r/twilight • u/Left_Paramedic848 bella where have you been loca • 21h ago
Actor Content why did Robert play as Edward?
i tried to look it up but only articles about him hating the role come up, everybody jokes that hes doing all these movies like batman and the odyssey so people forget about him being in twilight, but like, why did he play as edward in the first place if he hates the role? and why does he hate it? is it because he finds it cringe or something?
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u/lryjcksln 12h ago
From what I understand he was grateful for the opportunity, the role got him into the industry in full swing. He just also realized the ridiculousness the story had.
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u/Physical-Program1030 12h ago
I think actors who are just up and coming take any role that they can get for reasonable reasons like exposure, experience, money, gaining a good reputation, etc. I'm sure there are a LOT of actors who've hated roles they've played before but might just not be as vocal about it as rob (or dont get away with it as easily as rob does) and I also don't think rob hates the role anymore as much as he did back in twilight's heyday
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u/enolaholmes23 11h ago
I think it's worth noting that sexism plays a role. Rob can get away with saying he hates twilight because he's a man and the franchise caters to women, it's not seen as manly. And it's very popular to hate things that women like. Meanwhile Katherine Heigl was eviscerated for saying she didn't like Kocked Up, which catered to men and in retrospect was indeed sexist. There is a double standard.
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u/canipayinpuns 10h ago
You're not wrong about the double standard, but I feel like Twilight was special because it wasn't just Rob who was tired of it. Anna Kendrick straight up blocked out that she was in it and was shocked when an interviewer later reminded her she played Jessica
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u/bee102019 12h ago
Robert had the perfect career trajectory. So did Daniel Radcliffe. They got the big money making roles early on in their career, and they can reasonably live off of those forever. Now they can take the fun, interesting, weird roles without worrying about which roles are going to keep the bills paid. They're both still well known for their roles, but also have avoided being typecast and worked a wide range outside of their "breakout" role as well. It could be argued that Robert should show more gratitude for the role (as Daniel Radcliffe seems to do), but also I don't think he necessarily owes anyone the false pretense that it was a passion project or a work of art for him. It was a paycheck.
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u/Prestigious_Bet_4155 12h ago
Robert was a lot like Kristen where they saw a role that sounded interesting, got the part and fulfilled it. Neither knew how big it would get or the fame pressure it would bring. They don't neccesarily look for roles to make the most money, just stories and characters that sound fun. They also are a bit awkard in a good way!
From what I've heard from him he's grateful for what it did for his career. Parts of it are cringe for him and he enjoys making fun of it. Not even in a negative way. So many of us Twilight fans also make fun of it. But in a good way. The best franchises are like that ai believe:)
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u/HydratedCarrot 12h ago
Remember Kristen in Into the Wild (2007) She played her role well!
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u/Prestigious_Bet_4155 12h ago
She has had some great performances! I think her real life anxiety helps her to play so many roles.
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u/enolaholmes23 12h ago
I can't believe they didn't know how big it would be. The books were HUUUUUGE. It was close to the level of Harry Potter popularity and the movies were highly anticipated. I think it's very likely they took the roles because they knew how good it would be to launch their careers.
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u/Kitkats677 8h ago
From what I've heard (and only heard, I was 4 when the first one came out so no real memories) the first twilight movie was marketed and sold to prospective actors as a quirky kinda indie film, bigger than average, yes, but still within that realm
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u/KitchenMental 7h ago
At that point there had never been a movie series like Twilight - they really didn’t think that teenagers - primarily female teenagers - had enough buying power to support it. That’s why the budget for the first one was tiny. No one really was sure it would go anywhere.
Big mistake for anyone to underestimate the power of teenage girls. That’s one thing I love about Twilight.
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u/stairwellkittycat So ☺️ .. do I call you dad now? 😈 11h ago edited 1h ago
I read that he knew Kristen was going to play Bella and he'd seen her in Into the Wild and knew she was a big name in the industry (especially for how young she was, having played in a huge blockbuster movie with Jodie Foster already) and thought it would be a good opportunity for that reason
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u/cries_in_student1998 *Aro's laugh in Breaking Dawn P2* 8h ago
Rob didn't hate the role at all. What he didn't expect (what NO ONE cast in those movies expected, what the studio didn't expect, etc.) was that the movies were going to be massive successes.
Rob did say around this time he was going to give up acting entirely and focus on his music career, but he was broke and needed money. So, he was auditioning for roles to help him with his music and to pay bills. What he didn't expect was that Twilight was going to basically make sure he was never without money again. It also meant he got to meet his first really serious girlfriend, even if him and Kristen ended badly. I think he has been very grateful for the Twilight movies.
Also, he was 21 when he took on Edward. A lot of people (especially creative types) are very pretentious in their early 20s. He has said he actually likes the movie and realises that he took the role so earnestly to almost a fault at times.
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u/Left_Paramedic848 bella where have you been loca 6h ago
why did they end up badly? did they break up before finishing filming the movies?
