It's been 10 years since Twilight debuted on the big screen, raking in $192.7 million domestically and nearly $400 million worldwide. In reflecting on her time directing the popular film franchise, director Catherine Hardwicke shared her thoughts on who she'd like to see star in a Twilight reboot.
Twilight is based on a best-selling book series created by author Stephanie Meyer. Like the book, Twilight followed protagonist Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) as she moves to Forks, Washington, to live with her father, Charlie Swan (Billy Burke). She soon meets a mysterious man named Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), who turned out to secretly be a vampire.
Twilight made bigger stars out of Stewart and Pattinson who had already achieved earlier success, as well as catapulting the careers of Taylor Lautner, Nikki Reed, Ashley Greene, Kellan Lutz, Jackson Rathbone and Anna Kendrick. Hardwicke, however, has some ideas about who would be a good fit if Twilight were remade in 2018.
"We could really go wild now," Hardwicke, 62, told reporters at New York Comic-Con on Sunday. "First of all, I thought the colors [in the film] could've been diverse. That could've been really fun. Actually, Awkwafina for Alice. That would've been wild."
Added Hardwicke, "There are so many rocking people now. Suddenly the world has...many more roles for actors. I'm so happy."
Hardwicke additionally suggested how the "lovely" actress in The Hate U Give, being Amandla Stenberg, would be a "really fun" casting choice as well.
"I'm only thinking of girls, but let's just make them all women," Hardwicke continued. "Let's just totally [do] role-reversal. That would be so rad...Wouldn't that be fun to remake every classic film but change all the badass men's parts to women?"
Hardwicke's suggestions come after she revealed to The Daily Beast on October 1 how she wanted Twilight to feature a diverse cast, but Meyer rejected the idea. Despite her casting wishes, Hardwicke's acknowledged what made Stewart and Pattinson the right actors for their respective parts.
"I had seen an early-cut of Into the Wild, the movie with Emile Hirsch, and I saw Kristen sitting there in the trailer. She wanted a meal so bad, and...I liked that longing. That sense of longing was really palpable," Hardwicke explained. "I thought she would be perfect."
Hardwicke knew relatively quickly Stewart was destined to play Bella, but she explained how casting an actor to play Edward was "the hardest part."
"We were just looking all over the world. I talked to him on the phone, and I said, 'I really need to see you guys together.' He flew out to [Los Angeles] on his own dime, stayed on his agent's couch, came over and did the auditions at my house in Venice Beach with Kristen. [It was] just a chemistry read, trying to see if they cliqued and they had that magic. After I saw it, I was like, 'I got it.' Kristen's like, 'It's got to be Rob.'"
Twilight's 10th anniversary is November 21. In honor of this momentous occasion, Fathom Events is screening the film at 450 movie theaters nationwide on October 21 and 23.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Dory Jackson is a New York-based entertainment journalist from Maryland. She graduated from Randolph-Macon College—in May 2016—with a focus in Communication ... Read more
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