Why Woody Allen sought out Kristen Stewart for his new movie ‘Cafe Society’

Reporting from CANNES, France â€”  It may look like Woody Allen is a heat-seeking missile when it comes to young talent: Emma Stone, Jesse Eisenberg, Miley Cyrus, and Freida Pinto have been some of the millennial actors he’s hired in recent years.

But the director’s latest bit of youthful casting -- Kristen Stewart in the new 1930s-set romance “Café Society� -- came about for very specific reasons.

“I needed someone who could play an adorable little girl from Nebraska one second … and then later in the movie you see her in furs and jewels and she’s transformed herself [into] a sophisticated beauty in cosmopolitan Manhattan,� Allen told reporters of the role, which follows, among other things, her character’s evolution from secretary to society lady.

“Kristen,� he added, “could do both.�

Starring as Hollywood secretary Vonnie, the actress indeed begins the Cannes opener as corn-fed ingenue and then makes some leaps as the film goes along. (She pulls it off, for the most part, the peeking through of some modern-flavored punkish poses in the first section notwithstanding.)

FULL COVERAGE: 2016 Cannes Film Festival

Stewart said Allen may not have always been convinced of her suitability; she even had to audition for the part. “The flitty little lady was not something he saw initially so I had to prove it,� Stewart said to journalists. And she came in with her own doubts; after all, Stewart’s style of acting and Allen’s directing aesthetic are both pretty specific — and not entirely synonymous.

“At first I was really aware of [his style] and wondered if I ever was going to fit into that,� she said. “Luckily once we got going, that [tone] that’s familiar just happened intrinsically.�

Of course, for all her acting virtues, Stewart arrives with the added benefit of a new demographic: legions of young female fans who wouldn’t necessarily be lining up for a Woody Allen film. (These are a particular asset to distributor Amazon Studios, which paid a pretty penny for “Café Society.�)

Whatever the reasons for her hiring, “Cafe Society� continues an increasingly robust art-house run for the former Bella Swan, offering a rebuttal of sorts to the earlier part of her career. (At this festival she will also debut her latest collaboration with French auteur Olivier Assays, in the director’s “Personal Shopper.�) Given Stewart’s migration from one of the biggest blockbuster franchises on the planet to more specialized prestige films — and given that “Café Society� is set in a world of commerce over art — it’s a subject that was top of mind Wednesday.

“There’s definitely an undeniably, hungry insane fervor that occurs,� she said of her experience in modern Hollywood. “And it’s really apparent when people don’t care about that kind of [artistic] stuff.�

Acting, she continued, is not something she does “because you want to entertain people and make a bunch of money. Most people do. That’s not a bad thing. But if it doesn’t hold hands with a genuine desire to make art, then that sucks. And it’s pretty rampant.�

Twitter: @ZeitchikLAT