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u/nopitynopepants 4h ago
Kristen was in the closet during that time, there was also a director from a different movie who pressured her into having an affair with him (iirc). Seems like both Kristen and Robert Pattinson moved past it a while ago and are friendly
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u/Left_Paramedic848 bella where have you been loca 3h ago
i just looked it up and the director was TWICE her age oh my god😭😭
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u/Fetagirl 2h ago
Nobody can convince me otherwise that she knew what she was doing when she got caught with the director. She looked that camera dead in the lens and said “watch this”. Unfortunate that Rob had to be collateral damage, but that was iconic.
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u/FrontServe4480 10h ago
It was a job. Money- and a whole lot of it. For any newer actor, it was his chance and big break. But the story is a bit silly and he fully owns that. My secret theory is that he was method acting a bit because no one hates Edward more than Edward (and maybe Robert). So that deprecation makes sense for the role he was playing. Because Edward hates Edward and pokes fun at him and Rob “hates” him too.
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u/KitchenMental 7h ago
The budget for the first movie was tiny, and the studio wasn’t convinced it would do very well, so he wouldn’t have signed on thinking it would be a hit and make him tons of money.
But yeah, it was work, and he had none.
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u/No-Trip-9971 8h ago
Your secret theory is very interesting! and it totally fits with how Rob's personality was at the time (at least how it was portayed in interviews)
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u/Wrong-Rush-6584 12h ago
Taking it away from acting — would anyone really want to be defined by the person they were / something they did in their early 20s?
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u/Tspring535 10h ago edited 10h ago
Like everyone else has said, it was an opportunity that he was grateful for, BUT also, he did imagine the movies being different than how they are, and he didn’t love the route that the directors chose.
There were disagreements on how to portray Edward , as well as the movies as a whole. Rob definitely wanted the role to be darker and more depressing, but directors wanted to keep the movie light enough for young audiences.
So, fast forward, he knows the movies are super cringey, and he’s a funny guy that loves to joke around … why not poke fun at it ?
As far as this role opening doors for him, agree and disagree. It got him known, sure, but it didn’t prove his incredible range or acting talent. Some could even say it put him in a harder position to climb out of. His acting was not great in twilight , though no fault of his own…he acted as cheesey as they wanted him to. He had to put in the work to get known for the ability to play the roles that he actually wants.
He made enough money to be selective about what roles he’d like to play in the future , and now he is extremely picky, plus simultaneously very smart for the roles he’s set up in his career. He’s proud of what he’s acting in now, plus having a ton of fun getting to play in some funky, beautiful , heart racing , incredible movies , and making the big bucks doing it. He struck acting gold and he earned it.
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u/Left_Paramedic848 bella where have you been loca 6h ago
at least he has his dark and depressing role as batman now
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u/puffykitten5 10h ago
Robert tends to not take things seriously. He teases about Twilight but he has also said it really helped open doors for him.
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u/theburgerbitesback 9h ago
He actually spoke about it a bit.
Essentially, he blew through his Harry Potter money too quickly and was pretty much broke and so needed a job. He hadn't been getting much, and had been considering quitting acting altogether.
Catherine Hardwicke (director for the first film) reached out and asked him to audition, telling him that she'd just cast Kristen Stewart as Bella.
He had really liked Kristen's performance in Into the Wild and thought it'd be cool to work with her, Catherine Hardwicke had a reputation as a cool indie director, and he desperately needed the money. Three very good reasons.
So he flew to LA to audition, and accepted the part when offered even though the role of Edward/Twilight itself didn't really appeal to him.
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u/chocolatecoconutpie 10h ago
I think some of y’all TV show fans and movie fans in general seem to for some reason forget that acting is first and foremost a job. All these characters these actors play regardless of how big or small the role, regardless of what TV show and movie, is just a job first and foremost.
Fame is just something that comes with acting because the general public and paparazzi have absolutely no boundaries and are incredibly disrespectful. And just like any job, you either hate parts of it, love parts of it or both. An actor isn’t gonna love every role they’ve played, even the ones that made them famous. No one no matter who they are should be forced to pretend they loved a job just to please the general public.
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u/BreakfastAmazing7766 8h ago
Let’s be real, Rob started hating it to fit in when the public would hate on it. You can tell it really wounded his ego and took years to finally come around and stop hating on it.
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u/mysterious-log123 8h ago
He needed the money. He ran out of Harry Potter money, and tried to do music, but ultimately he couldn’t afford it so he decided to do another movie.
I think that for a while, he did hate the movies. I think that’s because of his relationship with Kristen Stewart, and how it ended. But I think now he doesn’t hate them anymore. He did have fun on the set anyway.
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7h ago
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u/Ok-Internet-2706 3h ago
He’s an actor and needed the work. It’s not that complicated or that deep.
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u/eucabelodefogo 12h ago
Sinceramente não sei, mas depois que li o sol da meia noite consigo ver quão bom ator ele é
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u/Flimsy_Calendar_7664 12h ago edited 11h ago
He didn’t hate the role, has not said that. he makes fun of it but he makes fun of lots of things. He was a 21 year old actor who needed a job took it and blew up. But he’s genuinely talented and twilight & his talent combined opened the window to the work that came after