Twilight director was worried Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart's first kiss was "illegal"

20 January 2022, 16:00

Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart open up about sex scene in Twilight

By Katie Louise Smith

"I could tell they had a lot of chemistry, and I'm like, 'Oh my God.' I thought, Kristen was 17. I don't want to get in some illegal things."

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Bella Swan and Edward Cullen's love story is central to the Twilight series but director Catherine Hardwicke, who helmed the first film, has now revealed she was worried about Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson's kiss during their auditions.

Speaking on The Big Hit Show podcast released on Wednesday (Jan 19), director Hardwicke shared her initial concerns about the ages of Kristin Stewart and Robert Pattinson during their first chemistry test, with host Alex Pappademas.

Kristen Stewart, then 17, had already been cast as Bella Swan. And Robert Pattinson was 21 years old when Hardwicke auditioned him for the role of Edward.

How old were Robert Pattison and Kristen Stewart when they filmed Twilight? Picture: Chris Polk/FilmMagic, Summit Entertainment via Alamy

Speaking on the podcast, Hardwicke recalled Kristen and Robert's first screen test and chemistry read where they acted out Bella and Edward's first kiss, and confessed that she was worried about it because Kristen wasn't 18 yet.

“Rob and Kristen auditioned on my bed, the kissing scene, Rob was so into it he fell off the bed," she said. "I’m like, ‘Dude, calm down.’ And I’m in there filming with my little video camera, whatever.”

She then continued: "And at the end, Kristen was like, it has to be Rob...But I could tell they had a lot of chemistry, and I'm like, 'Oh my God.' I thought, Kristen was 17. I don't want to get in some illegal things.

"So I remember I told Rob, 'By the way, Kristen is 17. In our country, it's illegal to have a sexual...' And he's like, 'Oh, okay, whatever.'"

The trailer for Twilight starring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart

Filming for Twilight took 44 days, and was completed on 2nd May, 2008. Kristen turned 18 during the filming of the movie on 9th April, 2008. Robert was 21 when he filmed the first movie and turned 22 shortly after filming wrapped.

Elsewhere on the podcast, Hardwicke also revealed that she thought Robert didn't look quite fit enough to play Edward when he initially auditioned for the role. She said: "He walked in and he had his hair dyed black for some play, with these wacky bangs. He was a bit out of shape. His shirt was just all messy, and I'm like, 'Uh, OK. OK, let’s see how this goes.'"

But, as we all know now, he turned out to be the perfect Edward after all.