Robert Pattinson Still Can’t Outrun His Twilight Days, Even Playing The Dark Knight isn’t Enough: ‘I was like…I’m Batman?’

In the world of entertainment, it is often observed that certain roles define the entire career of some actors, although most of them try their best to have a diverse filmography. It looks like Robert Pattinson is experiencing this situation lately.

The Batman actor rose to fame after featuring as the lead of the hit vampire franchise Twilight. Over the years, Pattinson has openly talked about his love-hate relationship with his vampire role, and his recent revelation highlights why it is so.

Robert Pattinson’s Fan Interaction Shows His Struggle for New Identity After Twilight

Robert Pattinson first appeared as Edward Cullen in 2008 and continued to play the character for about four years up until The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, released in 2012. The amount of fame and recognition Twilight brought set a benchmark for his career.

The actor has been voted the Sexiest Man Alive multiple times, was named the Most Handsome Man of the Year by Vanity Fair, and was also one of the top earners at the time, as reported by Vanity Fair. All this happened as soon as the first Twilight movie came out.

However, the fame made Pattinson synonymous with the role of vampire hero which became a blessing and a curse at the same time. Although the actor later tried a variety of roles, most of the fans still associated him with Twilight. In a recent interview with The New York Times, he revealed that a fan once asked him,

Hey, you’re the guy from Twilight. Why’d you stop acting?” I was like … ‘I’m Batman?’ She just laughed.

After Breaking Dawn – Part 2, Pattinson has done different kinds of movies, and his career went through all sorts of hits and misses. Some of his highly rated movies after his Twilight era include Good Time, The Lighthouse, The Childhood of a Leader, Tenet, and The Batman. 

Portraying Batman on the big screen became the peak highlight of almost every actor who donned the cape. However, some fans still remember Pattinson for a role that he last played more than a decade ago, speaking volumes of its impact on his career.

Robert Pattinson’s Love-Hate Relationship With Twilight

Even though Twilight gave him global recognition, Pattinson has not always loved his role of Edward Cullen. In an interview with GQ, he revealed the creative differences he had with the studios.

I was 21 and I kind of wanted to make it as artsy as possible and so we had this strange tension where to studio was kind of a little bit scared to make things a little bit too emo and stuff. And I thought that was the only way to play it. It just seems so ridiculous talking about it now because I was literally – I spent so much time just infuriated.

The actor was even warned of firing if he didn’t follow the vision of the studios. Pattinson revealed that his manager informed him,

Whatever you’re doing right now, after lunch, just do the opposite, or you’ll be fired by the end of the day.’ And I was like, ‘Okay!’ And so, that was the only [way] they got me to sort of smile a bit.

Pattinson admitted feeling “weird” about the story while doing the movies on Variety‘s Actors on Actors series. Earlier in an interview with Empire magazine (via Gizmodo), he talked about his character and said, “The more I read the script, the more I hated this guy,” because of his overly perfect persona.

However, it can’t be denied that his popularity has definitely created a strong fanbase for him, which many actors dream of. Perhaps, fans will start seeing him more as Batman as he appears as the Dark Knight once again in The Batman Part 2 on October 2, 2026.

The Twilight franchise is available to stream on Hulu.

The Batman is available to stream on Max.