LOS ANGELES — With celebrity comes clout. It’s a lesson Kristen Stewart has quickly learned, post-Twilight.

“It’s made it easier to do things I really enjoy, like an independent movie nobody sees. Now it’s like, ‘Let’s see Bella in this stripper movie.’ ”

That “stripper movie” is Welcome to the Rileys, a forthcoming drama co-starring James Gandolfini and Melissa Leo in which Stewart plays a New Orleans pole dancer.

“It was the most meaningful life-changing experience on a movie I’ve ever had. We shot it in New Orleans. It was the hardest subject matter I’ve ever had to deal with. I play a very broken young girl who’s a street kid, working in a strip club, and James Gandolfini’s character is just as sort of dead inside and they wake each other up ... I play someone who realizes she has the capacity to be a real person and relate to people and have people love her and she can love herself.”

Of course, many — if not most ¬— Twilight acolytes are young girls and Stewart, like it or not, is viewed as a role model by some. So does she feel a responsibility to those same fans before she ventures toward more adult, potentially controversial material?

“I think they probably have parents. If they’re that young and can’t make their own decisions then someone should be protecting them. I didn’t grow up sheltered and I’m fine ... I think even when you’re playing something wrong — if you play an evil character — you can learn from that ... I’ve gained perspective. Anybody who watches the movie, if we’ve done it right, will get that too. That’s what drives me to work.”

kevin.williamson@sunmedia.ca