It’s been six years since Summit Entertainment bought the rights to the entire Twilight Saga. With the recent release of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, the saga is finally over. It was a bittersweet ending since we lost Scott and Stephanie along with their children, but at least Edward and Bella are finally together again.
While the saga was incredibly popular, it wasn’t without its weaknesses. One of the most glaring issues was that the movies were too long. The average Twilight film clocks in at just over three hours and there was a lot of dragging exposition that sometimes got in the way of the story. With the exception of Let Me In, the adaptation was almost universally panned by critics and it often left the audience feeling a little…unsatisfied. While the filmmakers were clearly hoping to make a complete saga, a trilogy was always going to be tricky. What is clear is that the final film will be the most ambitious of the trilogy and it will bring the series’ exceptional cast of characters to life.
The World’s Most Handsome Man
What is arguably most surprising about the Twilight Saga’s popularity isn’t just how much it surprised critics and audiences alike, but it was also the fact that it flew so much under the radar. In 2010, the New York Times Magazine ranked Robert Pattinson as the world’s most handsome man, topping a very exclusive list that also included Brad Pitt and Will Smith. If you’ve seen any of the Twilight films, then you will know exactly what rank this accolade came from. Pattinson’s magnetism and boyish charm are undeniable. The world’s most handsome man isn’t something to be taken lightly and in the same Times Magazine article, they compare him to some of the great movie stars of all time. While Smith and Pitt were both previously married to actresses, they say that Pattinson’s romance with Twilight star Kristen Stewart isn’t just beautiful but it’s also a true romance. In fact, it’s the type of story that makes us all hopeful that Hollywood may one day look upon us with the same favor that it does these three stars.
A Star Is Reborn
One of the more intriguing aspects of the Twilight Saga is its connection to rebirth, specifically Edward’s rebirth as a vampire. It’s an interesting conceit for a major motion picture and one that hasn’t been wasted upon in the years since. It is well known amongst fans that Rupert Sanders, the director of the Twilight Saga, has a very strong connection to King Arthur’s Dark Majesty. In fact, aside from being the director of the Twilight Saga, he has also had a hand in The Chronicles of Narnia and the Dark Knight Returns. This unique combination of experience puts him in the unique position of being able to draw both on his love of classic literature and his experience in bringing those stories to life on the big screen.
During an interview with Variety in 2016, Sanders said the following about working with J.K. Rowling:
“I feel like with each of these projects, whether you’re adapting a book or whether you’re creating an original story, there’s always a sense of awe and excitement when you open the first pages of the script or the first pages of the novel. There’s always the same sense of, ‘Wow, this is going to be so much fun,’ and then when you get to the end of the script or the book, you go, ‘Oh no, it’s actually not that funny or that exciting when you write it down. It’s actually quite difficult.’ I feel like that with each of the projects. Whether you’re adapting or whether you’re creating, you go in with the expectation that it’s going to be fun and it is, but it’s also very demanding and it’s a lot of work.”
Romantic Comedy
If there’s one thing we know about Robert Pattinson, it’s that he’s quite the romantic. Whether it’s his publicist or his friends, no one is more likely to agree with the notion that Pattinson is the most romantic of all the famous men in Hollywood. Perhaps this is why his character so greatly enjoys living in a make-believe world where he can express his romantic feelings. It’s a running theme in the Twilight Saga that Edward and Bella are able to find joy in simple things. They fall in love with each other’s company and they grow to enjoy each other’s company enough to consider it a real marriage. Their connection is so strong that the fans have sometimes been called ‘Wedding Royale’ and it appears that Robert Pattinson is the happiest of all of them.
Whether it is with his films or his books, Pattinson always appears to be searching for ways to find the romantic in everything. Even when he’s not directly inspired by one of his novels or films, he can still be seen with a book in hand. Just last week, he was spotted with a copy of Sophie’s World by Phil Collins, which was released in October 2019. We may never know what this book is about since Sophie is a pseudonym for Nicole Kidman, but this doesn’t stop us from speculating. Perhaps it’s about a woman who surprises even the most hard-core of men with her undying love and devotion. Or perhaps it’s the story of a woman who finally finds happiness and contentment after a lifetime of searching. We may never know, but it doesn’t matter. What we do know is that if Nicole Kidman is holding a copy of this book, then it must be pretty good.
An Improbable Connection
It is a testament to the strength of Robert Pattinson’s romantic instincts, and the depth of his feelings for Kristen Stewart, that even in this day and age, fans are still coming up with ways to prove their undying love for one another. While on the surface, their relationship may appear to be just another celebrity romance, there is much more to it than that. Aside from having the world’s most handsome man as a boyfriend, Stewart is also the niece of Hollywood legend Marjorie Merriweather Post, better known as Marjorie Merriweather. Post was the wife of Howard G. ‘Ned’ Post, an American businessman and philanthropist. He co-founded the magazine, Parade, which became one of the most successful publications of the 20th century. More importantly, he founded and served as director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. As such, it’s not entirely surprising that so many celebrities and luminaries are related to one another. What is interesting, however, is how deeply intertwined their families are with the entertainment business.
Edward’s Ambition
When we first meet Edward Cullen in Twilight, he is a 17-year-old senior working at a veterinary hospital. We quickly learn that he has a deep sadness hidden behind his charming smile. Edward’s ambition is to become wealthy and famous, more specifically to become someone who is ‘respectable’ and ‘acceptable’ to the mainstream society. Even though he seems confident that this will happen, Edward is still very much a teenager and he lacks the experience necessary to pull this off. It is this ambition that drives him to take part in a grisly experiment, which turns him into a vampire.
The deeper we get into the Twilight series, the more we see this ambition. We see it in the way Edward interacts with others, especially those who hold more power than him, namely Bella and her family. Edward cares about what other people think of him, which is why he is such an excellent actor. If he doesn’t care what others think, then he has no need to act in order to impress them. This insecurity is also why he craves physical intimacy with Bella. The sexual tension between them is one of the series’ major draws and it is one of the things that make the films so enjoyable to watch. There is also a large degree of subtle power dynamics at play in their relationship, which is something that Sanders, the series’ creator, explores in great detail. We also see this insecurity in the way Edward looks down on Charlie, which is another one of the film’s many charms. Finally, it is this insecurity that makes Edward such a tragic figure. His plan to gain social status through mainstream popularity is ultimately going to fail and it won’t be until much, much later that he realizes this.
The Masterpiece That Is ‘Eclipse’
While Eclipse was not the best of the Twilight Saga films, it was without a doubt the most ambitious. Most notably, it introduced us to two major characters who were later to become fan favorites, namely Leah and Jacob. It was also the first film to fully explore Edward’s connection to the vampire world, which makes it a crucial part of the saga. In fact, without examining the origins of his relationship with the bloodsuckers, we wouldn’t be able to piece together how and why he turned into a vampire. It was also the first of the series to be released, which means that while many of the story’s twists were a complete shock to audiences, they were perhaps not that surprising to fans who had been following the saga since its beginning.