Originally, Twilight’s Carlisle Cullen was going to be played by an A-list actor. The problem was, he was barely older than Robert Pattinson
While 2008’s Twilight got a lot of flack from critics, the movie’s casting for Edward’s father Carlisle Cullen was originally much worse. The Twilight saga’s movie adaptations stayed very faithful to the best-selling novel series, for better or worse. This resulted in a franchise of movies that, like the original Twilight novels, were criticized for their self-serious tone and lack of narrative thrust, but beloved by fans for their central love triangle and their romance-focused, scare-free take on vampires and werewolves. However, Twilight’s movies weren’t always able to stick to the vision of their original author.
Twilight writer Stephanie Meyer was open about her preferences for the casting of her novel saga’s movie adaptation, with the author wanting Henry Cavill to play Edward Cullen. However, Cavill was too old for the role, resulting in Robert Pattinson taking on the part instead. Twilight’s movie adaptations also almost cast Lucy Hale before she was famous (twice), but the saga’s biggest casting coup came when Meyer’s choice for Carlisle Cullen was struck down. Meyer wanted Charlie Hunnam of Sons of Anarchy fame to play Edward’s father but, fortunately, this was rejected since the actor was only 6 years older than Robert Pattinson in real life. This lack of age gap could have created some awkward narrative issues, so it’s fortunate that Hunnam didn’t get the role.
The Actor Who Almost Played Carlisle Cullen
Charlie Hunnam was best-known for Nicholas Nickelby, Green Street, and Children of Men when he was tapped to play Carlisle Cullen by Stephanie Meyer. However, the author later learned that Hunnam reportedly didn’t entertain scripts that centered around vampires, resulting in her suggestion that Cavill played Carlisle rather than Hunnam. Carlisle Cullen’s role in the Twilight movies was nowhere near as big as Edward’s part in the saga, but Cavill still opted not to partake in the series. This resulted in Peter Facinelli eventually securing the part. While Facinelli was 12 years older than his screen son Pattinson, there were only three years of an age gap between Pattinson and Cavill. With both Cavill and Hunnam, the Twilight franchise could have created a number of awkward issues for itself.
How Peter Facinelli Got His Twilight Saga Role
According to Facinelli, the actor almost missed out on his most famous role. Another unnamed star was cast in the part of Carlisle Cullen after Facinelli’s audition, and the actor was saddened to learn that he missed out on the role. However, shortly after this, Facinelli was told that the other actor fell through, and the part was his. While the Twilight movies made few changes to Meyer’s vision, Facinelli admitted in an interview with the Twilight Effect podcast that he might have done some extra work to ensure that the writer remembered him after his addition.
Per Facinelli’s recollection, the actor read Twilight the night before his audition and loved the novel. After the audition went well, he encountered a glossy coffee table book on vampires and sent it to Meyers, thinking it would be of interest to her. Facinelli’s instincts paid off when the actor ended up getting the role of Carlisle, with him later jokingly admitting that he bought the role for $29.99 by sending Meyer the book. While this might not have been necessary to secure the part, it did result in a better version of Twilight than an adaptation that tried to pass off Henry Cavill or Charlie Hunnam as Robert Pattinson’s father.
