Twilight star Jackson Rathbone looks back on the original movie’s production, recollecting how lead star Robert Pattinson was left bothered by his sparkly vampire makeup. Rathbone portrayed Jasper Hale, a vampire who would marry into the Cullen family to leave behind his bloody, violent past throughout the American Civil War. Alongside Pattinson, he would reprise his role in all five Twilight movies, which adapted Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling supernatural romance novels.
During a Twilight panel at Emerald City Comic Con, Popverse reports that Rathbone looked back at filming the original movie, which was directed by Catherine Hardwicke and released in 2008. The actor revealed that no cast member portraying any of the vampires, especially Pattinson, were fond of the makeup for their sparkling skin, even disliking clear, fair days due to production quickly moving to make sure they filmed sparkling sequences in the sunlight. Check out Rathbone’s explanation below:
“They would do all the Twilight sparkle testing, so every once in a while you would see Rob [Pattinson] come out of the makeup trailer completely pissed off and angry. Half his face is sparking super hard, the other half is a little sparkle. It’s like, ‘Mate, what’s going on?’ It went from being rainy day to bright sunny day, which is actually even worse, because if it’s sunny they’ve got to make us sparkle. It was one of those things where the sun would come out, and we’d be like, ‘Yay!’ Except for production, ‘That’s screwing us even more!’”
Why Do Twilight’s Vampires Sparkle?
Meyer Has A Reason For It
While Twilight’s unique sparkling vampire skin stands out when compared to other media featuring the creatures, it is rooted in lore that has surrounded vampires for most of their pop culture history. Much like other examples, Meyer’s vampires are impervious to most damage, though the author detailed this to be down to a change at a cellular level that renders each cell hardened. As a consequence of this, vampire skin takes on stone-like traits akin to marble or granite and can refract sunlight, adding a new twist to why the creatures avoid sunlight in Meyer’s world.
Though Meyer’s lore behind vampire skin is incredibly detailed and pairs perfectly with the vampires’ physical appearances, it is also undoubtedly one of her more controversial decisions in how she approached her vampires. Many critics quickly decried the trait as part of their critiques of Twilight, with Interview with the Vampire author Anne Rice light-heartedly poking fun at the sparkling-skinned Cullens by stating her creations pitied them. While the movies made the sparkling skins infamous, perhaps the upcoming Twilight TV series could provide a more crowd-pleasing translation.
While Twilight has gained both a greater appreciation and more thoughtful criticism since the series was released, it is clear sparkling vampires remain one of its more divisive legacies. Not only was it aesthetically confusing, but Rathbone’s recollection highlights the difficulty behind bringing the effect from page to screen. With Twilight entering the realm of animation for its small-screen adaptation, at least the new cast will be spared the long, uncomfortable process the previous actors endured.
