How Robert Pattinson Got Famous

How Robert Pattinson Got Famous

Audiences know him best as “Twilight” heartthrob Edward Cullen. But he’s also proven his acting abilities in a range of indie roles, and is now set to take over the iconic cape and cowl in 2021’s “The Batman”. Acting wasn’t always his first choice however, and at one point he almost gave up on it altogether. So, how did R-Pattz make big on the silver screen?

Before he switched his focus to acting, Pattinson had a brief modelling career, starting at the age of 12. With his mother working as a booker for a modelling agency, it could have been a natural fit. But according to Pattinson, once he lost the effeminate and “androgynous” look popular in the late 90s, work started to dry up. He also considered becoming a musician, following in the footsteps of his older sister sister Lizzy. A talented pianist, guitarist, and singer, he began performing at open mic nights in his late teens. These skills would later help him out when he played “Twilight’s” virtuoso pianist Edward Cullen - allowing Pattinson to perform the songs himself.

Despite his penchant for performing, he was initially dissuaded from pursuing the arts by his own drama teacher. This was despite the fact he’d acted in several school productions, including “Lord of the Flies.” Understandably, his drama teacher’s comment damaged his self-esteem. Fortunately, however, his father convinced him to join an amateur drama group called Barnes Theatre Company. Father and son had met “a bunch of pretty girls” from the company at a cafe, and dear old dad figured it was the best way to get his son out there! In fact, he even offered to pay him to attend! Pattinson worked backstage for two years before getting his first part, a non-speaking role as a Cuban dancer, but the second time around landed the lead role of George Gibbs in “Our Town”. Humble as always, he later claimed it was only because all the other actors had left. He went on to appear in “Tess of the d’Urbervilles” and “Anything Goes”.

After attracting the attention of a talent agent during these productions, he netted himself a handful of screen roles. First up was the German made-for-TV film in 2004 “Ring of the Nibelungs,” which only diehard fans will remember. Later the same year, however, he performed alongside Reese Witherspoon in an adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray’s “Vanity Fair,” playing her character’s son Rawdy Crawley. (Funnily enough, he’d later play the lead role opposite her in 2011’s romantic drama “Water for Elephants”.) When he attended the screening for “Vanity Fair”, however, he discovered that all his scenes had been cut! The casting director, Mary Selway, felt so bad no one had told him that she let him audition for 2005’s “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”. It would become his first role in a blockbuster movie franchise, playing Hufflepuff’s Triwizard Champion Cedric Diggory. Pattinson immediately made waves, even being dubbed “the next Jude Law”.

What followed were a few parts in various made-for-TV productions, before he finally hit the big time in 2008 as Edward Cullen in “Twilight”. Initially, fans were far from pleased with his casting, and there was even a petition to get him removed - not dissimilar to the backlash over his casting as Batman. But as soon as “Twilight” author Stephanie Meyer expressed her support, adoring Twi-hards descended on him in droves, and for half a decade, his life became absorbed by the “Twilight Saga”.

He’s admitted publicly that his sudden rise to fame at age 22 didn’t sit well with him, however. For a time, he became something of a recluse, taking refuge from the public and paparazzi inside a gated community in L.A.’s famous Mulholland Drive. He even thought about turning his back on Hollywood and moving into a campervan. While his performances in other movies, such as “Remember Me” and “Little Ashes”, were generally praised, for many he was Edward Cullen now and forever. Today he says he has fond memories of his time as the teen vamp, but during the “Twilight Saga’s” run, he became famous for his open disdain for the franchise - redeeming him to those who weren’t on Team Edward.

After “Twilight” wrapped, if you weren’t actively paying attention to him or the indie scene, you’d be forgiven for thinking he dropped off the map. In fact, he’s spent the last few years honing his craft and working with well-known indie directors like David Cronenberg, who directed Pattinson in both 2012’s “Cosmopolis” and 2014’s “Maps to the Stars”. His other indie projects include “The Rover,” “The Lost City of Z,” “Good Time” and “High Life” to name just a few. More than once, his fame has worked against him in this enterprise; some suspected he was only cast in the DeLillo adaptation “Cosmopolis” to secure funding and wouldn’t be a good fit, while Claire Dennis initially didn’t want to cast him in “High Life” because he was “too young and iconic”.



Many times over, however, he’s proven himself to be a versatile and incredibly talented actor, more than a match for Gotham City’s most infamous villains. If his professional record is anything to go by, he’s sure to make quite an impact as the next Bruce Wayne.