If you’ve been paying attention to TV news over the past year, you may have heard about the new show that Robert Pattinson is set to star in. The Vampire Diaries star is leaving his home in London and moving to New York to try his hand at being a serious actor. Unfortunately, the show wasn’t picked up by the network, and now that it’s premiering on Hulu, it won’t get any attention from viewers. So while it might be sad for fans of the Twilight series, it could be a blessing in disguise.
The Good
There’s definitely a lot to like about the show. For starters, it’s been a while since we’ve seen a TV series based on a book (The Vampire Diaries), so it has the potential to be a breath of fresh air for the genre. In addition, with Hollywood churning out remakes and sequels at an abysmal rate, it could be refreshing to see a creative take on a classic story. Finally, as a fan of both Robert Pattinson and the horror genre, I’m looking forward to seeing how he handles some of the more sinister elements of the story.
The Bad
While I applaud Robert Pattinson for taking the plunge and trying his hand at acting, I have to say that I’m a bit disappointed that he decided to tackle this particular project. Mainly because the show has some major drawbacks. To begin with, it’s incredibly gloomy. We’ve never really seen Robert Pattinson be so dour (or, at least, it certainly feels that way), and it doesn’t seem like a good fit for his naturally sunny disposition. In addition, while Twilight was never actually based on a true story, the movie franchise did take a little bit of inspiration from Tolstoy’s novella, The Death of Ivan Ilych. In the book, Ilych suffers from a sudden and severe mental breakdown after his friend’s death. It’s a fairly dark story, but certainly not a death wish one. The TV show seems to have gone in the complete opposite direction, turning what could have been a pretty somber story into something more light-hearted and whimsical. Last but not least, the trailer for the series shows off some pretty creepy imagery and frightening sound effect (we’re talking rattan cane here, people), and the fact that it’s on a streaming service rather than a major network might be responsible for some of the more gruesome moments.
The Ugly
I might be getting a bit ahead of myself here, but there’s also some pretty ugly aspects to the show. For starters, while I appreciate the effort that went into recreating the 1920s, the costumes and make-up look really awful. It’s a combination of unflattering and outdated fashion and the fact that the designers didn’t seem to have any female input, making it look even more like something straight out of a costume party rather than the real thing. As for the acting, while I don’t doubt that Robert Pattinson is a talented actor, the fact is that he’s never really done drama, and this is definitely not a good way to start.
These are all valid points. In fact, the fact that this show was made with such short notice probably helped contribute to some of its problems. While there were signs that this project was in trouble a few months ago, there was still some hope that it might get the greenlight. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case, and it’s probably for the best that this series never made it to air.