‘He Was Nervous’: Robert Pattinson Was Worried He Wouldn’t Live Up To Fans’ Expectations Of Edward In Twilight, And The Studio Wasn’t Convinced Either
Robert Pattinson became a household name with Twilight, but both he and the studio were nervous.
The early aughts were full of vampire content, largely inspired by the wild success of the Twilight franchise. That five-film franchise was a bonafide sensation, making household names out of its young cast of actors. It turns out that Robert Pattinson was worried he wouldn’t live up to fans’ expectations of Edward. And the studio wasn’t originally convinced either.
The cast of Twilight were all super popular during its run in theaters, but none as much as the trio of Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, and Robert Pattinson. The latter has one of the most daunting jobs, given how Edwards’ beauty is described in the novels. Original Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke recently appeared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, where she revealed that Pattinson was actually quite nervous about portraying his signature character. In her words:
There you have it. Despite how Twilight would turn Pattinson into a sex symbol and heartthrob, he wasn’t originally sure he could actually pull off playing Edward Cullen. The books were already hugely popular, and everyone had their own vision of what that vampiric leading man looked like. And as such, Pattinson didn’t want to disappoint the OG fans out there.
But not only would the Batman actor do just that, but Robert Pattinson would end up getting insanely famous from his role in Twilight, as well as his offscreen relationship with Kristen Stewart. Later on her same podcast appearance, Catherine Hardwicke revealed that the studio behind Twilight also wasn’t convinced that he was the right actor. Namely because during auditions he had dark hair and was out of shape. As she put it,
Of course, anyone who saw Pattinson’s role as Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter 4 knew he had the dashing good looks to pull off Edward. But the studio needed to be convinced originally, thanks to the actor’s grooming habits at the time. Clearly that Cullen makeover did wonders for him at the time, and he definitely looked the part.
This BTS Twilight story actually makes it somewhat surprising that Robert Pattinson signed on for The Batman. The Caped Crusader is one of the most popular superheroes of all time, and he had some big shoes to fill. And Pattinson got into killer shape to play Bruce Wayne in the burgeoning franchise.
The Twilight franchise is streaming now with an Amazon Prime subscription. Be sure to check out the 2024 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.
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Corey was born and raised in New Jersey. Graduated with degrees theater and literature from Ramapo College of New Jersey. After working in administrative theater for a year in New York, he started as the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. He's since been able to work himself up to reviews, phoners, and press junkets-- and is now able to appear on camera with some of his favorite actors... just not as he would have predicted as a kid. He's particularly proud of covering horror franchises like Scream and Halloween, as well as movie musicals like West Side Story. Favorite interviews include Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more.