It turns out Robert Pattinson almost wasn’t good-looking enough for Twilight.
During an interview with the Watchalong podcast, director Catherine Hardwicke revealed that the studio behind the long-running vampire franchise wasn’t convinced about her choice for Edward.
“When [Robert] 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,” she revealed. “I thought ‘it works 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 — does it really translate [to the screen]?”
Pattinson starred as the 108-year-old twinkly vampire Edward Cullen in all five installments of the Twilight franchise. Beginning with Twilight in 2008, the films also starred Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan, and Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black.
The series was a huge hit – the first film earning $408.4 million on a budget of just $37 million. The Twilight Saga only got bigger from there, racking up a colossal $3.3 billion over its five films.
But following some “fun auditions” with Stewart, Pattinson still wasn’t a sure thing for the role. “I sent it to Summit [Entertainment] and he went over to meet them,” Hardwicke added. “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 walked over there with a stained shirt... It was Rob.”
Thankfully, those first impressions didn’t hurt too much. Pattinson eventually landed the role and went on to become a bit of a heartthrob in the process.
Hardwicke also revealed that Pattinson was up against several other contenders for the role: Ben Barnes, Shiloh Fernandez, and Jackson Rathbone. Notably, Rathbone did land a role in Twilight, as Jasper Hale.
IGN’s Twilight review gave it 7/10 and said: “Even with its vampire showdowns and monster mythologies, Twilight is above all else a commentary on the fears, hopes, and dreams of teenagers – which is precisely why the movie works best when it ignores the superficial thrills of special effects and set pieces and chooses to examine the eminently sexier landscape of the characters' emotions.”
Want to read more about Twilight? Check out how to watch the Twilight movies in order as well as our picks for the 10 best Robert Pattinson movies.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
