Kristen Stewart 'gained a sister' in Imogen Poots making The Chronology of Water

Kristen Stewart become so close with Imogen Poots on the set of The Chronology of Water that they felt like sisters.

In the Twilight star's feature directorial debut, Poots plays Lidia, an Olympic swimming hopeful-turned-writer battling addiction and an abusive past.

Stewart was blown away by Poots' audition tape and liked and trusted her immediately when they met - but their bond grew significantly while making the film.

"I have just loved her for so long, and I felt connected to her before I met her," she told The Hollywood Reporter. "(I felt that) we can big each other up and we can look at each other in new ways.

"The fact that we both felt emboldened enough at this stage in our lives to listen to each other, trust each other enough and really release and break and put the pieces back together in a way that feels cohesive... And we'll have it forever. I love her so much, and I've gained a sister in this. She is one of the best actors I've ever been around in my entire f**king life, and I have worked with so many actors."

Stewart spent eight years working on her movie adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch's 2011 memoir before its debut at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this month.

While she intends to star in her own directorial projects in the future, Stewart wanted to stay behind the camera for her first feature.

"I would have been depriving myself of the coolest exchange that a director can have, which is with their star. I don't want that with myself, I want that with someone else," she told The New York Times.

"I definitely want to do that. I think that there's a version of that in the future, but for this one, Imogen was born to play this part."