Robert Pattinson

 

  1. Zach Gilford, Post Grad, 2008.
    Veering towards politics, Pattinson wasn’t sure about acting. He’d fallen into it because of  the pretty young things forever outside his local theatre in Barnes, London. He did well in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 2004,  and set off on the   LA trail – staying at the home of his WME agent, Stephanie Ritz.  The target  was the rom-com  opposite (a shining) Alexis Bledel. “I was so into the script of it and thought I knew exactly what I was doing,” he said in his  2014 Hollywood Reporter cover story.  “Then,  I just completely blew it.  And I knew… it was my own fault.” Plan B became Cullen in Twilight; he’d shot a tape at home with pal Tom Sturridge playing Bella!)  At her Venice home, director Catherine tested  the final hopefuls…  Four guys taking their  shirts off.  “I was the one guy who didn’t.”  The suits thought him too old. “You’ve got to meet them, ” said Stephanie. “Just shave 20 times before.” It worked. “It was basically the last-chance saloon when I got Twilight.”


  2. Cam Gigandet, Burlesque, 2009.       Four of the sexy Twilight lads were up for Jack. Cam won it from Taylor Lautner, Kellan Lutz… and the guy known as  R-Pattz.
  3. Tom Sturridge, Waiting For Forever, 2010.    Tom’s agent called the producer and said Sturridge loved the script.“Don’t remember sending him one,” said Trevor Albert. He didn’t… “I saw the script on the floor of Rob’s apartment when I was staying on his sofa. I thought to myself:   I could do this better than he could.So I called up my agent the next morning. They were kind enough to let me audition and apparently they saw something in me.”That’s what best friends are for…
  4. Andrew Garfield, The Amazing Spider-Man, 2010.
  5. Jesse Eisenberg, To Rome With Love, 2011.    To share the screen with his first acting role in six year, Woody Allen was stuck between Edward Cullen and John Lennon, aka R Patz or Aaron Taylor-Johnson. So Jack went to Mr FacebookZuckerberg, aka Eisenberg. Not great Woody Allen, said Chicago critic Roger Ebertbuthe’s made a film every year since 1969 -“if they cannot all be great Woody, it’s churlish to complain if they’re only good Woody.”
  6. Armie Hammer,The Brothers Grimm: Snow White,2011.   As Hollywood inexplicably started re-puss-in-boot-ing fairy tales, he tested for Prince Andrew Alcott. So did James Holzier, James McAvoy and Alex Pettyfer. His Royal Highness became the 6’5” actor who was the Winklevoss twins in The Social Network, 2010, but didn’t break-out until the rapturous Call Me By Your Name in 2016.
  7. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Anna Karenina, 2011.      Change of Anna’s lover, Count Vronsky, in the 25th screen version of Chekov – adapted here by playwright Tom Stoppard for director Joe Wright.  “He could grab that brass ring and keep doing big-budget studio movies,” said David Cronenberg, who made two films with Pattinson.  “But it’s not his desire to be a big Hollywood star.”
  8. Sam Claflin, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, 2013.
  9. Henry Cavill, The Man From UNCLE,  2013.     Superman Cavill goes solo.  Napoleon Solo… After securing the 60s’ TV series rights in 1993, producer John Davis went through 20 years, 14 scripts, four directors (letting slip Soderbergh and Tarantino!), plus 19 Napoleon Solos. From George Clooney in 2010 to Tom Cruise three years later. By way of the early 21st Century suspects: Pattinson, Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Joel Edgerton, Michael Fassbender, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ryan Gosling, Jon Hamm, Joel Kinnaman, Ewan McGregor, Chris Pine, Ryan Reynolds, Alexander Skarsgård (he switched to The Legend of Tarzan), Channing Tatum. Even Russell Crowe, surely a better bet at 50 for old Waverly, the UNCLE boss. Poor Davis never got it right!
  10. Sam Reid, The Riot Club, 2014.   That’s the Oxford University club making or destroying reputations in a single evening. RPatz was the only guy missing from Danish director Lone Scherfig’s dream-wish line-up. She got the rest… Douglas Booth, Sam Claflin, Max Irons. 
  11. Will Smith, Suicide Squad, 2015.     After seeing 14 possible Harley Quinns, director David Ayer shuffled through 19 Deadshots. None hit the target. Not Daniel Craig, Matt Damon, Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Idris Elba,  Colin Farrell, Michael Fassbender, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Jon Hamm.  Nor Pattinson, Oscar Isaac, Joel Kinnaman (he became Rick Flag), Matthew McConaughey, Ewan McGregor, Brad Pitt, Keanu Reeves, Alexander Skarsgård and Jason Statham Another Warner/DC flop    because Warner wasn’t Marvel and Smith was way  too top-heavy for a team effort.
  12. Dan Stevens, Beauty and the Beast,2016.  One Brit for another.  Pattinson made a lot oft sense.  His Edward Cullen in the Twilight saga shared much with The Beast. Stalkers, both, they imprisoned their love objects. But  by now the Downton AbbeyTV stars were more in than Twilighters  although Kristen Stewart was on the Beauty list.

 

 Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls:  12