How well do you know Bella, Edward, Jacob and the gang? Check out our sparkling set of ‘Twilight’ trivia, the kind of facts and in-jokes only super-fans will already know…
There’s another unfinished Twilight book
First of all, did you know that the series’ author Stephenie Meyer was writing a companion novel called ‘Midnight Sun’? The book retold the events of the first movie but from achingly hot vampire Edward’s point of view. However, Meyer abandoned ‘Midnight Sun’ after the first twelve chapters were leaked on the internet by an unnamed source. “If I tried to write ‘Midnight Sun’ now, in my current frame of mind,” said Meyer, “James would probably win and all the Cullens would die. That wouldn’t dovetail too well with the original story. In any case, I feel too sad about what has happened to continue working on [it].” Also notice how EL James, who based her ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’ series on ‘Twilight’, has ripped off the concept of ‘Midnight Sun’ wholesale for her new book ‘Grey’ – which is the first ‘Fifty Shades’ book retold from the perspective of Christian.
The author wanted totally different actors for the lead roles
Before Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson were cast in the lead roles, Stephenie Meyer had her own dream cast: she wanted ‘Sucker Punch”s Emily Browning for Bella, Superman Henry Cavill for Edward, other Superman Tom Welling for Emmett, Charlie Hunnam for Carlisle, Rachael Leigh Cook as Alice and Olivia Wilde as Rosalie. Thousands of actresses lined up to play the lip-biting vampire-lover: Jennifer Lawrence probably dodged a bullet by missing out, and ‘Buffy”s Michelle Trachtenberg was considered. Kurt Cobain’s daugher Frances Bean Cobain turned down the role of Bella, possibly because she’s not actress.
Dynamo auditioned to be Edward Cullen
Understandably, the competition was fierce to play sexy undead bloodsucker Edward Cullen – over 5,000 actors auditioned for the role before Summit Entertainment producers settled on Robert Pattinson. Unbelievably, one young man who allegedly auditioned for the part was Steven Frayne, who you may know a little better as magician Dynamo. Maybe the hypnosis he placed on the casting agents wore off halfway through his screen-test.
No scenes in the film were actually shot in Forks
Meyers’ original novel was named ‘Forks’ before someone at publishers Little, Brown & Company realised that was a terrible title and convinced her to come up with an alternative. The original title comes from the small town in Washington that the novel was set in, and the real Forks, Washington benefited hugely from tourism, with numbers boosted from 10,000 visitors per year pre-‘Twilight’ to 70,000 post ‘Twilight’. Tours are run where visitors can travel to areas of the town that slightly resemble those used in the story – because the movie didn’t shoot any scenes in Forks at all.
There’s a romantic in-joke hidden in the first ‘Twilight’
When Bella and Edward are in the meadow, the sun coming through the trees makes a heart between them. Bless! Can you see it?
The first film was a feminist trailblazer
The first ‘Twilight’ movie was a sleeper hit at the US box-office, catching analysts by surprise. With an opening weekend take of £45 million, thanks mainly to an army of fervent fans of the book, ‘Twilight’ broke two records – not only did it enjoy the biggest opening weekend ever for a movie directed by a woman, it had the biggest opening weekend ever for a movie starring a woman, too. The sequel, ‘New Moon’, was given the green light the day after the movie opened in the States, for obviou$ rea$on$.
Judging a film by its cover
Every movie except for ‘Eclipse’ has a scene where a character unwittingly recreates the artwork that appeared on the cover of the first edition books they were based on. In ‘Twilight’, Edward holds an apple exactly how it’s pictured on the front cover of the book; in ‘New Moon’, the blood-stained gauze after Bella’s accident replicates the bloodied rose from the book; finally, in ‘Breaking Dawn: Part 1’, Bella and Edward play chess with a red and white set that looks an awful like the one from the book jacket.
The sex scene in Breaking Dawn was censored
The first part of ‘Breaking Dawn’ flirted with an R-rating from US censors due to the racy sex scene (which Stewart called “not passionate at all”) until it was amended and shortened to 40 seconds to pass for a PG-13. Elsewhere, Taylor Lautner confessed to talk show host Jimmy Kimmel that the wolves in his tribe’s pack were not allowed to have any genitalia – they’d been spayed and neutered to appease middle-America. Robert Pattinson poured salt in his screen love rival’s wounds by claiming that the vampires in the movie were “all there” in the trouser department. Strike up a win for Team Edward.
The actress who played Victoria was fired…
If you wondered why the actress playing vampire Victoria changed between ‘New Moon’ and ‘Eclipse’, that’s because original star Rachelle Lefevre was fired (no “creative differences” here) and the role was recast with Bryce Dallas Howard. Lefevre claims she was sacked because of a 10 day overlap in shooting schedules – her work on Paul Giamatti drama ‘Barney’s Version’ ran a week and a half into her three-month ‘Eclipse’ schedule, so producers got antsy and recast the role. “I am hurt deeply by Summit’s surprising decision to move on without me,” she wrote. ‘Barney’s Version’, touted to be awards fodder at the Oscars, received one nomination – for Best Makeup. Bad call.
…but she’s still in the film
During the prom sequence in Twilight, you can just about spot a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo from Lefevre’s Victoria in the background, going incognito at the teenage dance while spying on Edward and Bella.
Stephenie’s subtle cameo
‘Twilight’ author Stephenie Meyers makes a blink-and-you-definitely-won’t-miss-it cameo in the first ‘Twilight’ movie, sitting with her laptop in The Lodge when Bella enters. There she is, full frame, in case you didn’t see her. She even gets namechecked when the waitress says, quietly, “Here’s your veggie plate, Stephenie.” Meyers also cameod in ‘Breaking Dawn: Part 1’ as a wedding guest (although not as the bride, which we imagine she suggested).
There could be more Twilight films
Was ‘Breaking Dawn: Part 2’ really the end of the ‘Twilight’ saga? The answer to that question depends on how hard you’re willing to milk a cash cow. Last year, ‘Twilight’ producers announced plans to create five short films set in the ‘Twilight’ universe directed by women, under the banner “The Storytellers: New Creative Voices of ‘The Twilight Saga'”. Temper your excitement: none of the stars of the movie will be in them. However, Lions Gate vice chairman Michael Burns told the press: “This is the just the beginning… a template, if you will. You can probably guess what might be coming next.” If we had to guess, we’d say “a big payday”.