Robert Pattinson did not make for a chipper vampire in Twilight. He was a broody sparkly creature and that seemed to work out just fine for the massive box office haul of the franchise. According to Pattinson, playing Edward Cullen the way he did was not what producers wanted. In fact, he says he was nearly given the heave-ho for not being cheery enough.
In a chat this week with Fartman emeritus Howard Stern, Pattinson shared that the film’s higher-ups wanted his now notorious none-more-brooding portrayal to include a lot more smiling. You can’t have a vampire/werewolf/human fantasy love triangle without smiling, right?
“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,” Pattinson told Stern. “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.’”
Pattinson thought he was tackling the role the right way, but his agents quickly informed him otherwise.
“They flew up and were like, ‘You have to do the opposite of what you’re doing now or you’re going to get fired today,” he explained.
Producers even encouraged Pattinson to see the less sulky side of the character by handing him a copy of the book with all the times Edward smiled highlighted. As someone championing the hope to mope would do, Pattinson responded by highlighting all the frowns Edward served up as well. A compromise was made, the franchise reigned as a $3.3 billion box office phenomenon and Pattinson still got ample opportunity to give his interpretation of the character. One wonders who would have stepped in for Pattinson if he did get fired. Let the Dave Franco as Edward Cullen thought exercises begin!
(Via Variety)
