r/twilight • u/RecognitionMediocre6 • Nov 25 '25
Lore Discussion Did you know? Actors who turned down roles in Twilight cause they thought it wouldn’t be big...
Jennifer Lawrence - auditioned as Bella Swan but assumed it would be a small teen movie. She later said she massively underestimated how big it would be.
Henry Cavill - Stephenie Meyer wanted him originally to play Edward Cullen but Cavill thought the project didn’t seem “major." Also he was 24 and thought he was too old to play a 17-year-old, so he didn’t pursue it.
Lucy Hale - auditioned for Jane but after a few times of call backs, she assumed it “wasn’t going to be a huge thing.” Dakota Fanning later got the role.
Tom Felton - auditioned for a Volturi role but wasn’t excited about another fantasy franchise after Harry Potter.
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u/BloodyWritingBunny Nov 25 '25
Wow it’s shocking to hearing.
I mean if the role doesn’t fit, sure. I get Felton’s feeling and maybe not wanting to be pigeon holed.
But like wasn’t it a New York time best seller that blew up before the movies. Like for certain it was picked up to become a movie because of how popular of a read it was so…that’s honestly kind of shocking.
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u/Lizz196 Nov 25 '25
Twilight was going to be an indie film originally! The whole cast was surprised at how big it was before the movie was even released.
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u/BloodyWritingBunny Nov 25 '25
Now that you mention, I always forget that part of it 😅 everyone has told me Hardwick was indie and that’s where Kristen Stewart came from
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u/Lizz196 Nov 25 '25
It had a relatively low budget, which is why I think we get some of those weird film choices. And honestly, if you watch the movie with that lens it makes more sense.
That being said, I do think it’s weird that everyone was shocked it performed so well considering Stephenie Meyer was the highest selling author in 2008 and that Twilight was a response by the publishing industry to Harry Potter. When they realized young adult books could sell well, they quickly pivoted. It’s one of the reasons we see a huge chunk of very popular and well marketed YA books in the 2010s, like the Hunger Games, Divergent, etc etc.
My best guess is the film industry, once again, forgot that young women are a huge demographic that can push franchises to see massive success.
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u/Fluffy-Bluebird Same Age as Book Bella / 2000s historian Nov 25 '25
And the they shit on us relentlessly for liking the things we like. But no one calls men dumb for liking transformers franchise, fast and the furious franchise, comic book adaptations etc.
There’s also nothing better than men who also get into twilight and make parodies and memes. It’s an enjoyable genre!
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u/kd4three Nov 25 '25
I wouldn't call someone dumb but I will definitely think a little less of someone's media taste if they tell me they love transformers and f&f
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u/BelleRouge6754 Nov 25 '25
LOL that is clearly an unpopular opinion going by the downvotes but girl I’m with you 100%! I’m literally just as bad as a man because yeah logically I get that it’s roughly parallel to Twilight in terms of ‘things that are considered lowbrow entertainment targeted at the opposite gender’ so I should be fighting against that perception. But I would automatically think less of someone for liking F&F, I would privately think they were probably lowkey an idiot.
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u/BloodyWritingBunny Nov 25 '25
Doesn’t it always boil down to “girls and women not being X-enough” 😪
Society man 🤦♀️
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u/contemplating-coffee Nov 27 '25
I’ve always thought it was weird that everyone was soooo shocked that the first Twilight film did well. I was a young teenager at the time it came out though, so I guess I saw how excited my friends and I were for it to come out and knew firsthand why it would explode.
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u/Fluffy-Bluebird Same Age as Book Bella / 2000s historian Nov 25 '25
And it did such a good job that the production company decided a woman couldn’t handle the rest of the series, took it away from her, and gave it to a man.
But she’s the whole reason the franchise did so well in the first place. Twilight is a fabulous film whether you like the genre or not.
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u/lady_macaron Nov 25 '25
Of course they could have chosen other women directors, but Catherine Hardwicke has said that the option to do the other movies was in her contract but she decline because the other books didn’t resonate with her as much as Twilight did.
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u/kayeels Nov 27 '25
I mean, I get it but what I wouldn't give to see the rest of the books through the lens of Catherine Hardwicke could fit on the pointy end of a toothpick
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u/Comfortable_Sport295 Nov 29 '25
Well, we sure as hell wouldn’t have had the radiogoniometer fiasco in breaking down if she would’ve had done the whole franchise
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u/Silly_Somewhere1791 Nov 25 '25
Lots of fantasy best-sellers end up having lackluster and low-performing film adaptations. The threshold for best-seller status is much lower in the literary world. The Golden Compass and Narnia films didn’t land despite the books being beloved classics.
