Twilight was a film phenomenon. Many teenagers wondered whether they would rather have Edward or Jacob, others laughed at the quality of the film, which is still notorious today. But Robert Pattinson, the actor who played Edward, managed to break out of his teenage role.
The career before Twillight. Robert Pattinson had already gained experience before Twilight. His first films were released in 2004 and are now virtually forgotten. Vanity Fair is a film adaptation of a book starring Reese Witherspoon and The Nibelungs: The Curse of the Dragon is a film produced for television.
Pattinson first rose to fame in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, in which he played the Hufflepuff student Cedric Diggory. Here he became a fan favorite, but only appeared in this part.
Between 2005 and 2008 he made relatively unknown films until he became a teen star with Twilight.
You can find a trailer for the film here:
Twilight – Breaking Dawn Trailer
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A glittering vampire
Robert Pattinson and Twilight. Twilight was a huge success. According to Box Office Mojo, the film cost $37 million (almost €34 million) to make and grossed an enormous $400 million (almost €367 million). Accordingly, the series received five films between 2008 and 2012.
But critics didn’t like the films at all. Robert Pattinson was nominated for the Golden Raspberry 5 times, 3 times as Worst Actor and 2 times as Worst Film Couple with Kristen Stewart.
If you look at the first film on Rotten Tomatoes, the critics’ score is 49 percent. The average audience, on the other hand, can get something out of the film, with 73 percent. When comparing the other films, it looks similar.
This shows that at least the fans can get something out of the films. Robert Pattinson is said to have thought differently about the films, but now time seems to have flown by. In an interview he spoke about his hatred of the series and said: This is so 2010. (via Business Insider)
Robert Pattinson as a versatile talent
What happened next for Robert Pattinson? Instead of devoting himself to the next franchise as a teen star, he tried his hand at many films. Before the last Twilight film, he starred in Cosmopolis by body horror master David Cronenberg. The next time the two worked together was in 2014 in Maps to the Stars.
He achieved his real critical success in 2019 with the film The Lighthouse alongside Willem Dafoe. The film impresses with its close atmosphere and the performance of both actors. With The King he was also able to get a Netflix deal in 2019 and star alongside other big actors such as Timothée Chalamet and Joel Edgerton.
Robert Pattinson’s big blockbuster successes in 2020 were Tenet by Christopher Nolan and The Batman by Matt Reeves. Especially in his leading role as the new Batman, he had big shoes to fill and he did so with ease.
In total, he has acted in 39 films outside of the Twilight series. These include voice roles, such as for The Boy and the Heron, the latest Ghibli film: The new Ghibli film is an enigmatic masterpiece that no anime fan should miss
Robert Pattinson managed to shake off the role of Edward Cullen and establish himself as a serious actor. His versatility deserves special mention. Tenet, The Lighthouse and The Batman show how different his films can be.
What can we expect from Pattinson in the future? Of course, he will also play the famous hero in the sequel to his Batman film. The Batman 2 is due to be released in 2026. Next year, we can expect another unusual film with Mickey 17. The film was directed by Korean director Bong Joon-ho and, in addition to Pattinson, has Toni Collette and Mark Rufallo in its main cast. You can find more from Bong Joon-ho in this list: These are the 7 best Korean films of all time via IMDb