beth. Although he isn’t responsible forevery death inLove Lies Bleeding,Lou Sr.’s history of violence shapes the film’s narrative, especially where Lou’s character arc is concerned.
As of August 2024,Love Lies Bleedingis streaming on Max.
Love Lies Bleeding
Love Lies Bleeding is an action crime film from A24. Directed by Rose Glass, Love Lies Bleeding centers on a gym employee, played by Kristen Stewart, and a bisexual bodybuilder (Katy O’Brian) as they discover how difficult the world of competitive bodybuilding is. The film also stars Jena Malone, Anna Baryshnikov, Dave Franco, and Ed Harris.
