Kristen Stewart in awe of clever Jesse Eisenberg

Kristen Stewart thinks Jesse Eisenberg finds life "overwhelming" because he’s so clever.

The 26-year-old actress used to be "intimidated" by her frequent co-star – whom she has starred with on ‘Adventureland’, ‘American Ultra’ and ‘Café Society’ – because of his "special mind", but has learned not to try and keep up with him.

She said: "Jesse is so smart. He used to intimidate me.

"But now there’s a warmth that we share that allows me to keep up with him.

"It used to be debilitating. I used to be like, ‘I’m not going to try and be on your level and try and engage’ and now we can really run together.

"But I don’t know… honestly, life really overwhelms him because of his intelligence.

"Situations are really over-stimulating for him. I think he’s one of those special minds.

"I have a nature that’s really in stark contrast to his, so I think it trips him out."

But one person who Kristen wasn’t intimidated by was her legendary ‘What Just Happened’ co-star Robert DeNiro, because the iconic star went out of his way to put her at ease and help her with her performance.

She told Total Film magazine: "My experience with De Niro was so far from anything I expected… I met him and he was so self-conscious.

"He could tell what a big deal it is for any young actor to meet him.

"There was a full-on rehearsal process.

"Actors like that, who aren’t doing it for the wrong reasons, are never really intimidating. They help you. They’re excited to see somebody who cares about it as much as they do.

"Actors that have that intimidating presence – like, ‘I’ve been around longer than you’ – maybe they just don’t see me as a good actor.

"But anybody like that… it’s something to be very excited about, seeing young people come up and try and do new things."