The studio didn’t want Robert Pattinson in “Twilight”, for a fairly trivial reason, but which almost cost him the role.
Twilight without Robert Pattinson is almost inconceivable, and yet! Because of his appearance, the actor was almost rejected from the casting of the literary saga, in favor of the other actors who were in the running and whose names will not be unknown to you!
Interviewed in the podcast Watchalongthe director of the first film Catherine Hardwicke looked back on her first meeting with Robert Pattinson and clearly, for the actor, nothing was won!
When he arrived at my house, he had black locks and was not in great physical shape, as he spent all his time at the pub. I thought, ‘It works in real life, and it works on screen,’ but I had to be sure. Of course he got me as a person, but I had to be sure he would come across well on screen.
The director had the actor audition with Kristen Stewart, with whom the chemistry was immediate, even if since then, Robert Pattinson recognized to GQ that he was on valium during this first meeting. In any case, he shoots his scenes, and Hardwicke must have his casting choice validated by the studio:
Summit Entertainment Robert Pattinson in “Twilight, Chapter 1”
“I sent them to Summit and [Robert] met them. They called me back and said, ‘Do you think you can make him look good?’, I said, ‘Yes, have you seen his cheekbones? We’re giving him a complete makeover including his hair, he’s going to start working out and he’ll look great. But at first, they didn’t believe it. He went there with a stained T-shirt… It was Rob.”
The makeover had its effect, as Pattinson played Edward in five Twilight features. The somewhat “emo” image that stuck to him long after the end of the saga did not prevent him, through his daring artistic choices, from standing out and making a dozen independent films since.
He is also the new Bruce Wayne in The Batman, by Matt Reeves, whose second opus is currently in development, and is aiming for release in 2025.