Robert Pattinson Says He Disagreed With Studio Making Twilight ‘Less Emo’

Recently, upcoming Batman Robert Pattinson spoke about the disagreement between him and the studio regarding the treatment of the Twilight franchise. Pattinson wanted to portray the character of Edward Cullen, the dreamy vampire, as edgy and emo as possible, but the studio did not entirely agree with this approach. The actor revealed more in an interview with GQ.

The way Pattinson saw the story of Twilight and how he fit into the lore was somewhat of a modern gothic love story, something probably akin to a present-day Wuthering Heights, except with blood-sucking nocturnal creatures and werewolves.

I guess the books, they are very romantic, but at the same time, it’s not like ‘The Notebook’ romantic. ‘Twilight’ is about this guy who finds the one girl he wants to be with, and also wants to eat her. Well, not eat — drink her blood or whatever. I thought it was a strange story.

As a result, 21-year-old Robert Pattinson decided to play Edward Cullen as a brooding and detached character, which is quite different from the usual protagonists of a teen romance film. However, his managers visited the set one day and advised him to cut down on the serious expressions and to smile more. Apparently, they even gave him an ultimatum regarding this: “You’ll be fired by the end of the day if you don’t stop doing what you’re doing.” Obviously, it did not sit right with Pattinson either.

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I wanted to make it as arty as possible… We had this strange tension where the studio was scared to make things a little bit too emo and stuff. I thought that was the only way to play it. I spent so much time [on set] infuriated… I can’t believe the way I was acting half the time.

In fact, Kristen Stewart preferred Pattinson’s take on the character as well, as he was not doing something “empty and shallow and thoughtless,” as she once said in a 2009 cover story for GQ.

Apparently, Robert Pattinson Pulled Off the “Spacey, Detached” Version of Edward with a Little Help from an Unlikely ‘Friend’

The handsome vampire also confessed how he came across the trademark brooding and detached version of the character and pulled off the same at the Twilight auditions. As it turns out, the spacey and detached Edward Cullen that fans have come to love something more than his own interpretation of the character: it was a quarter of Valium.

Apparently, the actor understandably suffered from a lack of confidence paired with the anxiety of the upcoming Twilight audition. So he turned to a bit of anti-anxiety medication. The rest is history.

I had never taken a Valium before… I just remember feeling so glorious in the back of the taxi with the window open and just being like, ‘Wow, this is what I’ve been missing.’ I think I had this quite spacey, detached kind of thing in the audition, which must have worked for the character.

Well, it all turned out for the best, as not only did his portrayal earn him critical praise, it also earned him legions of fans worldwide. And it seems he will similarly do justice to the role of the caped crusader in Matt Reeves’ The Batman.

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Samyarup Chowdhury
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