‘Twilight’ Wasn’t the First Film That Prevented Robert Pattinson From Quitting Acting
Prior to Twilight, actor Robert Pattinson considered leaving behind the world of acting for good. But although the mega-franchise turned Pattinson into an A-lister, it wasn’t the film that initially changed his mind about quitting.
The film that made Robert Pattinson decide to quit acting
Pattinson had a difficult time getting the film roles he wanted before landing the character of a lifetime in Twilight. But it was the film Little Ashes that once had him questioning his resolve for acting entirely. The movie told the story of an affair two different artists were having with each other. To do the role justice, Pattinson had to do things he wasn’t very proud of.
“I once decided to quit acting; it was when I did Little Ashes. I played Salvador Dali and had to do a lot of scenes where I was naked, and I also had to masturbate. I mean, really. My orgasm face is recorded for eternity,” Pattinson once said in Germany’s Interview (via HuffPost).
Pattinson also seriously considered quitting after his Twilight audition didn’t go the way he thought it did.
“My entire confidence just s*** the bed. The audition was one of the worst auditions I did in my whole life. I remember calling my parents and saying, ‘I’m done, I can’t torture myself anymore,’ and the next day I got a Twilight audition,” he once said on HFPA In Conversation.
‘Twilight’ wasn’t the only film that stopped Robert Pattinson from quitting acting
Before Twilight, Pattinson starred in the lesser-known movie How to Be. The movie was an indie drama following an aspiring artist that’s down on his luck and moves back in with his parents. How to Be director Oliver Irving felt the film was what reignited Pattinson’s acting ambitions.
“He was thinking about giving up acting and maybe doing music solely when this role came along,” Irving told People in 2009. “He wanted to play the roles he wasn’t getting.”
Irving shared that Pattinson was looking for more challenging parts after his Harry Potter role. How to Be
“got him back into the swing of things again.”
It might have helped that How to Be required Pattinson to downplay his looks, whereas other films would use his looks to their advantage.
“I said, ‘You’re banned from cutting your hair between now and the shoot,'” Irving recalled. “We had to give him the most awkward haircut we possibly could, and we cut his trouser length a little bit too high.”
Robert Pattinson felt upstaged by his fellow actors during early auditions
Perhaps what made Pattinson’s early career challenges a bit more difficult was the success of his own contemporaries and friends. While the actor was auditioning for the roles he wanted, his friends Andrew Garfield and Eddie Redmayne were doing the same. Although at the time Garfield and Redmayne might have had an easier time than Pattinson did.
“Eddie Redmayne and Andrew Garfield were so f***ing good at auditioning, it’s just unbelievable. You’d see them, and then if you were waiting outside, you would literally hear casting directors inside going, ‘Oh, my God! Oh, my God!’ And you’d be like, ‘F***ing hell, who’s inside?’ And Eddie would come out and be like: ‘Hey, mate,'” Pattinson recalled to GQ.
The actor recalled one particular moment where he was embarrassed by Redmayne after they auditioned for the same role.
“I’d be doing something thinking it was a comedy, and suddenly hear these heaving sobs. I’m thinking, Who has managed to get a sob out of this?! And then f***ing Eddie comes out, goddamnit,” Pattinson said.
