As 'Twilight' star Kristen Stewart gets ready to take a bite out of the highly anticipated 'New Moon,' ET is with the 18-year-old star to talk about her new indie flick, 'The Cake Eaters.' But first, Kristen is revealing secrets about the big Stephenie Meyer follow-up -- and how 'Twilight' has changed her life!

"It's been good for me, it's been only good," says Kristen of life after the release of the vampire film phenomenon. "It really facilitates work that I love. It makes it much easier. I don't have to fight to get into a movie that I really want to do. It's not a fight anymore, and it was."

As for 'New Moon,' which she's about to start filming, Kristen says she's "really excited," but it's "a big job."

"It's a lot different, also, from the first," she adds. "It's a very different story. A lot happens: [Bella] doesn't have [Edward] anymore, and she's also in a place where she has to step up and kind of become more mature, and to see her deal with life without him is going to be interesting. … It's all very epic and convoluted."

In theaters March 13, the quirky, lighthearted drama 'The Cake Eaters' casts Kristen as Georgia, a small-town teen who, despite grappling with a disease of the nervous system that causes her to shake and slur her speech, just wants to experience love for the first time. Featuring 'Tadpole' star Aaron Stanford and Oscar nominees Bruce Dern and Melissa Leo, the film fest favorite was helmed by Mary Stuart Masterson in her feature directing debut.

Kristen spoke to two young girls with the actual disease, Friedreich's Ataxia, and explains how she channeled the malady: "I had it in my mind, and then it somehow gets into your physical self as well," she says. "[They are] very used to having this disease, so [they] handle it differently than someone who, like myself, is just trying to think about what it would feel like to be entirely numb and have no muscle control. It's like they're used to it so they're very good at it."

Watch ET for more with Kristen Stewart!