Where to watch Twilight (2008)

Trivia & production notes

• MTV Films acquired the rights to Twilight in 2004 and developed an action-heavy script that featured Bella as a runner who used shotguns, cursed, and rode a jet ski while evading the FBI, leading author Stephenie Meyer to say the studio could have made it without using the Twilight name.
• Paramount Pictures executive Brad Weston halted Twilight's development after the box-office failure of the vampire film Cursed, believing audiences had no interest in vampire and werewolf movies.
• Summit Entertainment acquired the rights to Twilight in April 2007 after Paramount let them expire, with producer Karen Rosenfelt contractually ensuring the studio's adaptation would be more faithful to the novel than MTV Films' version.
• Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg finished the Twilight script before October 31, 2007, working full-time to complete it ahead of an impending Writers Guild of America strike.
• Director Catherine Hardwicke suggested using voice-over narration to convey Bella's internal thoughts, since the novel is told from her perspective, and sketched storyboards during pre-production.
• Kristen Stewart was director Catherine Hardwicke's first choice for Bella Swan after seeing her in Into the Wild, and Hardwicke visited Stewart in Philadelphia during her work on Adventureland for an informal screen test.
• Robert Pattinson arrived at his audition for Edward Cullen with dyed black hair, a stained shirt, and admitted to having gained weight from drinking beer, but was selected after kissing Kristen Stewart on Hardwicke's bed and falling off it.
• Robert Pattinson was unfamiliar with the Twilight book series before his audition and was later shown a manuscript of the unfinished Midnight Sun by author Stephenie Meyer, which tells the events of Twilight from Edward's perspective.
• Ashley Greene was cast as Alice Cullen despite being 7 inches taller than the character's description in the novel, drawing fan criticism.
• Nikki Reed had previously collaborated with director Catherine Hardwicke on Thirteen and Lords of Dogtown before being cast as Rosalie Hale in Twilight.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Twilight (2008 film), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Rewritten for StreamShack; errors are ours — tell us about them.