Robert Pattinson is one of the most famous and popular actors of our time. He rose to fame after starring in the film series The Twilight Saga, in which he played the role of Edward Cullen. Since then, he has become a Hollywood favorite, starring in films such as Divergent and the forthcoming Godzilla: King of the Monsters. He has also lent his voice to numerous video games, including BioShock and the Fallout series. He recently wrapped filming on Inception, Michael Caine’s latest film, in which he plays the role of Peter Quinn. Here, we’ll discuss everything you need to know about Edward Cullen and his role in Michael Caine’s latest film.
The Early Days
The Twilight Saga: New Moon was one of the biggest selling points of the previous year, and it seems that everyone in Hollywood wanted a piece of the pie. In May 2012, Summit Entertainment, a film studio founded by the aforementioned Robert Pattinson, released the first of three planned films in The Twilight Saga. The first in the series, Twilight, was an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s bestselling novel of the same name. The plot follows a young woman named Bella Swan, played by Kristen Stewart, as she falls in love with a mysterious vampire, portrayed by Robert Pattinson. After nearly dying following an attack by a werewolf, Bella discovers that she is gifted with extraordinary powers, which she uses to protect her newfound love and herself from the monsters that surround them. The Twilight Saga: New Moon was released that same year and was followed by 2012’s The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, in which Bella must face the consequences of her choices. In 2013, Summit released The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1, concluding the franchise with a bang and bringing audiences on a wild ride through the last five years of Bella’s life.
The Rise Of Robert Pattinson
We all know what happened next. Following the huge success of The Twilight Saga, Robert Pattinson was propelled to fame, appearing in multiple blockbuster films and earning millions of dollars each time. The former child actor now stars in a number of his own projects, creating characters that are both realistic and relatable, while still remaining complex and compelling. In 2014, he starred in the highly acclaimed film, Love, which was directed by his partner in crime, Roman Coppola. The film was an adaptation of the French playwright Jean-Paul Sartre’s 1945 novella of the same name. In a film that was both critically and commercially acclaimed, Pattinson played the role of Saint-Denis, a middle-class man in search of love. In what might be one of his most complex roles to date, Pattinson fully embraces the anguish and anguish that follows when a man realizes that he has to pursue true love, even if it means giving up everything else in his life. While on the set of Love, Roman Coppola dropped a bombshell when he announced that he and Robert Pattinson were engaged to be married. The couple married in a secret ceremony in Italy that same year.
The Legacy Of The Twilight Saga
Since its premiere, The Twilight Saga has continued to attract a cult following and has inspired numerous fashion and lifestyle brands. The most popular of which is, obviously, the Twilight brand. The signature red and black color scheme was first used in Stephenie Meyer’s 2005 debut novel, Twilight. The author of the series revealed multiple times that the inspiration for the book and its subsequent film adaptation came from her own life. “I thought about all the books I had read as a child and the kind of stories they always told me to never, ever, ever fall in love,” she told Good Morning America in 2012. “Told for warning, I guess. Basically, if you are looking for forbidden romance, then you have definitely found it in The Twilight Saga.”
Twilight was followed by the massively successful and critically acclaimed franchise installment, New Moon. While the other films in the series were box office smashes, attracting hundreds of thousands of fans, the story of Bella and Edward’s romance inspired millions of women and men to purchase merchandise and dress up as Bella and Edward. It seems that the public’s obsession with the Twilight Saga only intensified, culminating in the series’ biggest audience yet, with over 100 million viewers tuning in to see Bella finally give in to her true love. In 2015, New Moon led to the creation of numerous unauthorized Twilight spin-offs and hacks. These types of fan-created videos often feature new characters and new storylines, adding a whole new level of complexity to an already sprawling fandom.
A Changing Of The Guard
After nearly a decade in the business, Michael Caine made the decision to take a break from the big screen and instead focus on directing and acting in television shows and films. His first project following his return to the big screen is Inception, an adaptation of the 2010 novel of the same name by Kenji Kawahara. The story follows a group of security specialists, known as ninjas, who must enter the mind of an extremely dangerous and influential businessman, played by Christopher Walken, in order to assassinate him.
The screenplay for Inception was written by the Wachowskis, creators of the Matrix series and the critically acclaimed Cloud Atlas. The film was a major challenge for the cast and crew, who had to physically perform numerous complex action scenes by day and then have the cameras be in the right place to capture every move by night. Even more demanding was the fact that the film had to be shot in secret, using a variety of locations and multiple fake sets, to ensure that no one, not even the actors, knew what was going on. The entire crew wrapped filming in less than a month, ensuring that the secrecy would hold.
A Master Of Adaptation
With an experienced eye for detail and an incredible understanding of human nature, Edward Cullen is one of the most successful and influential filmmakers working today. He made the decision to tackle Inception, adapting a page-turning thriller for the big screen, after becoming frustrated with the limitations of the small screen over the last few years. With his work on Inception, he continues his trend of tackling classic books and turning them into something fresh and exciting.
Adapting a page-turning thriller proved to be a master class for Cullen, who managed to keep the essence of Kawahara’s book and add a few twists of his own. The story follows a security specialist who must break into the mind of a dangerous criminal in order to assassinate him. However, the security specialist is not the only one with nefarious intentions. While inside the mind of the target, the security specialist discovers an intricate maze that he must navigate in order to reach the criminal’s brain. From the very beginning, Cullen made it clear that he wanted to push the boundaries and defy the expectations of what a screen adaptation of Inception should look like.
The director began by scouting potential locations that he could adapt for the story, looking for both real and pseudo-historical settings that would transport audiences back to the golden era of Hollywood. His search took him to Paris, where he fell in love with the City of Lights and its magnificent monuments and galleries. He then chose to shoot many of the film’s most memorable scenes, including the “Welcome to my nightmare” sequence and the climactic rooftop battle, in front of the Eiffel Tower, not once, but twice. Additionally, Cullen chose to shoot the bulk of the film, including the opening scenes and much of the ending, in monochrome, adding a gritty, noirish feel to the already intense story. He later said that he wanted to emulate the style of one of the great French filmmakers, using color only for flashbacks and certain close-ups.
An Actor’s Actor
Anyone who has followed Robert Pattinson’s career knows that he doesn’t shy away from the heavy weighty roles that Hollywood throws his way. He is constantly searching for complex characters that he can portray with authenticity and depth. He is also notorious for being selective about the roles that he takes on, only agreeing to work with the right director and team.