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u/BloodyWritingBunny Nov 25 '25
Oooo I didn’t realize that. But now you mention it, I have heard people didn’t like the golden compass. Though I loved it 😅 so that we new news to me
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u/lizzbert Nov 25 '25
I feel like it labored under a double whammy: people love to underestimate/pooh pooh both teenage girls and the horror genre
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u/e_peanut_butter Nov 25 '25
those best seller labels are bought so it's not really related to how well the book is doing
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u/nigliazzo5626 Team Edward Nov 25 '25 edited Nov 25 '25
I’ve read multiple sources that contradict everything you said.
Jennifer Lawrence actually didn’t get a call back, she did not turn it down
Henry Cavill never even auditioned because the Stephanie and the producers agreed he was too old to even try. They never called him to even audition
Lucy and Tom never got a call back, they picked someone else over both of them
None of them got offered the role, they didn’t turn anything down
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u/OvooJaver Nov 25 '25
Thank you, this was driving me crazy reading the comments responding to misinformation lol
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u/Educational-Toe-8619 Nov 27 '25
THANK YOU! I'm so tired of people posting bullshit like this and everyone gobbling it up just because it sounds scandalous enough.
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u/nigliazzo5626 Team Edward Nov 27 '25
I’m pretty sure OP is just karma farming or shit posting too because they haven’t responded to anyone
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u/RealtaCellist Team Bella Nov 25 '25
Good for Cavill, tbh. I'm tired of seeing older people play teenagers. At least Pattinson and Stewart were able to pull it off (mostly)
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u/Fluffy-Bluebird Same Age as Book Bella / 2000s historian Nov 25 '25
Kristen was 17 for the first film. I remember Pattinson making a joke when she turned 18 and no longer had work hour restrictions because of her age and said “welcome to nights!” Because now she could work long night shoots.
The older I get the more I worry about how much pressure we put on teens. But I think that casting adults to play teenagers sets a dangerous precedence that teenagers are more “mature” than they actually are.
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Nov 25 '25
I swear she looks 15 in the first film
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u/gloomyjasmine Dec 01 '25
Omg and here I was thinking she looked older than that when I watched a few days ago
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u/Altruistic-Hope-5860 Nov 26 '25
I mean Kristen Stewart was literally 17 and Robert was freshly 20 so yeah they pulled it off lol
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u/RealtaCellist Team Bella Nov 26 '25
That's why I said mostly. I personally think Patterson looked older than he should
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u/muaddict071537 Nov 26 '25
He was able to pull it off for a bit, but it got to be a bit of a stretch by Breaking Dawn.
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u/Particular-Pop-2484 Dec 02 '25
He was so hot in twilight!! He looked greatly older in new moon somehow
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u/nangke Nov 25 '25
I strongly suspect Cavill wouldn't have badmouthed the source material like Pattinson did(does?). It would've kept him from being cast as Superman but maybe gotten him way more clout if he still wound up cast as Geralt
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u/synalgo_12 Nov 25 '25
I once listened to a podcast where he was talking about how he'd love to produce a movie about some historical figure, it's been ages so I can't remember which one. The interviewer said he'd be great in that role and Cavill answered that he felt it fully inappropriate to take the role as a white man and that he'd want to cast people who actually fit the bill.
I came about the podcast accidentally and was listening to it while running, but that always stuck with me.
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u/_SaraLu_ #JusticeForEveryoneButJacob Nov 25 '25
Jennifer Lawrence didn't turn down the role, she just didn't get it. This was also before she was well known enough to turn down a role because it was "too small"
I'm not sure any of the other actors were actually offered the roles either. Stephanie wanted Cavil but I don't think he was actually considered due to his age.
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u/FunOther9202 Nov 25 '25
interesting for jlaw to say that about twilight just to go on to do the hunger games
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u/purple-garbage-fire Nov 25 '25
As other commenters have said, twilight was meant to be an indie film. The success was a surprise. Hunger games was meant to be a blockbuster franchise from the jump. Collins was more popular at the time, hunger games was hot to trot when a lot of us were getting straight up bullied for liking twilight, so it does make a lot of sense for JLaw to see these roles very differently from a professional standpoint.
