Twilight Director Recalls Studio’s Concerns Over Robert Pattinson Casting

Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke recalls the studio’s concerns over her desire to cast Robert Pattinson. Based on the hit novel by Stephenie Meyer, Hardwicke’s adaptation was released in 2008, becoming a major box office success and kickstarting a franchise that now consists of five films. The Twilight cast includes Pattison as vampire Edward Cullen and Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan, with a story that chronicles the pair’s unlikely love story.

Now, Hardwicke reveals on a recent episode of Happy Sad Confused spinoff podcast Watchalong (via Variety), that Summit Entertainment pushed back on Pattinson’s Twilight casting due to his appearance.

The director reveals that the studio was skeptical that the actor could get into the shape needed for the role and that they took some convincing. Check out the director’s full comment below:

“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. 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].

“Then I sent it to Summit and he went over to meet them. 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.”

How Robert Pattinson’s Edward Attitude Has Helped His Career

Judging from Hardwicke’s latest comments, Pattinson didn’t overly obsess about his appearance during the audition process for Twilight, approaching the role with a more laid back attitude. This approach is seemingly how he has charted his career, not doggedly chasing projects that will bring him fame or commercial success, but rather taking on roles that seem interesting to him.

Critically, the Twilight movies are far from Pattinson’s strongest works, but they did open the door for him to be able to pursue the types of projects that he seems more drawn to. Following the release of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, the actor would focus mostly on smaller movies, including the likes of Cosmopolis, The Rover, Good Time, and The Lighthouse, never settling into a character archetype and continually challenging himself as a performer and showing his range, thus avoiding a trap that many lead actors in young adult franchises seem to fall into.

Of course, Pattinson is no stranger to taking on roles in big blockbuster movies and franchises like Twilight, starring in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet and recently taking on the role of Bruce Wayne in Matt Reeves’ The Batman. Funnily enough, there was a similar apprehension from audiences about Pattinson taking on the role of Batman, with the actor even contributing to this skepticism by joking that he wasn’t doing any kind of training or exercising to get in shape for the role.