Nearly 18 years after its premiere on November 21, 2008, ‘Twilight‘ remains one of the biggest young-adult franchises ever made. The five-film saga grossed over $3.3 billion worldwide and launched Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart into global stardom. While audiences embraced every installment, critics could never follow suit. None of the five films earned a critic score above 50% on Rotten Tomatoes. The worst part?
Two of the franchise’s most outspoken critics turned out to be its own stars. Pattinson never hid his feelings during the franchise’s peak. He regularly joked about his character Edward Cullen, questioned the romance in the story, and admitted he struggled to grasp the fandom’s intensity. His comments became almost as famous as the films themselves, but they weren’t simply attempts to shock people. He had several reasons for distancing himself from the role that made him famous.
Robert Pattinson Never Saw Edward Cullen As A Traditional Romantic Hero
From the beginning, Pattinson viewed ‘Twilight’ very differently from many of its fans. Rather than seeing it as an epic romance, he focused on how strange the central relationship actually was. “It’s a weird story,” he told Variety.
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“Twilight is about this guy, and he finds the one girl he wants to be with, and he also wants to eat her. I mean, not eat her, but drink her blood or whatever.” Sadly, the later films only intensified that feeling. Speaking to W Magazine, Pattinson laughed about filming one of the franchise’s strangest moments.
“It’s nuts,” he said, referring to the scene in which Edward delivers Bella’s baby. “I had to give her a cesarean by chewing through a placenta.” Moreover, his interpretation of the lead character also caused problems behind the scenes.
Pattinson wanted to play the vampire as deeply tortured and emotionally withdrawn. The studio reportedly wanted someone warmer and more conventionally charming. At one point, he even claimed his agents warned him he could lose the role if he did not change his performance.
The Fame Became Overwhelming Almost Overnight
The success of ‘Twilight’ transformed Pattinson into one of the world’s biggest celebrities before he had much time to process it. Paparazzi followed him constantly, fans crowded nearly every public appearance, and everyday privacy largely disappeared.
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Even years later, he admitted he never fully understood the intensity of the fandom. “I can’t really understand it even now,” Pattinson told Vanity Fair in 2011. “It does have an angle which is attached to something quite primal in girls.”
“I guess people want it to define them, like, ‘I’m a Twilight fan.’ That’s crazy to me. I think people really just like being part of a crowd,” he continued. Meanwhile, Kristen Stewart, who played the female lead, also admitted that the attention felt overwhelming.
Reflecting on the experience during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, she revealed that becoming famous at 17 and 18 was “the most uncomfortable, terrible, weird” period of her life.
Pattinson Wanted To Prove His Worth Beyond Edward Cullen
Pattinson knew the biggest challenge that would come after ‘Twilight’ ended. Hollywood has a long history of trapping young actors in the roles that make them famous, and he wanted to avoid being typecast in similar roles to Edward Cullen.
Instead of chasing another blockbuster immediately, he spent years choosing smaller films with acclaimed directors. Projects like ‘Good Time,’ ‘The Lost City of Z,’ and ‘The Lighthouse’ gave him the chance to play characters that looked nothing like the polished vampire who made him famous.
The strategy paid off. Critics, who once associated him almost entirely with ‘Twilight,’ began praising his range, and filmmakers eyed him for increasingly ambitious roles. By taking on challenging parts, Pattinson rebuilt his reputation before returning to blockbuster filmmaking on his own terms with ‘The Batman.’
Today, he remains one of Hollywood’s most sought-after actors, with major projects like Christopher Nolan‘s ‘The Odyssey‘ and Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Dune: Part Three’ lined up.
Looking back, distancing himself from ‘Twilight’ was never about rejecting the franchise that made him famous. He simply wanted audiences to see there was much more to him than Edward Cullen.
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