Everyone seems to be feeling nostalgic for the vampires, werewolves, and star-crossed love. Kristen Stewart has been reflecting on her role in Twilight recently and members of the movie's production team are speaking about how they cast the role of Edward Cullen from the boys that auditioned for the Harry Potter films. Of course, the role went to Robert Pattinson thanks to his unique look and combination of brooding and ... Lord Byron?
During an appearance on The Big Hit Show podcast, Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke and Erik Feig, former Summit Entertainment executive, talked about how tough it was to find someone with that special, sparkly someone to play Edward.
"I wanted somebody that didn't seem like a real person," Hardwicke said. "Who is that going to be? This vampire has lived for 90-something years. He's ethereal, he's special, he's unique, he's internal, he's brooding, he's everything."
Feig added, "I remember saying, 'It's someone Byronic. It's someone British. I'm telling you, it's someone who's on a bluff staring off into the distance, looking romantic.'"
Feig explained that there was no better place to look was the all-British cast of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Feig and Summit creative executive Gillian Bohrer eventually found Pattinson among the familiar faces. He played Cedric Diggory in the movie, but that wasn't enough to convince the Twilight team.
"I said, 'What's up with him?' And she said, 'Cedric Diggory,'" Feig remembered. "And I said, 'Yeah, who's that?' And she said, 'Rob Pattinson.' And I said, 'Did he read for us?' And she said, 'No.' And I said, 'Why?' And she said, 'I don't know.' I said, 'Well, let's see if he can read.'"
All it took was an audition at Hardwicke's house, complete with a meeting with Kristen Stewart and some very clumsy bed shenanigans.
"Rob and Kristen auditioned on my bed, the kissing scene," Hardwicke said. "Rob was so into it he fell off the bed. I'm like, 'Dude, calm down.' … At the end, Kristen was like, 'It has to be Rob.' I could tell they had a lot of chemistry, and I'm like, 'Oh my God.'"
The rest is cinematic history.