‘Twilight’: Robert Pattinson Reflects on ‘Strange Tension’
Though each of the Twilight movies is beloved by fans for specific reasons, the first film is arguably the most iconic. Not only did the movie lay the groundwork for four sequels, but it had a really distinct tone. The film was brooding, moody, and had an indie feel. And it turns out that Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and the rest of the cast are partly responsible for a lot of the angst within the first film.
Robert Pattinson took his role in ‘Twilight’ very seriously
Even though Twilight was based on an eponymous young adult novel, Pattinson and Stewart were determined to make the film anything but a cheesy teen movie. The pair made a pact to really commit to their roles. In fact, for the first several weeks of filming, Pattinson refused to talk to his fellow castmates about anything other than the movie. The Lighthouse actor revealed that he approached the flick as if it had the potential to win Oscars.
In an interview with GQ, Pattinson spoke about how the cast really infused something in the first Twilight movie that gave it a unique feel. “I do think there’s something in that first movie,” the Harry Potter alum shared. “You can see that people were taking it seriously, and it kind of has this — it has a passion to it. You know, I was 21 and kind of wanted to make it as arty as possible.”
There was tension between some of the cast members and Summit Entertainment
Of course, not everyone was on board with the melancholy mood that the Twilight cast was injecting the film with. Summit Entertainment (the studio that produced and distributed the film) was always encouraging the cast to lighten up a bit. This led to quite a few arguments between the cast and the producers about the choices that were being made.
“We had this strange tension where the studio was kind of a little bit scared to make things a little bit too emo and stuff, and I thought that was the only way to play it,” Pattinson shared. “It just seems so ridiculous talking about it now, ’cause I was literally — I spent so much time just infuriated the whole — it’s definitely something about being 21 as well, cause I was — I can’t believe the way I was acting half the time when I think back on it.”
Pattinson only compromised after he learned he could be fired from ‘Twilight’
Eventually, Pattinson was able to compromise a bit and give Edward some moments of levity. However, this only happened after his manager and agent told him that he was at risk of being fired from the film. Ultimately though, Twilight is remembered for its bizarre emo feel. In fact, that is likely one of the reasons that it became so popular to begin with. So while Pattinson may be baffled by his behavior on the film, his instincts were dead on.
