‘Twilight’: Kristen Stewart Was ‘Ready to Fight’ if Critics Dissed Bella
Though Kristen Stewart has a number of roles on her extensive resume, Bella Swan is easily one of her most iconic. For four years the actor played the role of the vampire-obsessed human, making her a household name. And while the Twilight movies have received a ton of mixed reviews over the years, Stewart has been adamant about how proud she is of the movies and how much she loves the eponymous books.
Kristen Stewart credits herself for casting Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner in ‘Twilight’
Fans of Twilight might not know that Stewart was actually the very first person cast in the project. In fact, the Happiest Season actor even credits herself for casting both Robert Pattinson (who portrayed Edward Cullen) and Taylor Lautner (who played Jacob Black) in the films. Having sat in on their auditions, Stewart did everything she could to advocate for them to get their respective roles over the other actors vying for the parts.
Stewart was not impressed with the description of ‘Twilight’
Funnily enough, Stewart could have just as easily passed on the the role of Bella. In an interview with Female.com she shared that when her team first pushed her to audition for the part, she was not moved by the way in which the film was described. “It was very shallow,” Stewart said of the Twilight’s description. “It was really vain. When you try to sum up this movie in a couple of sentences, it sounds trite and superficial.”
Even though Stewart wasn’t impressed with the description of Twilight, she decided to read the script anyway and quickly changed her tune. She admired the constantly shifting power dynamics between Bella and Edward. Furthermore, she loved that the couple shared such an epic love story. Her love for the story only increased when she started reading the eponymous books by Stephenie Meyer.
The ‘Spencer’ actor hid her love for the books in early interviews
For a while, Stewart kept her deep passion for Twilight hidden as a kind of protective measure. The actor didn’t want anyone criticizing something that she loved so much. “When I first began doing interviews, I was shy about saying how much I respected the Twilight books and the role of Bella,” Stewart shared with The Virginia Pilot. “It was almost as if I was ashamed to be doing these films. Quite the opposite. This is a challenging and great role, and I’m so in awe of the writing and the novels.”
Stewart feels very protective over her ‘Twilight’ character, Bella Swan
As Stewart continued making the Twilight movies, she began to get more effusive about just how much she loved her character and the story of Twilight. In fact, she loved Bella so much, she was ready to get into it with anyone who tried to play her off as shallow or trite. “I feel very protective of Bella,” the actor recalled. “I feel she belongs to me as well as to Stephenie Meyer, who wrote the books. If anyone says she is superficial or silly, I’m ready to fight. I know this is a great character, and a great role.”
Clearly, Stewart felt very passionate about her most iconic role and that passion persists even years after the Twilight movies stopped filming. To date, Stewart is still proud of all the work she did on the five films and we imagine that will pride won’t be dwindling anytime soon.
