A deep dive into the iconic baseball scene from ‘Twilight’ with the cast and crew, 12 years later

When the big-screen adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s fantasy novel “Twilight” hit theaters on November 21, 2008, no one could have predicted the magnitude of the movie’s global popularity — or the enduring prominence of its vampire baseball scene in pop culture.

In honor of the film’s 12th anniversary, Insider spoke with director Catherine Hardwicke and star Nikki Reed (Rosalie Hale) to break down the making of the often-referenced baseball scene, the resurgence of the movie’s popularity, and the timeless appeal of “Twilight. “

‘Since when do vampires like baseball?’
That’s the question that human Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) asked vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) after he picked her up to spend an overcast day with his family.

In response, Edward told her that “there’s a thunderstorm coming. It’s the only time we can play. You’ll see why.”
In the moments that followed, fans were treated to a baseball sequence, skillfully edited and perfectly set to Muse’s “Supermassive Black Hole.”

A contrast to the Cullen family’s usual brooding and deliberate effort to act normally, the baseball scene was a tonal shift from the rest of the movie. It shows the vampires at their most relaxed and carefree state as they took advantage of their enhanced abilities to play the game before the nomadic vampires intruded.

Although the baseball sequence was only two minutes long, it’s become a fan-favorite scene from the movie — and perhaps even the entire “Twilight” saga.

Filming took place in Portland, Oregon during the winter
The scene was filmed near the picturesque Columbia River Gorge with the Multnomah Falls closeby.
“I did think it was about the craziest thing to do, to get to make a vampire baseball sequence,” Hardwicke told Insider. “So I was like, ‘We’ve just got to make this as amazing as we can.'”

“It was a stunning location, so you’re already inspired,” Hardwicke added.

“I remember it being really cold,” Reed said, recalling that she and some of her other castmates traveled via a “tiny puddle jumper airplane from LA to Portland.”

“It was super chilly and we became this little family very quickly,” she said.
Despite the beautiful setting, the weather poses several logistical obstacles — from inconsistent cloud cover to rain. What was supposed to be a four-or-so-day shoot turned into a week and a half on location.

“We were filming in the winter because that’s when you have the most overcast,” Hardwicke explained. “We couldn’t have bright sun because then the vampires would have to sparkle. We didn’t want them to be sparkling all the time, we couldn’t afford that. CGI sparkling cost a lot of money.”

“The weather did not cooperate,” the director said. “And you can’t have pouring rain [because of] all the makeup drips; the hair. They just don’t look like the cool vampires in the pouring rain.”
Hardwicke also said that the cast and crew “were freezing out there and since it was this beautiful 360-view of this open field and everything, you couldn’t have bathrooms or anything really close.”
This results in a time-consuming cycle of people drinking hot tea to stay warm, going to the bathroom, and then finally circling back to the field to film.

“We were just scrambling,” Hardwicke said, recalling that the cast would shoot other scenes in nearby areas when the weather prevented them from filming the baseball sequence.
Challenges aside, Reed said that making “Twilight” had its own unique charm since it was the only movie in the saga that was filmed in Portland.

“Portland had a kind of magic to it that we could never really recreate,” she said. “There was just something really special about it that I can’t describe.”