Twilight played a big part in the lives of tweens in the early 2000s (remember #TeamJacob & #TeamEdward?). Despite the flack that it received for its questionable plot, story arc as well as the choices made in the subsequent movies that rolled out, the Twilight film series has grossed over $3.3 billion worldwide. It was such a phenomenon that it can be said to have cemented the careers of the two lead actors: Robbert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. Even though the pair have been open with their regret for having joined the franchise (after it, it took years and years for them to shake off their ‘Edward Cullen’ and ‘Bella Swan’ characters), it turns out that they almost didn’t get the big break that followed their ‘Twilight’ casting.
Recently, a shocking truth has come back to light: the author herself, Stephanie Meyer, had a totally different idea of who to cast for the lead roles in the movies based off her books. In a blogpost dating back to 2007 (the first movie was released in 2008), Meyer revealed that her desire was for Henry Cavill to play the over a century-old vampire.
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At the time, Meyer had been actively using her blog to communicate with fans and was adamant that Henry Cavill was at the top of her list of actors to play Edward Cullen. Of course, now, Cavill is a household name having amassed a loyal fanbase following his role as ‘Superman. However, at the time, Cavill was a relatively new actor, having acted in a mere 7 movies. The Man of Steel actor was only 21 years old when Meyer and movie execs were discussing filming and Meyer thought him a good match. Unfortunately, by the time the film was green-lit, Cavill had been deemed “too old” for the role (not to mention the fact that she had little say in who was cast).
“Years have passed, my actors have aged, and I think the time has come to recast the Twilight Movie. (For fun, of course! I still have no say in who gets hired.) The most disappointing thing for me is losing my perfect Edward. Henry Cavill is now twenty-four-years-old. Let us have a moment of quiet in which to mourn…”
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She had also shared that she had envisioned Australian actress Emily Browning (‘Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events’) as her ‘Bella Swan’. We now know that Meyer did not get to fulfil her wish of having Cavill be her “perfect Edward” but R. Patt didn’t do too bad of a job, aye?
We can’t help wonder what the alternate ‘Twilight’ would have been like, however…
*Cover image credits: Instagram / @cavillgran / @twilight
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