It turns out that sparkling in the sun wasn’t the strangest thing theTwilightcast had to wrap their heads around back in 2008. According to several Cullen family members, before cameras ever rolled on the franchise’s first film, the actors were put through a feline-themed bonding exercise that has lived in infamy ever since. During aTwilightreunionpanel at FanExpo in Denver, hosted byCollider’s Maggie Lovitt, the cast — includingJackson Rathbone,Kellan Lutz,Ashley Greene, andPeter Facinelli— dove into the weirdest memory from set that instantly bonded them all. And no, it wasn’t playing baseball in a thunderstorm or trying to keep a straight face opposite a CGI baby. It was… acting like cats.
“Catherine[Hardwicke,director] thought it would be interesting to give us all those like feline-esque movements,” Facinelli recalled. “So she brought in a movement teacher, and we were all kind of like cats.” Yes, you read that correctly. Cat movement class. Apparently, the goal was to infuse the vampire characters with a sense of “otherworldliness” — but without leaning on traditional horror tropes like fangs or aversions to garlic. Instead, they leaned on lithe limbs and mysterious posture.
“You can actually see it in the film. WhenRobert Pattinsonruns, he looks like a kitten. We actually did movement classes in pre-production ofTwilightto learn how to move like cats,”Rathbone said, noting the idea was to create something “ethereal” but grounded. “To imbue a certain sense of otherworldliness to these vampires…we sparkle in the sun, not burn, right? So what else can we do to seem supernatural?”
The Cast of Twilight Pooped in a Box… Metaphorically
Despite the laughs now, the actors admitted that those early exercises helped them bond — if not from shared craft, then from sheer awkwardness, asFacinelli noted:
“Rob,Nikki Reed, Jackson and I all went to a little litter box on the corner, and we all bonded together.”
Rathbone then finished by pointing out that if people at the Expo had missed some of this conversation and walked back in, they would be lost after hearing Facinelli talk aboutpooping in a kitty litter boxduring cat movement class. And that summed up the chaotic scene that unfolded on stage at Fan Expo Denver. So if you’re keen to see Robert Pattinson running like a kitten, you know exactly what you need to do to get your fix ofTwilightcatnip.
Stay tuned for more coverage of Fan Expo Denver.
