Stephenie Meyer has recently announced that the long-awaited Twilight book, Midnight Sun, will hit the bookshelves in 2020. While fans of the franchise might be excited about the upcoming release, there is one person who might not be too thrilled. Robert Pattinson has never shied away from expressing his disdain for the Twilight franchise. Even though he starred as the good vampire Edward Cullen in the series, Robert Pattinson has never been a fan of the Twilight saga.
The actor, who is set to appear as Batman in the upcoming Matt Reeves film, has never passed an opportunity to diss the franchise that made him a teen heartthrob. He has blatantly stated he wished he was never a part of it at all. Here are the 10 times Robert Pattinson shaded the Twilight franchise.
10 Times Robert Pattinson Dissed The Twilight Saga
1. Robert Pattinson Left The Twilight Movie Premiere
In the behind the scenes DVD commentary for Twilight, Robert revealed that he left the premiere screening in the middle of the movie. This was during the scene where Bella and Edward go on their first date.
“I think this is where I can’t handle it anymore. In the premiere.” Pattinson told movie director Catherine Hardwicke.
“Is this where you ran out of theatre?” she asked him.
“Yeah.”
“That’s what your mom told me,” she said. “You just ran out.”
2. He Said The Twilight Books Shouldn’t Have Been Published
In an interview, Robert Pattinson stated that while he did try to read the books, they felt like something that shouldn’t have been published. He said, “When I read it, it felt like a book that shouldn’t have been published.”
He also stated in an interview with W magazine that he thinks the story was just “weird”.
“It was really fun, yeah. It was such a wild experience. And what a strange way to spend my early twenties. I never really quite knew how to play a vampire though. I mean, if it hadn’t been so successful, I think people would have thought it was really weird. It’s a really weird story. But I think once it becomes mainstream, it’s difficult for people to see how strange the story is.”
In addition, talking to Variety, he expanded upon the opinion.
“It’s a weird story, ‘Twilight.’ It’s not just like – it’s strange how people responded a lot to it. I guess the books are very romantic, but at the same time, it’s not like ‘The Notebook’ romantic. ‘The Notebook’ is very sweet and heartbreaking, but ‘Twilight’ is about this guy, and he finds the one girl he wants to be with, and he also wants to eat her. I mean, not eat her, but drink her blood or whatever,” Pattinson said. “It’s not that other people are telling them they can’t be together, it’s his own body telling him that.”
3. Robert Pattinson Called The Twilight Plot ‘Nuts’
Robert Pattinson made no bones about how ridiculous some of the plots in Twilight were. In a 2017 interview with W magazine, he said, “It’s nuts. I had to give her a cesarean by chewing through a placenta. I don’t know the medical—how it works. But there was definitely chewing through something. No, it’s wild. Once you got it in your head you’re like, Oh, this is just the thing for little girls. And then, like, it’s kind of—it’s difficult to get past.”
4. He Stated He Would ‘Mindlessly Hate It’
He told Moviefone: “I think I am a judgmental and cynical person who would just mindlessly hate it without having seen anything; I just think I’m a bad person.”
5. He Was Nearly Fired For Being ‘Too Miserable’
While discussing the Twilight movies in 2017 on The Howard Stern Show, Robert Pattinson stated he was almost fired from the first film for being ‘too miserable’. However, the actor has stated that he was just trying to get in tune with his character. He wanted his character to be really “emo”.
Meanwhile, his agents told him that he needed to cheer up or he would risk being fired. Robert shared that he was even sent a script with every moment Edward smiles highlighted in a different color.
6. Robert Pattinson Has Not Watched The Twilight Movies
In another interview, Robert Pattinson stated that he had just watched the Twilight movies once if that. He also stated that he had trouble remembering character names even.
“I’m struggling with character names – my own character name.”
7. He Told Variety He Stopped ‘Mentally Progressing’
Robert Pattinson sure does hate Twilight with a passion. During an interview with Variety, he stated, “I think I stopped mentally progressing around the time when I started doing those movies.”
8. He Once Called Author Stephenie Meyer ‘Mad’
In an E! Online interview, Robert Pattinson had some colorful things to say about the Twilight author. He said:
“…when I read [Twilight], it seemed like I was convinced [author] Stephenie [Meyers] was convinced she was [the book’s lead character] Bella and it was like it was a book that wasn’t supposed to be published. It was like reading her sexual fantasy, especially when she said it was based on a dream and it was like, ‘Oh I’ve had this dream about this really sexy guy,’ and she just writes this book about it. Some things about [Pattinson’s character] Edward are so specific, I was just convinced – I was like, ‘This woman is mad. She’s completely mad and she’s in love with her own fictional creation.’”
9. Robert Pattinson On Twilight Fans
Most celebs love their fans. Not Robert Pattinson. He has often taken digs at the Twilight fandom and questioned what they do all day. In an interview, he took shots at the fandom. He said:
“The real odd thing about this ‘Twilight’ target group is that they aren’t really teenagers. Most of them are older. Twilight has its own parallel world, its own fan culture that has been forming on the net since day one,” Rob said. “And in an intense way that has never existed before. Sometimes I ask myself what these masses of people do the whole day. They sit in front of their computers and comment on anything having even remotely to do with Twilight.”
In a 2011 interview with Vanity Fair, Pattinson said:
“I can’t really understand it even now. It does have an angle which is attached to something quite primal in girls. I guess people want it to define them, like, ‘I’m a Twilight fan.’ That’s crazy to me. I think people really just like being part of a crowd. There’s something just tremendously exciting about hyping yourself up to that level.”
10. Being Pigeon Holed Due To Twilight
Pattinson has also been outspoken about the difficulties in getting more serious roles after starring in the Twilight films.
“There’s a massive reward,” Pattinson said in that 2011 Vanity Fair interview. “[But] being in such a specific pigeonhole right now, it’s very strange. Having a persona people recognize, it’s the thing that probably gets you paid the most—but it’s also the thing that virtually every actor in the world doesn’t want. Cause, like, no one would believe me if I wanted to play something ultra-realistic, like, a gangster or something.”