Robert Pattinson is known as a heartthrob in Hollywood after his shot at stardom after starring in the Twilight saga. However, the film’s director, Catherine Hardwicke, is now revealing that the studio behind the franchise wasn’t always Team Pattinson for the role of Edward and expressed concerns about his appearance during the casting process.
“When he came to my house, he had black bangs in his hair and he was kind of out of shape because he was at the pub all the time,” Hardwicke said during an interview on Watch together podcast. “I thought ‘not only does it work in person, but it works on screen.’ I had to be sure. Of course, personally, I got carried away, but you have to be sure – does it really translate [to the screen]?”
After the “fun auditions,” footage of Pattinson with co-star Kristen Stewart for the 2008 film was shown to Summit Entertainment, which was not completely Team Pattinson.
“I sent it to Summit and he went to meet them,” Hardwicke added. “They called me back and asked, ‘Do you think you can make this guy look good?’ I said, ‘Yes, I want to. Did you see his cheekbones? We’re getting a hair makeover and everything and he’s going to start working out and he’s going to look great. But they didn’t believe it at first. He went there with a stained shirt… It was Rob.”
Pattinson would end up getting the role and the rest is history. Hardwicke also revealed that the four finalists for the role of Edward were Pattinson, Ben Barnes, Shiloh Fernandez and Jackson Rathbone. Although Rathbone didn’t play Edward, he booked the role of Jasper in the saga.
Watch the full interview with Hardwicke in the video posted below.