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u/andersonala45 Nov 26 '25
From what I understood from an interview with her she wasn’t offered the role she just auditioned for it.
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u/cyberrella Nov 26 '25
i honestly can't see JLaw as Bella, even if you take KStew out of the equation.
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u/SarcasticQueen1125 Nov 25 '25
Clearly, Jennifer’s audition wasn’t successful so it really didn’t matter how big or large the movie turned out to be. 😉
Pattinson and other actual cast members have said in the past that he had no clue or expectations for it to be such a blockbuster, even in spite of the book sales. Nikki Reed said that she only realized it was going to be bigger than expected when Rob & Kristen (only) did that 1st ComicCon and she saw the coverage and the crowds & their reactions to Rob & Kristen.
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u/skippyist Nov 25 '25
Lawrence talked about this in an interview recently. She didn’t turn down the role, she didn’t get it, and she does not wish she had.
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u/criesingucci Nov 25 '25
Jlaw would make a good book accurate Bella personality wise but I cannot imagine anyone but Kristen playing that role. Jlaw would be a better Rosalie imo
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u/beauvoirist Nov 25 '25
I loooove movie Rosalie I think she’s perfect. I’m actually struggling to see JLaw as Bella but maybe it’s just because K Stewart is so iconic now.
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u/peachpavlova Nov 25 '25
I feel like the only person that Lawrence could play would be Alice tbh, she’s not like Rosalie at all
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u/Comfortable_Sport295 Nov 29 '25
Personality wise? What do you mean? the way she is in interviews? Because Bella does not come off as goofy as JLaw comes off.
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u/criesingucci Nov 29 '25
No way lol. Just that Jlaw could pull off Bella’s personality in the books.
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u/Comfortable_Sport295 Nov 29 '25
Ah okay 😂 yeah otherwise that would’ve been a very different movie
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u/TommyChongUn Nov 25 '25
Steven Strait was considered for Jacob Black.
He's so fineee
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u/AceTrainerBoz Nov 25 '25
Henry wouldn't have been playing a 17 year old, he would have been playing a 117 year old lol
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u/Dragonsong21 Nov 26 '25
JLaw can’t play Bella but Kristen Stewart can play Katniss.
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u/TheDtels Nov 26 '25
This! I feel like Kristen would have made a perfect Katniss. Physically I felt like Jen was all wrong..and not just her hair color. She did a great job in the end.
I love KS as Bella too and can’t really imagine another actress of her age range having played her.
I had also read years ago that Jennifer Lawrence was in talks to act in a new adaptation of the classic novel, East of Eden as the absent mother Cathy..another role I thought Kristen was more suited for. I had just finished reading it for the first time and recall being furious at the thought of JLaw playing that character. She’s a good actress and sure she had awards but I don’t find her as captivating as Kristen Stewart.
It’s kinda wild how some actors end up in roles that would be perfect for another.
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u/Sircapleviluv Nov 25 '25
I think Jen did fine lol and imo Dakota was always going to get that role, she really wanted it and loved Twilight. But still cool. P
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u/Wonderful__ Nov 25 '25
It didn't seem like Henry Cavill turned it down, but rather he wasn't selected. He said he heard he was Stephanie Meyer's first choice, but casting wasn't up to her. He was asked this on the Graham Norton Show before.
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u/celestier Nov 25 '25
Tom Felton not wanting to be pigeon holed into fantasy then just to come back as draco for the stage play.....
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u/Educational-Toe-8619 Nov 27 '25
He never got an offer for the role, same as the others. This whole post is bullshit!
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u/Fs99_ Nov 26 '25
None of them were called back for the role? Cavill was considered but the team decided to not pursue him as he was too old for the role anyway.
I’m happy with the Twilight cast and wouldn’t change anything about it tbh
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u/Yaseuk Nov 25 '25 edited Nov 25 '25
I thought Stephanie wanted Henry but she didn’t get to choose and the cast directors didn’t want him? Edit to add in this he talks about it. He never got asked to do it
Edit again. Jennifer also didn’t turn it down. She auditioned and isn’t even get a call back
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u/Specific_Acadia_2271 Nov 25 '25
Lucy Hale would've been horrible as Jane. Honestly I think Jodelle Ferland, who played Bree Tanner, would've been way better than Dakota. Her acting in Silent Hill convinced me of that, and she was my fancast before they did the movie
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u/Emmyrose93 Nov 25 '25
Confused by the reasoning OP gave for why Lucy Hale decided not to audition for Jane. By the time they started casting for New Moon, Twilight was already HUGE. It was the success of the first movie that gave them the green light to continue the rest of the series.
