Kristen Stewart has begun casting for her directorial debut, an adaptation of American writer Lidia Yuknavitch’s memoir, The Chronology of Water. The book traces the author’s life from her troubled childhood, through to her pursuit of beauty and self expression as an author. 

“It is a life that navigates, and transcends, abuse, addiction, self-destruction, and the crushing loss of a stillborn child. It is the life of a misfit, one that forges a fierce and untrodden path to creativity and comes together in the shape of love,” according to the book’s official synopsis.

Stewart is currently casting for the lead role of Lidia Yuknavitch. “We’ve been putting together and have been thinking about this for a really long time,” she told Variety. “I’m so stoked. It’s taken the time it’s needed. Some of these take a decade to put together. I just jump every gun in my life and start talking about stuff before they’re really relevant, but it’s more relevant than ever. Now we’re casting the movie. We’re finding our Lidia Yuknavitch.”

The Twilight star added that she was currently trying to find investment for the project, which is her first outing in the director’s chair for a feature length film: “We don’t need that much. It’s a really small movie. It’s something I would have wanted to be cast in when I was younger.”

There’s a buzz around Stewart following her recent turn as Princess Diana in the critically acclaimed Spencer, a performance that’s led to speculation of the actor being nominated for her first Oscar. But don’t expect her to feature in The Chronology of Water: “There’s actually no part for me,” she confessed. “I guess depending on who plays Lydia, I could maybe play her older sister but probably not. I keep trying to figure out a way to get in there but I don’t think so.”

While this is her first feature-length project, Stewart has directed several shorts before including 2017’s Come Swim, a film about gun control in the US. It's also “a movie about some guy who goes through heartbreak and is super sad about it,” according to Stewart. 

The Chronology of Water is currently in pre-production and as yet has no release date.