Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke has revealed that Robert Pattinson initially struggled with the backlash of his casting. Twilight is the first in a massively successful series of films based upon the novels by Stephenie Meyer, which tell the tale of Bella Swan's (Kristen Stewart) romance with the brooding vampire Edward Cullen (Pattinson), and the various hurdles the two must overcome to be together. While the films were never critically successful, Meyer's books came with a dedicated fanbase, and from that, Twilight grew into one of the biggest phenomena in fantasy fiction of the last decade, alongisde Harry Potter. 

Of course, these days Pattinson has mostly been in the spotlight for his portrayal of Batman in Matt Reeves' The Batman. When Pattinson was first cast as the Caped Crusader, many fans of the character were skeptical, to say the least, having mostly known the actor as the sparkling vampire from the Twilight saga. Up until now, Batman has been typically portrayed as large and threatening, which is not necessarily the energy Pattinson gave off after his stint in Twilight. However, since the film's release, many fans have had their concerns dashed, as Pattinson turned in a Batman performance that many consider to be one of the best interpretations of the character so far.

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As it turns out, The Batman was not the first time Pattinson had to deal with negative comments about his casting in a popular role. In a recent interview on Twilight star Ashley Greene's podcast The Twilight Effect (as reported by Insider), original Twilight director Hardwicke has revealed that Pattinson had to deal with similar negative criticisms when he was first cast as Edward. Justice League actor Henry Cavill was famously author Meyer's first choice for the role, and when Pattinson was cast, fans were not happy. According to Hardwicke, Pattinson approached her one day to show her all of the negative comments he was receiving online. Hardwicke has stated that she told Pattinson not to worry, as she had a plan to make him "amazing looking" and that he just had to avoid reading the online comments. See her full quote below:

"Rob came up to me one day and he goes, 'Catherine, look at all these mean things that people are saying online. I'm hideous…' And I'm like, 'Oh my god, Rob, you can't read all this. You just gotta focus. I swear to god, we have a plan. You're going to be amazing looking and everyone's going to love you.'"

"And I said, 'Just do not read these things.' And he goes, 'But my mom sent it to me.'"

Edward talks to Bella for the first time in Twilight

Of course, today it would be hard to imagine anyone else in the role of Edward Cullen. Pattinson's performance is notoriously famous for making Twilight fans everywhere swoon, and gave the actor a whole new following of fans. While Pattinson himself has expressed in the following years since the film that he is not a particular fan of the Twilight movies, it can't be denied that if anyone else were to be cast in the role today, fans may riot.

It is perhaps due to this experience that Pattinson handled the backlash over his Batman casting so well. Pattinson has since admitted that he expected the criticism over his casting in The Batman to be much worse, and it seems clear now that this is because he had been in this position before. Ultimately, Pattinson has proven himself as a versatile actor and has once again managed to cement an iconic performance in his career. Fans of Pattinson simply need to watch Twilight and The Batman back to back for all the evidence they need.

More: The Weird Reason Roger Ebert Disliked Twilight: Eclipse

Source: The Twilight Effect/Insider