Robert Pattinson has revealed that he was almost fired from the Twilight franchise for being too broody as Edward Cullen. Harry Potter fans may remember the British actor for his role in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as the smart and wise Cedric Diggory - which was actually his first big Hollywood gig. However, it was not until he nabbed the role of a love-struck vampire Edward Cullen opposite Kirsten Stewart's Bella in the Twilight film series - based on the novels by Stephenie Meyer - that Pattinson truly stepped into the spotlight.

Fueled by the legion of fans of its source material,  the Twilight films (Twilight, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 2) amassed over $3.4 billion dollars worldwide, with just an overall budget of $385 million. Despite taking a lashing from critics, the films also catapulted its stars - especially Pattinson and Stewart (who was dating at that time) - to superstardom. With the first Twilight film now approaching its 10th years anniversary, the British actor has looked back on his experience and recalled a time when he was almost axed from the project.

While on The Howard Stern Show on SiriusXM [via The Playlist], Pattinson explained why the film's producers were not very happy with his portrayal of Edward (at first):

“If you’re going into a relationship with someone, the way to make it really intense is if you can barely talk to each other, you can barely touch each other, it’s incredibly serious all the time. That’s what teenage relationships are. But everyone kind of wanted it to be, like, ‘No, they should just be, like, happy and having fun. That’s what people want.’”

Robert Pattinson as Edward and Kristen Stewart as Bella Twilight.jpg

Pattinson further revealed that because his agents were legitimately worried about him being fired from the job, they basically coached him to "do the opposite of what you’re doing now or you’re going to get fired today." In hindsight, Edward (and probably the rest of the cast) was not really keen on smiling and he certainly did not exude a cheerful disposition. As such, one wonders just how gloomy and mopey Pattinson's portrayal of his character was, before the film's executives called for him to be "more happy".With his days of playing in-love vampire behind him, Pattinson is now broadening his horizons by taking on varied roles. At this year's Cannes Film Festival, the actor's movie Good Time, was met with a positive reception and even got a standing ovation during its premiere at the event. In the flick, Pattinson plays a psychologically-scarred bank robber, Connie, who is on a mission to save his mentally unstable brother, Nick, played by Ben Safdie.

That said, Pattinson has admitted that he is open to making more Twilight movies, should the opportunity for him to step back into his vampire shoes present itself. The possibility of a new Twilight movie has been acknowledged here and there by the executives over at Lionsgate/Summit, but for the time being it seems that Pattinson is done playing the not-so-cheery Mr. Cullen.

Source: Howard Stern Show [via The Playlist]