While Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series turned out to be a hit for book lovers, no one expected it to become the phenomena it did when the movie adaptation landed in theaters in 2008.
It was a bona-fide success, and resulted in numerous vampire-werewolf-human romance imitations for years to come. Not only that, but it also made international superstars out of its mopey leads Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, who portrayed Edward Cullen and Bella Swan respectively.
Speaking with Patti Smith for Interview Magazine, Stewart recalled her experience on the franchise. "It was a long process, so it's hard to generalize about it as a whole. It wasn't entirely cohesive. We ebbed and flowed. I will definitely acknowledge that," she said.
"But the intention is so [expletive] pure in a weird way. Anybody who wants to talk [expletive] about Twilight, I completely get it, but there's something there that I'm endlessly, and to this day, [expletive] proud of. My memory of it felt – still feels – really good," Stewart stated.
Why wouldn't Stewart feel good about the series? It turned her into a household name and the franchise became a box-office wonder, as it pulled in more money than anyone could ever have dreamed of.
While it's easy to label it as a catnip for teenagers, the Twilight series left a huge mark on popular culture. Even to this day, there are still many fans of the movie series, so we've decided to take a look back at the film that started it all.
With that said, here are the 20 Crazy Details Behind The Making Of The First Twilight Movie.
Robert Pattinson Almost Got Fired
Robert Pattinson decided to take some artistic liberties while discovering Edward's personality and traits.
He played the part with a dark and gloomy approach, but this didn't go down well with the filmmakers.
He revealed to The Howard Stern Show: "Everyone was like, 'No, [the character] should be happy and having fun!' That's what people want." He did find the funny side of it, though, especially since "the whole series is known as a brooding thing."
Pattinson added how the producers highlighted the parts of the script where Edward smiled for him, and his agents started to visit the set a lot more.
He genuinely feared he was going to get the boot because he wasn't smiling enough.
Catherine Hardwicke Had Less Than 50 Days To Shoot The Movie
Despite its massive financial returns, Twilight didn't have a big budget to start off with. Catherine Hardwicke was given $37 million to turn the idea into a moneymaker for the studio, and she didn't have the luxury of time, either.
As revealed later, Hardwicke had fewer than 50 days to shoot the entire movie, and there was no concession made for anything more.
It proved to be quite the challenge for the director, as the weather conditions only added more complications, so the team had to work fast and with no room for error.
At the end of the day, Hardwicke got it done. She took $37 million, approximately 50 days of shooting, and delivered a movie that grossed nearly $400 million worldwide.
Stephenie Meyer Wanted Henry Cavill As Edward
Stephanie Meyer has been extremely vocal about the Twilight movie series. At one stage, she used her blog to state that her top pick for Edward was Henry Cavill.
"I'm flattered! It's enormously flattering," Cavill told Movieline (via Digital Spy).
"If a writer were to say that I am the writer's ideal choice, that's enormously flattering. I hope that I will be able to continue to perform in a way that will have other people saying it," he said.
Chances are that if Cavill had taken the role, we'd never have seen him as the Man of Steel in Warner Bros.' DCEU.
In hindsight, it seems like everything turned out the best for everyone here.
Taylor Lautner Didn't Know Anything About Twilight When He Auditioned
Taylor Lautner had his breakout role as Jacob Black in Twilight. As it turns out, though, he had no idea what the source material was about and walked into the audition blindly.
Chatting about his audition to MTV, he said, "It was just so generic. It just felt like any other audition. I had no idea what Twilight was. I asked people. I said, 'What is this thing?' They said, 'There's vampires, and you're in a forest.' That's really all I heard about it."
However, he admitted that he researched the project after he was cast as Jacob.
Don't feel too bad about it, Taylor, some of us still have no idea what Twilight is actually about even now.
Jennifer Lawrence Auditioned For Bella
You read that right. Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence once auditioned for the part of Bella.
At the time, it could've been a huge role for the then-unknown star. However, Lawrence doesn't hold any resentment.
In fact, Lawrence told The Guardian that she's happy she didn't get the gig because of all the pressure that came with it for Kristen Stewart.
"Oh yeah, for sure. I remember when the first movie came out, seeing Stewart on the red carpet and getting papped wherever she went. I'd had no idea Twilight would be such a big deal. For me, and assuming for her, it was just another audition. Then it turned into this whole other thing," she said.
Bryce Dallas Howard Turned Down The Role Of Victoria Initially
It isn't unusual for actors to be second or third choices for directors. After all, it's a part of life - you don't always get what you want.
In the case of Victoria, the original pick for the role was Bryce Dallas Howard.
Catherine Hardwicke revealed to The San Francisco Chronicle (via New York Daily News): "I know we originally asked BDH [Bryce Dallas Howard] to do the first movie, but she thought it was too small a part at that time."
