The Twilight novels and movies were a big cultural phenomenon, but that doesn’t mean it was easy for the main stars to carry with all that weight, to the point where some of them were quite vocal about their dislike towards the movies, especially Robert Pattinson. Back in 2005, Stephenie Meyer’s fantasy romance novel Twilight was published, introducing readers to a world where vampires, humans, and werewolves co-existed, even if some of them weren’t aware of the rest. The core of the story was the often problematic and controversial romance between vampire Edward Cullen and human Bella Swan.
Twilight was the first in what would become a series of four novels, which later received the big screen treatment. The first movie was released in 2008 and had Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart as Edward and Bella. Twilight was a box-office hit, though it didn’t do as well with critics. Still, the following novels got their adaptations too, with the final book, Breaking Dawn, being split into two movies. The Twilight book series already had a big fanbase, which only got bigger once the movies came out, and thus boosted the careers of its main stars, but at a big price.
Merchandise, fan gatherings, tours, and more related to Twilight can be found everywhere (never forget all the “Team Edward” and “Team Jacob” merch), and many people around the world were understandably angered by everything Twilight, including Robert Pattinson.
Twilight: How Robert Pattinson’s Opinion About The Movies Has Changed
The Twilight fever was very real: people were seen everywhere reading the novels, fans would wait in line for premieres, book signings, meet and greets, and more. Of course, those who were most affected by it were its main actors, as they were on the public eye all the time and were endlessly mocked for the characters they played (when it wasn’t really their fault). It’s not surprising, then, that many of them weren’t particularly fond of Twilight, especially Robert Pattinson, who was never shy about his dislike towards the movies. In a 2011 interview with Vanity Fair, he said it was weird to be part of “something you don’t particularly like” and for people to feel “they know you more than someone they actually know”.
In a separate interview, Pattinson was asked if he would watch the movies if he was a casual viewer, saying he “would just mindlessly hate it”. Years later, speaking to Variety, he joked about stopping “mentally progressing around the time” he started doing Twilight. As it happens with most pop culture hits, the Twilight fever calmed down a lot as years passed, which has allowed Pattinson to make peace with that part of his life. In an interview with USA Today, Pattinson said it’s “lovely now that the mania is not so intense” and that people come up to him with very fond memories of it. He added that the “only scary part was right in the thick of it all, when it was very, very intense”, which is completely understood as his (and Stewart’s) career and fame skyrocketed all of a sudden. The revisiting of the movies has made many people look at the Twilight Saga differently, including Pattinson, who can finally talk about his time as Edward Cullen with less resentment.
