Kristen Stewart's Hookup Rupert Sanders: Five Things to Know

Here's what you need to know about the British filmmaker who reportedly had a fling with the Twilight star

By Natalie Finn Jul 25, 2012 2:55 AMTags
Kristen Stewart, Rupert SandersAlex Bailey/Universal Studios

In the upcoming Breaking Dawn Part 2, Kristen Stewart plays a vampire who's destined to spend an eternity with her one true love.

In real life, however, she's only human.

Pictures have surfaced indicating that the 22-year-old star, whose relationship with Twilight costar Robert Pattinson has captivated fans for years now, found herself another prince charming—41-year-old Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders.

Whether you're taking the news with a grain of salt, a fist pump or an anguished gasp, we imagine you want to know more about the so-called Other Man in Stewart's life. So, here are five things to know about him:

1. He's Married With Children: Yup, might as well get that one out of the way first. Sanders has been lawfully wedded to model-actress Liberty Ross, 33—a British Vogue cover girl who played Stewart's mother in Snow White and the Huntsman—for seven years. The British-born couple have been residing in sunny Southern California with 7-year-old daughter Skyla and 5-year-old son Tennyson, both of whom also had small roles in their father's film.

2. Snow White Was His First: Known mainly as a successful director of commercials beforehand, Snow White and the Huntsman was Sanders' feature directorial debut. Produced by Joe Roth (Alison in Wonderland, Knight and Day, etc.), the film boasted a $170 million budget and took in more than $380 million worldwide. "I went to America with a very specific idea of what I wanted to do," Sanders told the Guardian last month of his filmmaking aspirations before landing Snow White (er, so to speak). "When it was my turn to start developing projects, I knew the writers I wanted to work with, and I had met every head of studio, every executive and a lot of producers. I started finding things, little crumbs off other people's tables that I would make my own." Of Snow White: "Our story is a 'once upon a time,' but it's not a 'happy ever after.'"

Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images

3. His Wife Is Proud of Him: Ross, bubbling over with delight at her husband's recent success, told London's Daily Mail just a few weeks ago that they used to call him "the Hand." "In every picture that was taken of me at a party or a premiere, he'd be chopped off, and all you would ever see was his hand," the brunette beauty explained, recalling the days when she was the bigger name. "At the world premiere in London, I had tears in my eyes, because we got out of our fancy car and all of his fans started screaming his name. The tables had really turned!" Ross was still a student at London's Queen's College when she met Sanders, a pal of her brother Milo. "He was friends with my elder brother, but I was out of bounds until I was 18," Ross said. '‘Once we started going out, though, I knew he was the one for me. He is a very special soul." They married when she was 24 and he was 31. (Another brother is Oscar-winning composer Atticus Ross, who worked with Trent Reznor on The Social Network.)

4. He's Busy: Sanders told the Guardian that he's been offered the chance at a Snow White sequel and he has some ideas for one, but... "If it's right, we'll do it, if it's not, we won't," he said. The Brit said he's also working on developing a period piece about the origins of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and a "science fiction version of the Battle of Algiers."

5. He Thinks K.Stew Is Quite the Actress: Perhaps because all of his comments have been under the romance microscope for the last four years, Pattinson has never had the freedom to describe his real-life leading lady as "naughty." But, well, no one was paying that much attention to what Sanders said before. "I think Kristen is incredibly brave," the director told the Huffington Post in May of his Snow White. "She played such a good version Bella Swan, people think Kristen Stewart is Bella Swan. She's not, you know? If you meet Kristen, she's wildly kind of giggly and vivacious and rebellious and naughty—all things that Bella Swan isn't."

(Originally posted at 6:02 p.m. PT on July 24, 2012.)

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