Twilight: Josh Peck Reveals He Got Very Close to Playing Edward, "What the F--k? Impossible!"

Peck says he was in the final four to play Edward Cullen.

By Jenna Anderson

The Twilight films have a special place in many people's hearts, thanks to their moody aesthetic and star-studded ensemble cast. As a new interview reveals, the casting for the fledgling franchise very briefly included one unexpected actor. In a recent episode of the Great Guys podcast, Josh Peck revealed that he was asked to audition for Twilight's male lead role, Edward Cullen. According to Peck, he ended up being in the final four in contention to play Edward, who was ultimately portrayed by Robert Pattinson. Peck was starring in Nickelodeon's Drake & Josh at the time, and has since appeared in Turner & Hooch and Oppenheimer.

"I remember it's like 2006? 7?" Peck told cohost, Ben Soffer and guest Taylor Lautner. "They're like, 'Audition for this movie Twilight. It's based on a book — it's gonna be great.' So I send in my tape... [for] Edward. A month later, I'm with my manager. He goes, 'It's down to you and three guys. You're close,'" Peck recalled. "I'm like, 'Really?' I hadn't even had a tummy tuck yet! I'm like, 'There's no way. He's gotta be so shirtless. It's not gonna happen.'"

"Spoiler alert," Peck joked. "Didn't get it. I'm like, 'In what f---ing world were they like, "Okay, here's what we're thinking: Chris Hemsworth or Stanley Tucci?"'" he said. "Like what the f---? Impossible!"

Who Auditioned For Twilight?

Peck is far from the only actor to have tried and failed to appear in Twilight, with fellow Nickelodeon star Jamie Lynn Spears also revealing that she auditioned for the film. Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence also said she "immediately" got rejected, years before she would lead her own franchise in The Hunger Games.

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"I auditioned for 'Twilight,'" Lawrence confirmed to The Rewatchables podcast. "They turned me down immediately. I didn't even get a callback. But my life would've been totally different. I got 'Hunger Games' I think, like, a year later. It was probably after 'Winter's Bone.' ...I was still in a franchise, so I was still trying to counteract the franchise-ness. I'd still be doing that if I was in 'Twilight.' But I almost didn't do 'Hunger Games' because 'Twilight' had come out and that fandom had happened... When I was trying to talk to people about making this decision after ['Hunger Games'] got offered to me, it was hard to explain to people… this level of fame. I assumed it was going to be the 'Twilight' level of fame and that was never something I had in mind. I never wanted to be the most famous person on the planet. That's a very different life than I pictured for me."

Will There Be a Twilight Reboot?

The Twilight saga is potentially headed to live action again, with reports from earlier this year revealing that Lionsgate is working on a television adaptation of Twilight, although it is unclear if that will be a full reboot, or a story existing within the world of the existing films. There is not a showrunner, network, or distributor currently attached to the Twilight TV series, but Meyer is "expected to be involved in the television adaptation." Wyck Godfrey and former Lionsgate Motion Picture Group co-president Erik Feig will be on board as executive producers. 

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