When developing the Twilight book series into a movie franchise, author Stephenie Meyer had many rules about what could and couldn’t change.
When Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight books were in development to become the Twilight movie franchise, the author insisted that certain aspects of her novels could not change in the films. Meyer not only made her opinions known but often blocked the films’ creators from making particular choices and worked closely with writers to ensure scenes and characters were written to her liking. Many of Meyer’s decisions concerned how characters were represented, both in terms of physical appearance and on-screen behavior. While some of Meyer’s opinions seem small and like the weirdly specific desires of someone close to the original story, others seem more serious and problematic.
Stephenie Meyer wrote the original Twilight book series from 2005 to 2008 and worked on the highly successful Twilight movie adaptations from 2008 to 2012. The story follows shy high schooler, Bella Swan, as she moves to Forks, Washington, and quickly becomes entangled with the mysterious Edward Cullen. Bella soon learns that Edward is a 104-year-old vampire, and is part of an entire family of vampires in the area, the Cullens. Throughout the four novels and five movie installments, Bella becomes deeply entangled in vampire politics, forbidden romance, and various life-or-death situations. However, Meyer’s control over the Twilight franchise wasn’t always entirely sensible and at times, impeded the creative freedom of the filmmakers.
Twilight’s Cullens Cast Couldn’t Be More Diverse
One of the most problematic times Stephenie Meyer refused a change for the Twilight movies was by refusing to add non-white characters to the main cast. When the first Twilight adaptation was in production, the director, Catherine Hardwicke, wanted to diversify the Cullen family. Meyer did not agree with this change though, citing that in the books, the Cullens were described as having “pale, glistening skin.” This conflict between Hardwicke and Meyer became one reason why Hardwicke did not return for New Moon or the following films, despite the first one’s success.
Meyer’s refusal to let Hardwicke make the Twilight cast more diverse is especially questionable because it actually improves on the logic set out in the books. The Cullens attend high school under the guise of being siblings instead of the romantic couples they truly are. By diversifying the cast members and making them look less similar, this dynamic may have come across as more believable. Additionally, the Cullens are supposed to represent the idea of “found family,” which would make more sense if the family members did not look like each other.
Bella Asking How Old Edward Is Had To Stay In The Twilight Movie
A less controversial detail that Meyer definitely wanted to keep in the films was the well-known, “How long have you been 17?” scene from the first Twilight book. An article in The New York Times described how the scene explaining Edward Cullen’s age made it onto a list of must-have details and moments called the “Stephenie Meyer Bill of Rights,” created by Erik Feig, co-president of the Lionsgate Media Group at the time. According to both Feig and Meyer, the Twilight movie adaptation would be not the same without it. The scene was then adapted from the book without many changes and even included the direct quotes that appeared in the book: “How long have you been 17?” Bella asks, to which Edward replies, “A while.”
Jacob Had To Be A Skilled Mechanic In Twilight
Another detail that made it onto the “Stephenie Meyer Bill of Rights” was Jacob’s mechanic skills. In the Twilight books, Jacob rebuilt a Volkswagen Rabbit from spare parts and drove it around Forks often throughout the series. Though the Rabbit doesn’t appear as often in the Twilight movies, there are still hints at Jacob’s ability with vehicles such as in Twilight’s New Moon when he teaches Bella how to ride a motorcycle.
Twilight’s Vampires Couldn’t Have Longer Teeth
In one of the earliest written adaptations of the Twilight movies, the vampires’ abnormally long incisors were written in and then quickly scrapped per Stephenie Meyer’s and Catherine Hardwicke’s orders. The very first Twilight script, written by Mark Lord for MTV, included countless changes from the books including razor-sharp vampire teeth and jet skis. Later, when Catherine Hardwicke got her hands on the failed project, she threw Lord’s script in the trash and started from scratch, hoping to stick closer to the original source material. This included giving the vampires normal, human-sized teeth. All five Twilight movies were written by Melissa Rosenberg.
Twilight Couldn’t Kill Off Characters Who Lived In The Books
Mark Lord made another massive change in his original Twilight movie script which was killing off main characters Carlisle Cullen and Charlie Swan. This change was a big no-no for Meyer. Once Hardwicke recovered the script and consequently scrapped it, Meyer included in her Bill of Rights that no characters who lived in her books would be killed in the film adaptations. She concluded that new characters could be killed, but no one else.
Bella Swan Had To Act The Same In Twilight Movie As In The Book
A final change that Stephenie Meyer disliked in the Twilight movies and edited as much as possible was a scene in Eclipse where Bella gets on the back of Jacob’s motorcycle. In the scene, Bella is upset with Edward for lying to her and, in one way or another, joins Jacob on his motorcycle. According to Meyer and many Twilight fans, the way the scene played out between Bella and Jacob in the Eclipse film did not properly represent Bella as she’s written in the books.
Meyer wanted a softer moment, where Jacob must convince Bella to get on because her love and loyalty for Edward hold her back. In contrast, the movie scene shows more ire and rebellion on Bella’s part, as she gets on the motorcycle unprompted. In this way, Meyer didn’t entirely get what she desired from that Twilight film, but she definitely had a role in tweaking the scene to be more to her liking.
When it came to developing the Twilight movie franchise from the Twilight books, author Stephenie Meyer certainly had plenty to say about changes and adaptations. While many directors and writers made efforts to adjust or diversify the Twilight books, Meyer put her foot down. Ultimately, it’s up to viewers to tell whether these changes in Twilight – or lack thereof – were for better or worse.
