While Robert Pattinson may still be best known for playing the iconic vampire, Twilight star Jackson Rathbone recalls thinking a very different Harry Potter star landed the role of Edward Cullen. Just prior to joining the Stephanie Meyer-based young adult franchise, Pattinson had made his film debut as Cedric Diggory in 2005’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Before he landed the role, however, numerous names were floated as potentially leading the Twilight cast as Edward, including that of Rathbone, who was notably one of the final four candidates to play the Cullen protagonist, the other two of whom were Evil Dead’s Shiloh Fernandez and Shadow & Bone’s Ben Barnes. Though he didn’t ultimately land the role, Rathbone would still join The Twilight Saga as newer Cullen family member, Jasper. Now, during the ScreenRant-hosted Q&A for Twilight moderated by Joe Deckelmeier at Motor City Comic Con, Rathbone recalls thinking a very different Harry Potter actor than Pattinson was in line for the role of Edward. The Jasper actor began by recalling his auditions to try and play the character, in which he “got up pretty close” to the role, and even was flown to Philadelphia to help director Catherine Hardwicke with auditioning Kristen Stewart:
Jackson Rathbone: First ever first class flight, that was freaking cool. Legitimately, I’m sitting in first class with Catherine Hardwicke, whose work I admire. I’m just like, “Don’t be lame. Be cool.” And then we get to Philadelphia and meet Kristen. She’s, like, only 16 or 17, a kid, man. So we read with her out in the park, and Catherine had me do the spider monkey scene. So she jumps on my back in the middle of —
After a chuckling quip from co-star Peter Facinelli, who was also part of the Q&A with Rathbone, Ashley Greene and Kellan Lutz, about the “spider monkey” line from the film, Rathbone said that was a creation of his own and came from being involved with the band 100 Monkeys at the time. From there, the actor recalled that it “didn’t work out” for him to play Edward in Twilight, with the star being told the team “like the Harry Potter guy more.” However, before his brain turned to thinking of Pattinson, Rathbone instead thought to himself, “Damn, Daniel Radcliffe is good.” Even as he was told that it was “the other one” who landed the part, Rathbone still instead turned to thinking they meant Rupert Grint, to which he recalls feeling it an “interesting” choice for the part, chuckling as he coined the term “Redward” to describe the potential redheaded Edward. All jokes aside, denoting that Pattinson ultimately won the role, Rathbone called him “the best guy for the part,” while also warmly reflecting on how the dynamic he formed with Hardwicke during the audition process is what ultimately helped keep him around after losing the part of Edward:
Jackson Rathbone: Catherine and I really hit it off. We’re both from Texas, and she was like, “You need to be Jasper.” I said, “Yes.” After they showed me who Alice would be. I was like, “No, I don’t want to do it, that’s crazy,” and then they were like, “Look at who Alice is going to be.” I was like, “That’s a really pretty lady.” [Laughs]
While Pattinson and co-star Kristen Stewart have since gone on to speak candidly about their time with the Twilight franchise, Radcliffe or Grint landing the part of Edward would have been a massive undertaking for either actor. For starters, by the time the first movie was coming around, they were still very deep into the Harry Potter franchise, with Half-Blood Prince releasing the same year that casting and pre-production on Twilight was underway. Additionally, neither actor had yet begun to try and branch out from the Warner Bros. franchise the way they would after it came to an end. Radcliffe. Apart from Grint’s role in the teen dramedy Cherry Bomb in 2009 and Radcliffe’s role in the adaptation of December Boys, it wasn’t until after the two-part Deathly Hallows finale that they actually took to tackling everything from the horror-comedy Horns to M. Night Shyamalan’s Servant on Apple TV.

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Even if they were looking to branch out sooner, though, Radcliffe and Grint being in the running for Edward in the original film would likely have come down to their interest in taking on another fantasy franchise, as much as Hardwicke and Meyer feeling them to be the right fit. Given that fans of the Twilight novels have often been particular about a faithful approach to adapting the books, it seems likely Radcliffe and Grint would have received even more pushback than Pattinson did at the time. But despite how the movies themselves turned out, many agree with Rathbone that the “best guy” landed the part.

Twilight (2008) Movie Poster

Release Date

November 21, 2008

Runtime

121 minutes

Director

Catherine Hardwicke

Writers

Melissa Rosenberg