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“Twilight” director Catherine Hardwicke recently joined the “Happy Sad Confused” spinoff podcast “Watchalong” to reflect on her 2008 vampire romance, which celebrates its 15th anniversary this month. Hardwicke’s film launched a $3.3 billion film franchise and turned Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson into global superstars. But Pattinson wasn’t exactly an exciting choice for Summit Entertainment at first. Hardwicke said that the film studio questioned whether Pattinson had good enough looks to play the vampire Edward Cullen.
Hardwicke recalled about Pattinson’s audition, “When he came over to my house, he had dark hair and it was kind of a mismatch because he hung out in pubs all the time.” “After we did a couple of hours of fun auditions at my house (with Kristen), the next morning I looked back at all the footage we shot and recorded and I thought not only did it work in person, but it worked on screen. Also works on. I had to be sure. Of course personally I was carried away, but you have to make sure it translates (on screen).”
“Then I sent it to Summit and he went to meet them,” she added. “He called me back and said, ‘Do you think you can make this guy look good?’ I said, ‘Yes, I do. Did you see his cheekbones? We’re doing a makeover with the hair and everything and he’s going to start working out and he’s going to look gorgeous.’ But at first they didn’t believe it. He walked in there wearing a stained shirt or something. “It was Rob.”
Pattinson was not what the studio was envisioning for Edward, nor was he what fans were expecting. When the “Twilight” movie was announced, casting fans leaned in favor of ex-Superman Henry Cavill. Eventually, franchise writer Stephenie Meyer publicly stated that Cavill was at the top of her wish list. Hardwicke thought the actor looked too old to play a high school student because of the time it took for his film adaptation to begin, but Cavill Pattinson had no idea he was being considered for the role until he had already joined. Cavill said last year that it “would have been nice” to play the role of Edward, although he had no hard feelings about not getting the job.
Based on his audition with Kristen Stewart, Hardwicke believed that Pattinson was the perfect Edward. The two actors shot scenes for the film at Hardwick’s home and famously kissed for the first time while rehearsing a scene on the director’s bed.
“They did the kissing scene and he collapsed and landed on the floor right there,” Hardwick said on The Big Hit Show podcast last year. “He fell off the bed. I said, ‘Dude, calm down.’ And I’m over there filming with my little video camera, whatever…Finally, Kristen said, ‘It’s got to be Rob.'”
“I could tell they had great chemistry, and I say, ‘Oh my God.’ “I thought, Kristen was 17,” Hardwick said at the time. I don’t want to get into some illegal stuff.” “So I remember I said to Rob, ‘By the way, Kristen is 17. In our country, it’s illegal to have sex…’ And she said, ‘Oh, okay, whatever.'”
Stewart said of his audition: “(Pattinson had) an intellectual approach combined with ‘I don’t give a fuck about this, but I’m going to make this song.’ And I was like, ‘Ugh. , that’s what’ it was like. And, anyway, we were young and stupid and, not to say that we made it that much better, but it was needed, and anyone playing those roles needs to realize that was needed.
According to Hardwick, all three “Twilight” alumni reunited at Pattinson’s birthday party this year. I turned 37 in May.
“What’s funny is, I went to Rob’s birthday party recently,” Hardwick said. “I crashed with my friend Toni Collette, who recently did a movie with her. Rob was like, ‘Oh, bring Katherine!’ Then Kristen crashed it too! That was just a few months ago. It was like, oh my god. “We all hugged each other and it’s so crazy and nice… He’s such a sweet person.”
Watch Hardwick’s full appearance on the “Watchalong” podcast in the video below.
