Most people are aware the ‘Twilight’ movies are based on the eponymous book series. But one cast member initially had no clue.
Chances are that if you’re familiar with the Twilight movies, you also know about the eponymous book series. Written by Stephenie Meyer, the books offer a detailed account of Bella and Edward’s love story. The idea for Twilight actually came to Meyer in a dream. But it wasn’t long before the story would become a huge part of her waking life also.
How the’Twilight’ books eventually became movies
Although her Twilight books will eventually become international bestsellers, Meyer never intended to share her story with anyone. In fact, the stay-at-home mom never set out to be a writer at all. Exploring the love between a vampire and a human simply became a form of escapism for her. But when she neared the end of her story, she couldn’t deny that she had a book on her hands.
At the encouragement of her sister, Meyer sought to get her novel published. It wasn’t long before she had a partnership with Little Brown and a dedicated following of readers. As the Twilight books got more popular, talks of a movie adaptation grew. Eventually, Summit Entertainment gave the movie the green light and found a cast for the sci-fi film.
Not all members of the cast were familiar with Stephenie Meyer’s writing
The actors had different levels of familiarity with the Twilight books before they were cast in the film. Some of them read parts of the book before they even auditioned. Others use the books as references to do character research after they were cast. However, one actor didn’t even realize that the books existed until he stepped on set.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Kellan Lutz (who played Emmett Cullen in the Twilight movies) revealed he initially knew nothing of the books. However, he loved the movie script at first glance.
Kellan Lutz had no idea that the novels existed when he was cast as Emmett Cullen
“I didn’t even know there was a book series,” Lutz admitted. “I read the [Twilight] script while I was in Africa and fell in love with it. I loved the vampire story. It feels so new and fresh, not the typical ‘let’s kill the vampire with a pitchfork’ idea. It was really unique.”
Clearly, Lutz not knowing about the books didn’t hinder him from landing a spot in the Twilight cast. But when did he finally learn about the existence of the books? It wasn’t until the actor stepped on set to film that he realized there was a whole other interpretation of Bella and Edward’s love story that he had access to.
Lutz’s ‘Twilight’ co-star, Ashley Greene lent him her books
“Once I was cast, I was flown out to Oregon to start shooting, and my friend Ashley Greene had all of the books,” the Twilight actor shared. “She asked me if I had read the books, and I was like, ‘Haha, you’re joking. There are no books.’ So she gave them to me and I did my homework. I read all three of them. The fourth wasn’t out yet.”
It’s pretty comical that Lutz found out about the Twilight books the way he did. Fortunately, he was able to finish them before he got too far into filming.