The role went to Rachelle Lefevre, instead, who portrayed the character in Twilight and New Moon.
When Lefevre experienced scheduling conflicts for Eclipse, she was dropped and Howard hopped on board. The former wasn't happy about the recasting.
Kristen Stewart Had To Wear Contact Lenses
In order to portray Bella more accurately, Kristen Stewart had to wear contact lenses to change her natural green eyes to brown. She didn't really complain about it, though, as there was no issue for her.
However, co-star Robert Pattinson, who had to endure some annoying contact lenses to portray Edward in his vampire state, did reveal how he relished in her discomfort when she had to wear the "vampire" lenses later on in the movie series and disliked it.
"She's like, 'I wear contact lenses. Why do you always complain about yours?'" Pattinson said to MTV. "When she finally wore them and then was complaining about them every second of the day, it was kind of satisfying."
Robert Pattinson Composed "Bella's Lullaby" Himself
"Bella's Lullaby" was a big part of the Twilight novel, so when the movie came to be, there was an expectation that some big musician would write a heartfelt song for it. It turns out it was Robert Pattinson who composed the piece himself.
"I told him he should write one, and let's see if we can make it work, because that would be really cool if it was Rob's song," Catherine Hardwicke revealed to MTV.
"He's a beautiful musician, a very creative soul, very similar to Edward. He just totally reads the most interesting stuff, and sees the most interesting movies, and is very introspective and diving into his existential self," she said.
Maybe, in another life, Pattinson could've been a globe-trotting musician.
Ben Barnes Auditioned For Edward
The search for the leading man was a long hard one. Reportedly, 5,000 hopefuls auditioned for the part, with 100 meeting Catherine Hardwicke.
The final four came down to Shiloh Fernandez, Jackson Rathbone, Robert Pattinson, and Ben Barnes.
Allegedly, Barnes was the frontrunner for the part, since he had the highest profile at the time after being cast in The Chronicles of Narnia series.
Speaking to Examiner (via Twilight Lexicon), Barnes confirmed his audition.
"There were quite a few auditions. I was the first person they kind of approached about it. It was all right. I very quickly read the first book. I really enjoyed it. I think Kristen Stewart is great. I think she's a really good actress. And I really like Catherine Hardwicke," he said.
Emile Hirsch Suggested Kristen Stewart To Catherine Hardwicke
You know how they say it isn't what you know but who you know? Well, this proved to be apt for the casting of Bella in Twilight.
The role was obviously a biggie, so Catherine Hardwicke searched far and wide for the perfect actress. Nonetheless, she struggled to find the right lady for the part.
Kristen Stewart's casting was thanks to Emile Hirsch, who'd starred in Lords of Dogtown that was directed by Hardwicke. He recommended Stewart to the director who then decided to meet with the young starlet.
Hardwicke met Stewart in Pittsburgh and gushed to Empire (via E! News) about the actress. "I was absolutely taken with her," she said.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Nikki Reed's Hair Fell Out
For Nikki Reed, she required a lot of bleaching to turn her naturally dark brown hair blonde.
Unfortunately, there was an unexpected side-effect for her as well, as her hair started to fall out because of the intensity of the bleaching.
Speaking to MTV (via Access), Reed said, "My hair fell out. It took 36 hours initially to make me blonde, and every other day, I was bleaching my head and my skin. This time around, we are testing out different wigs and stuff."
True to her word, Reed decided to wear a wig for the next movies rather than go through the process of bleaching again. It was a wise choice.
Catherine Hardwicke Wasn't Too Keen On Robert Pattinson
While it's impossible to imagine anyone else but Robert Pattinson as Edward, it almost didn't happen. Catherine Hardwicke confessed that she wasn't convinced by the actor at first and doubted his ability to be the movie's leading man.
"I looked at a couple pictures and was like, 'I'm not sure,'" Hardwicke admitted. "He had been fired from his last job, he was unemployed, he was in debt."
So, the onus was on Pattinson to convince her. He paid for his own flight from London to Los Angeles for the opportunity to audition for Hardwicke.
It's a good thing that the chemistry between him and Kristen Stewart was on point and thrilled Hardwicke, otherwise he might've still been wondering what could've been.
Robert Pattinson And Kristen Stewart Auditioned In An Intimate Setting
While casting for the movie, Catherine Hardwicke held a "chemistry read" for Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart at her own home.
"I said, 'I know you just met, but I need you to do this scene. We're gonna do it in my bedroom, on the bed – and you're really gonna kiss.' Kristen already had to kiss three other guys that day," she told MTV.
"After we finished the whole thing and we had met bachelors one, two, three, and four, Kristen said, 'It has to be Rob.' She basically threatened me."
