With the five films in the ‘Twilight’ saga, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart became world stars between 2008 and 2012 and played their way into millions of teenage hearts as the immortal vampire Edward Cullen and the human Bella Swan. While the franchise grossed a total of around $5.28 billion at the worldwide box office, the two megastars actually had little good to say about the fantasy series.
Robert Pattinson has repeatedly described Edward and Bella’s apparently romantic story as “disgusting” and “weird.” In an interview with (through ) he stated in 2012 that he would hate the franchise on principle if he had not been involved: “I’m a judgmental and cynical person who would hate it on principle without having seen any of it. I’m just a bad person.”
For Robert Pattinson, ‘hating’ is out of fashion
However, over the years, Robert Pattinson has at least partially changed his opinion on the subject of ‘Twilight’. Because he explained in a joint interview with co-star Zoe Kravitz about the 2022 comedy adaptation ‘The Batman’ that a pointless dislike of the fantasy franchise just wouldn’t be cool: “It’s not even cool to be a hater anymore. This is so 2010.”
Even if you agree with Pattinson here and spreading hate is never the solution, justified criticism of certain films is certainly appropriate – and the ‘Twilight’ saga cannot escape that. There are numerous elements in the films that fully justify Pattinson’s decision to describe the story as “strange.”
For a similar reason, ‘Priscilla’ director Sofia Coppola fled the franchise after being considered to direct ‘Breaking Dawn’. Above all, the storyline surrounding werewolf Jacob and his imprint on Edward and Bella’s daughter Renesmée caused the director to use Pattinson’s term “strange.”
Still, it’s nice to hear that Robert Pattinson has apparently made peace with his past and emancipated himself from the role of Edward. We can next see the actor again in the sci-fi thriller ‘Mickey 17’, directed by ‘Parasite’ creator Bong Joon-Ho. Although the film was originally set to open on March 28, 2024, it was recently postponed and could now be waiting for us in the summer of this year.