'Twilight' director says Jenna Ortega and Jacob Elordi would be 'perfect' as Bella and Edward in reboot
In another world, we would have gotten Jenna Ortega and Jacob Elordi to portray Bella and Edward in Twilight.
In an episode of the Watchalong podcast hosted by Josh Horowitz, Catherine Hardwicke, who directed the first Twilight film, shared her thoughts on who would be the perfect celebrities to portray the lead characters of the classic vampire romance film if it was rebooted today.
At the mention of Elordi and Ortega, who are best known in The Kissing Booth and Wednesday respectively, Hardwicke gushed that they "would be perfect" for the roles.
"He’s amazing. He probably would be Edward today," Hardwicke said of Elordi, who is currently getting rave reviews for his recent films Saltburn and Priscilla.
"It would’ve changed anyone’s life if they got that part," she added.
Ortega similarly earned praises from Hardwicke, who said, "I do think there’s a lot of really cool young actors today. Of course, you just mentioned Jenna Ortega, she’s amazing."
Bella and Edward were originally brought to life by Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson respectively. Earlier in the conversation, Hardwicke revealed that the studio initially had doubts on whether to give Pattinson the role as they doubted whether he was good-looking enough to play the movie’s perfectly handsome vampire.
"When he came over to my house, he had black bangs for hair and was kind of out of shape because he was hanging out at the pub all the time,” Hardwicke recalled regarding Pattinson's audition.
"I looked the next morning at all the footage I shot and recorded and I thought it worked not just in person but it works on screen. I had to be sure. Of course, in person, I just got carried away, but you have to be sure it translates [to the screen]," she added.
After she sent the audition tapes to Summit Entertainment, the studio financing the film, they didn't immediately jump on finalizing Pattinson's role as Edward.
"They called me back and go, 'Do you think you can make this guy look good?' I said, 'Yeah, I do. Did you see his cheekbones? We’re doing a makeover on the hair and everything and he’s going to start working out and he’s going to be gorgeous.' But they didn’t believe it at first," Hardwicke detailed.
Other actors vying for the role include Ben Barnes, Shiloh Fernandez, and Jackson Rathbone.
Twilight, which is based on the best-selling novel by Stephenie Meyer, premiered in 2008 before spawning four more sequels. A television series is currently in the works, with sources saying Meyer is expected to be involved in the television adaptation.