Why Robert Pattinson Was Almost Fired From Twilight

It’s almost impossible to imagine Twilight without Robert Pattinson. Whether you like the teen vampire movies or absolutely loathe them with every cell in your body, Robert and Kristen Stewart both became synonymous with them.

We’re sure this has proved difficult for them both. Robert Pattinson, in particular, has had a hard time breaking away from his Edward Cullen character. But now he’s landing indie darling after indie darling and will even be playing Batman. In short, Robert Pattinson’s rise to fame is nothing short of tremendous.

There’s no doubt that he owes this success to the Twilight movies. And that fact makes it even scarier that Robert was almost fired from them…

Robert Tried To Make The Movies Better… But It Failed

While being interviewed on The Howard Stern Show in 2017, Robert Pattinson revealed that he was almost fired from the set of the first Twilight movie.

The Howard Stern Show is one of the best places for big celebrity reveals like this one as it’s a long-form interview that doesn’t need to worry about censorship or breaking for commercials. Howard Stern also has an amazing way of making his guests feel comfortable enough to authentically open up.

Speaking of which, it was on The Stern Show that Robert’s former partner and Twilight co-star, Kristen Stewart, revealed that she would’ve married him if he had asked her.

Anyway, during Robert’s 2017 interview with Howard, he claimed that the producers were really unhappy with how he’d question their creative decisions.

It’s not that Robert was being difficult in terms of demands, he was just unsure of where they were taking the character of Edward Cullen. He wanted the relationship between Edward and Bella to be more reflective of the struggles of inter-species relationships. In a sense, he wanted it to be more authentic to what it’s like falling in love as a teenager… Wanting to touch one another but not being allowed or able to etc.

But this wasn’t what was presented in the script.

Robert knew something was off about their relationship. Funnily enough, fans have picked up on this years later. They even have a list of Edward and Bella’s relationship mistakes that people can learn from and actively avoid. Perhaps, if Robert got what he wanted, Edward and Bella’s relationship would have been a little healthier and more natural. At least, “natural” in the sense of what a relationship between a human and a vampire would actually be like.

In short, Robert wanted it to be less happy-go-lucky, and more brooding.

Ironically, this is what the series would later become known for, for better or worse.

But during the production of the first Twilight movie, the producers wanted Robert to smile more and make Edward appear far happier to be in a relationship with Bella. The producers even had someone highlight every single time in the book that Edward smiled in order to convince Robert that this was the right direction for his character.

But Robert claimed that he could highlight every single time Edward frowned as well. So, they reached a stalemate…

Robert’s Agents Called To Tell Him The Bad News

Apparently, things got so bad on the set of Twilight that the producers complained to Robert Pattinson’s representation. Although Robert thought he was untouchable, his agents told him to do exactly what the producers wanted, or else he would be fired… immediately…

Yeah, the people behind Twilight did not mess around. Whether they intended to replace Robert Pattinson or just wanted to bully him into submission, they were prepared to pull out the big gun.

And this scared the s*** out of Robert…

Right after the phone call, he came back to set and was exceptionally happy. He gave in to their demands and continued on as a much more smiley Edward Cullen.

Luckily for Robert, the producers eventually decided to make the character less happy as the movies went on. But still, this was a lot to put up with at the start.

The Added Ironic Revelation

If Robert’s revelation about almost being fired from Twilight wasn’t big enough, his 2017 interview with Howard Stern also detailed his avoidance of the superhero genre.

Of course, now, he’s taken the role of Batman…

But back in 2017, Robert REALLY didn’t want to do a superhero movie due to the fact that he didn’t want to sign a multi-picture deal.

Because of his multi-picture deal with the Twilight movies, and the semi-negative experiences he had on them, being the same superhero for multiple years was out of the question. He did not want to be locked into something that inflexible…

Clearly, something changed his mind.

Perhaps he trusts the vision of The Batman director Matt Reeves and feels confident in the fact that he won’t be threatened with being fired should he have a creative disagreement.

Regardless, there’s no doubt that Robert Pattinson wouldn’t be in this position without keeping his job on Twilight