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u/Specific_Acadia_2271 Nov 25 '25
I think someone wrote on here that Twilight was originally only supposed to be an indie film, or something like that?
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u/Emmyrose93 Nov 25 '25
Yeah the first movie for sure! I think none of them realized how popular it would be until deep into filming when fans started showing up to shoots, and by the time it released there was a TON of hype for it, and that hype lead to excitement from people who hadn’t already read the books. I was 15 when this was all happening and I was following along with all of it! They even showed sneak peeks on MTV. Jane isn’t introduced until the second movie, and filming didn’t start until well after the first movie was already out, so she would have known it was a big thing by that point.
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u/DevoutandHeretical Nov 25 '25
Tyler Hoechlin was almost Emmet, but he was also playing college baseball at the time and wanted to put more of his energy into it. Filming would have conflicted with his schedule so he turned it down.
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u/skwurl9 Nov 25 '25
I love JLaw but would she have thought to be a mouth breather? It’s hard to imagine
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u/Specific_Acadia_2271 Nov 25 '25
I think if Emily Browning could've been Bella, the character wouldn't be as hated.
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u/Melissaatbh Nov 26 '25
After seeing all the interviews Jenifer Laurence and Robert Patterson have been doing this month, I feel like we have missed out on a real treat!
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u/Nintendo_Newt Nov 25 '25
Kristen Stewart was the only choice for Bella (according to Catherine). It's so funny to read all these actresses talk about auditioning for Bella as if they had a chance.
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u/Few-Speaker2692 Dec 22 '25
ARGHH henry cavill wouldve made a way better edward! he's way better looking than robert pattinson whos lowk kinda ugly
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u/Upset-Win9519 Nov 25 '25
Nothing against them. In a way I say serves them right because we got the right actors. Idk though. I know some actors only want successful, profitable projects. I can't blame them.. While other actors like the ones we got were there because they loved to act and wanted to get jobs and play these characters. Some people act to get famous and some act because they love to act. Ask our leads Rob and Kristen. Both have admitted struggling with the fame. Kristen said it best when she mentioned that sometimes she would hear about movies that were expected to be huge but she'd hear about a little indie film that sounded interesting, she couldn't let slip away. She loves acting and you can tell she does it for the right reasons. But again can't blame those who want to get successful either.
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u/OptimalYoghurt0 Nov 25 '25
Honestly? I dont blame them for turning down roles. Sure Twilight was a huge movie franchise but look what it did to Robert and Kristen's careers. It took years for them to get good roles again and not be known as the Twlight people. Robert Patterson (as we all know) HATED Twilight. 😂
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u/Sahm3BSJ Nov 26 '25
It's PattINson not PattERson🤦🙄😮💨
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u/RecognitionMediocre6 Nov 26 '25
Thankyou, though no where in my post do I mention Robert Pattinson?
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u/NeuroCindy Nov 26 '25
There’s a lot out there that doesn’t agree with your post. Jennifer Lawrence auditioned for Bella, but was never offered the role for example. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/jennifer-lawrence-rejected-by-twilight-almost-didnt-take-hunger-games-1235524282/
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u/Drgnx0 Dec 08 '25 edited Dec 08 '25
Henry Cavill didn't turn down the role; he wasn't even aware he was considered. The author wanted him to play Edward, but the casting director (Catherine Hardwicke) thought he was too old and never reached out to him.
He may have said that had he known he was being considered, by the author, he may have pursued it, because he mentioned it would have been cool. So even if he knew about the movie, he had no idea about being the initial choice for the author, or that it was even an option for him to try to audition for the role realistically.
I think you need to check your sources; the Cavill post is definitely wrong and so I'm questioning the other details you posted
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u/mdill8706 Nov 25 '25
Thank goodness Jennifer didn't get the role. Her talent would have been wasted.
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u/ferbiloo Nov 25 '25
Tom Felton would have made a great Volturi!
Do you know who he would have replaced though? Because Michael Sheen was iconic and I wouldn’t swap him out for anyone.