Even the most loyal TwiHards may be surprised to learn what made Robert Pattinson miserable whilst he was portraying Edward Cullen.
It would be fair to say that Robert Pattinson had no idea what he was getting into when he joined the Twilight cast. The actor had run out of the money that he made on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and was looking to get back into acting. Pattinson admits that he wanted to take a few years to do indie films that nobody would see. This, he believed, would give him the opportunity to teach himself how to act without intense scrutiny. Of course, fate had other plans for the Brit.
Playing Edward Cullen would make Pattinson one of the most famous people on the planet. For four years and five movies, he helped bring The Twilight Saga to life. And while playing the melancholy bloodsucker made Pattinson a multimillionaire, it wasn’t always a walk in the park for the actor. In fact, sometimes the part was downright uncomfortable for Pattinson.
Robert Pattinson had to alter his appearance for the ‘Twilight’ movies
Pattinson went through quite a transformation to become Edward for the Twilight movies. He often had to sit in hair and makeup for hours to achieve his vampiric looks. But getting his skin painted alabaster actually wasn’t the thing that truly helped The Lighthouse actor transform into his character with the most ease. In an interview with Collider, Pattinson cited his eye transformation as what really helped him embody the vegetarian vamp.
Fans of Twilight will recall that eye color is an extremely important characteristic in the world of Twilight. The Cullens, who only feast on animal blood, typically have golden eyes. However, their eyes shift to amber, and eventually black, as their thirst enhances. Meanwhile, newborn vampires, and those who do not abstain from human blood, have varying shades of red eyes. Naturally, Pattinson had to wear contacts to achieve his character’s eye color.
‘The Batman’ actor hated wearing his colored contacts
“Probably the contact lenses,” Pattinson shared of the accessory that always helped him transform into Edward. “They make me miserable, as soon as I put them in. That’s what creates the pouting and brooding character.”
‘Twilight’ alum Dakota Fanning agreed that the contacts also helped her get into character
Pattinson wasn’t the only member of the Twilight cast who cited the contact lenses as an accessory that helped them get into character. Dakota Fanning, who portrayed Jane Volturi, shared that putting her bloodred contacts in helped her portray her sadistic character.
“They’re hand-painted contacts,” Fanning shared with Entertainment Weekly “I’ve never worn anything in my eyes before, so it was definitely a feeling I’d never experienced. But they have someone to put them in and take them out. You can kind of feel them. But you get used to it after a while. I think you automatically have kind of a creepy look to you no matter what you’re doing or saying, so it definitely helps.”
Clearly, the custom contacts weren’t the most comfortable accessories for the Twilight cast. This is especially true for those who hadn’t worn them prior to filming. But they seemed to have helped the actors really connect to their characters, so it seems they weren’t in vain.