Well, there you have it, folks. We have Stewart to thank for convincing Hardwicke that Pattinson was the right choice – and probably the best kisser of the lot.
Robert Pattinson Didn't Speak To Anyone On Set
As revealed by E! News, Robert Pattinson was closed up on set and didn't speak to anyone off-camera for a month and a half.
You might think that he was applying some kind of method acting to the role, but he wasn't.
"I wanted to make sure that, by the time people got to Portland [where the production took place], that I knew everything about everything and just be like really [prepared]… I didn't talk to anyone about anything other than the part for about a month and a half of the shoot," he told ThoughtCo.
However, this wasn't the only time that Pattinson has been quiet off-camera.
The Lost City of Z co-star Charlie Hunnam also mentioned that he and Pattinson hardly spoke on set.
The Actors Hated The Weather
As revealed in Anna Kendrick's memoir Scrappy Little Nobody, the filming experience wasn't exactly the most wonderful for the cast.
The setting in Oregon and Canada might've been serene and beautiful, but the freezing conditions made everyone a little miserable.
Kendrick, who didn't have as big a role as some of the others in Twilight, revealed how she joined up a few weeks into filming, but received a "cold shoulder" from the cast because they weren't happy to be standing out in the freezing cold.
"Wet and cold is not an environment conducive to making friends," Kendrick said. "Imagine if the first four weeks of a new job were spent outdoors in the freezing rain."
Robert Pattinson Was Going To Quit Acting Before He Got The Job
Before Twilight, not many people knew who Robert Pattinson was. He was an upcoming actor but he struggled to find the next big gig.
While many actors proclaim that a large role saved their careers, it seems like it's true for Pattinson, who revealed that he was about to pack it all in before Meyer's vampire romance franchise came knocking.
"I was literally, the day before I did this audition, I was going to quit acting," Pattinson said to Today. "I was going to quit because I never got any jobs, so I guess it's not really quitting when you’re not getting jobs – it's just surrendering to fate."
Seeing how he's developed into such a fine performer, it's a good thing that Pattinson hung in there.
Kristen Stewart's Stunt Double Appeared As A Waitress In The Diner
Stunt doubles don't often receive the praise they deserve. They're normally the ones who appear in the most dangerous and climatic scenes of a movie, yet it's always the actors who get the recognition for someone else's work.
Tom Cruise is the notable exception here, since he dreams of being a stunt performer in his next life and is always doing crazy things for his movies.
Katie Powers, Kristen Stewart's stunt double, received her own 15 seconds of fame in Twilight, as she was cast as the waitress at the diner.
While it might not be a massive – or particularly memorable – role, it was still nice enough of Catherine Hardwicke to give Powers a part in the movie.
Taylor Lautner Wore A Wig
There were a handful of people who loved Taylor Lautner's long locks in Twilight, preferring it over his short-cropped hair in the sequels.
The sad reality is that the long, luscious hair wasn't even real. In fact, it was that movie-magic thing called a wig.
Speaking to MTV, Lautner joked about how there was no love lost for the wig and he was happy to be rid of it.
"The wig, it was a very important co-star. Right now I'm not missing much. There was hatred between both of us. It did not like me, I did not like it. Not fond memories," he said.
Hey, what did that wig ever do to you, Taylor? It was just doing its job…
Anna Kendrick Called Her Character An "Idiot"
Kendrick is known for her quirky sense of humor and she isn't shy of making fun of herself (or her previous roles).
Speaking to The A.V. Club about her part as Jessica Stanley in Twilight, Kendrick admitted what she thought of the character.
"A genuine idiot onscreen is not that interesting. Jessica in Twilight is an idiot, but some of the dialogue they give me is clever," she said. "One of the things I improvised in New Moon was about zombie films being self-referential; a girl like that wouldn't say things like that, but it makes sense because it's more interesting."
Well, kudos to Kendrick for verbalizing exactly what everyone thought of her character in the franchise.
Stephenie Meyer Makes A Cameo
Stephenie Meyer, the author of the Twilight series, has been vocal about the franchise – and the movie series in particular.
Like most authors witnessing their precious words reimagined on the big screen, she's had a lot to say about certain casting choices and adjustments made to the storylines.
Nonetheless, director Catherine Hardwicke gave Meyer her own 15 seconds of fame as the writer cameoed in the movie.
Eagle-eyed fans would've spotted a familiar-looking lady behind her laptop when Bella walked into the diner to speak to her father. A waitress handed her a plate and said, "Here's your veggie plate, Stephenie."
Maybe Meyer was busy typing up notes for the director as they filmed her appearance in the movie.
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Do you know any other secrets behind the making of the Twilight movie? Let us know in the comments!