Don’t come for “Twilight.”
Robert Pattinson — who rose to fame as vampire Edward Cullen in the romance/fantasy franchise — has responded to fans who blame the saga films for ruining the genre.
“I love that people keep telling me, ‘Man, ‘Twilight’ ruined the vampire genre,’” Pattinson told GQ Spain in a translated interview published this week. “Are you still stuck on that s–t? How can you be sad about something that happened almost 20 years ago? It’s crazy.”
“Twilight” launched the careers of Pattinson, 38, and his co-stars Kristen Stewart, 34, and Taylor Lautner, 32, when the first installment came out in 2008.
The trio went on to star in several other “Twilight” franchise hits, including “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” (2009), “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” (2010), “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 1” (2011) and “The Twilight Saga: Part II” (2012).
The five movies turned out to be a $3.3 billion enterprise, according to Variety.
But Pattinson had other ideas for the original film, telling GQ in 2022 that he pushed for “Twilight” to be as edgy and emo as possible.
The studio, however, turned down the then 21-year-old actor’s vision for the flick — and it didn’t sit well with the star.
“I wanted to make it as arty as possible,” “The Batman” actor said of the 2008 film. “We had this strange tension where the studio was scared to make things a little bit too emo and stuff. I thought that was the only way to play it. I spent so much time [on set] infuriated… I can’t believe the way I was acting half the time.”
Pattinson recalled his managers warning him to change his portrayal of Edward or else.
The actor shared that his team had encouraged him to smile more and not be so serious after witnessing him on the “Twilight” set, with his managers telling him point blank, “You’ll be fired by the end of the day if you don’t stop doing what you’re doing.”
The film’s director, Catherine Hardwicke, also recalled during a 2023 episode of the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast that the studio questioned if Pattinson was hot enough to play Edward.
“When he came over to my house, he had black bangs for hair and was kind of out of shape because he was hanging out at the pub all the time,” Hardwicke said about auditioning Pattinson. “After we did the fun auditions [with Kristen] at my house for a couple hours, then I looked the next morning at all the footage I shot and recorded and I thought it worked not just in person but it works on screen. I had to be sure. Of course in person I just got carried away, but you have to be sure it translates [to the screen].”
When the studio pushed back, Hardwicke said she’d transform the heartthrob with a makeover.
“Then I sent it to Summit and he went over to meet them,” she continued. “They called me back and go, ‘Do you think you can make this guy look good?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I do. Did you see his cheekbones? We’re doing a makeover on the hair and everything and he’s going to start working out and he’s going to be gorgeous.’ But they didn’t believe it at first. He like walked over there with a stained shirt or something. It was Rob.”
The film studio wasn’t Pattinson’s only hurdle to land the role.
“Twilight” franchise author Stephenie Meyer admitted that she wanted Henry Cavill to play Edward. In fact, the actor was at the top of her wish list.
However, Hardwicke put the kibosh on Cavill because she thought he looked too old to play a high school student.
In the end, she convinced the studio and Meyer that Pattinson was the right man for the role.
Pattinson went on to land several lead man roles, including Bruce Wayne in the 2022 “Batman.” He was also named “sexiest man alive” in 2010 and topped the list again in the subsequent year.
Pattinson is engaged to actress Suki Waterhouse after popping the question in December 2023. The pair welcomed their first child in early 2024.
