Robert Pattinson had a rapid rise to fame as a Hollywood heartthrob thanks to his role as Edward Cullen in Twilight, but while countless fans were “Team Edward”, it turns out the studio wasn’t exactly sold on the actor. During a question-and-answer session at a recent 15th anniversary screening of Twilight attended by ComicBook.com, director Catherine Hardwicke opened up about Pattinson’s audition, revealing that the actor flew out at his own expense to do a chemistry read but that the studio was concerned that he might not be attractive enough to play the role.
“Then Edward was really hard … because all the cool kid guys that came in and auditioned for it, they looked really cute, but they looked like the guy next door in high school. Not like a hundred-year-old vampire,” Hardwicke said. “So, I’m talking to Rob on the phone in London and I’m like, ‘We don’t have the money for you to fly out, but I need do a chemistry read.’ So, he flew out on his own dime, stayed on his agent’s couch, comes over to the audition at my house, which is a chemistry read, his shirt’s all untucked. He had black scraggly bangs, he hadn’t been working out. I was like, ‘Oh, okay.’ After they did the scenes, I mean at my kitchen table, they did the neurobiology scene. On my bed, the did the kissing scene. So, you guys might know, but he got so riled up, he fell off and hit my floor. Like, dude, calm down.”
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She continued, “I looked the next day and I watched the footage of them together and I thought, ‘This has chemistry, the electricity that you really want that we have to have this moving.’ But we soon came over to Summit and they called me up and you know, he had a messy shirt on, like ‘How are you going to make this guy look good?’ I’m like, ‘Dude, he’s got the cheek bones.’ And he immediately agreed to go and start a badass workout and everything. And the first day that he worked out, he called me and said, ‘It’s weird.’ He was used to just hanging out in pubs and bars and he goes, ‘It’s kind of weird, but it kind of feels good to me.’”
Hardwicke Also Spoke About How a Meeting With Sean Penn Led to Kristen Stewart’s Casting
During the same question and answer session, Hardwicke addressed the casting of Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan, revealing the series of events that led to the actor getting the role — including a meeting with Sean Penn.
“I directed that movie, Lords of Dogtown. Emile Hirsch is in that movie and I went and showed it to Sean Penn for a bizarre, odd reason,” Hardwicke said. “And his kid was a skateboarder and he did the voiceover in the documentary. The Z-Boys. But he wanted to see it and at the end he goes, ‘Oh my God, that kid is amazing. Emile Hirsch. Get him on the phone.’ So, we called him. He goes, ‘I’m going to cast him in Into the Wild. Then they said, ‘We’re doing early screening of Into the Wild, why don’t you come see it?’ And I saw Kristen in there, you guys, she’s there in the trailer. She just looks like she wants to eat Emile. Okay, she’s got the right attitude. And then the full circle thing. And then I wanted to meet her in person. She was out in Pittsburg filming Adventureland. And who went with me? I took an actor with me so that she could audition with an actor, Jackson Rathbone. He’s very polite. He carried my suitcase.”
The Twilight Saga is Coming to SteelBook 4K Ultra HD
Fans of Twilight will get to relive the story in time for the 15th anniversary of the first film with a new, SteelBook collection 4K Ultra HD release. It’s available now with a suggested retail of $119.99.
“Timed to the 15th anniversary of the first film in the franchise, THE TWILIGHT SAGA: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION – 15TH ANNIVERSARY arrives on a SteelBook® 4K Ultra HD™ (4K Ultra HD™ + Blu-ray™ + Digital) on November 14th at Best Buy from Lionsgate. Based on Stephanie Meyer’s best-selling novels with screenplays by Melissa Rosenberg (all five films), the film series was directed by Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight), Chris Weitz (The Twilight Saga: New Moon), David Slade (The Twilight Saga: Eclipse), and Bill Condon (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Parts 1 & 2), and a cast that included Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Ashley Greene, Kellan Lutz, Billy Burke, Michael Sheen, and Dakota Fanning.”
