'Twilight' Secrets Revealed: Bad Weather During Production Caused Close Bonds

Many things were remarkable about the first Twilight film, but one thing that caught the attention of many people was how the outdoor scenes in the movie looked, the locations they were shot at, and the beautiful scenery. 

“Twilight” was shot in Portland, Oregon and the natural scenery of the locations provided a stunning backdrop throughout the film. However, the audience didn’t notice the challenges of having to shoot in such constantly dreary weather. 

Twilight had quite a modest budget mainly because it was the first film in the series, and no one thought it would be as successful as it became. This meant that Catherine Hardwicke, the film’s director had to manipulate the poor weather to suit filming and the characters. Read on to find out more about how the weather affected the cast. 

As bad as the overcast was in Portland, it still wasn’t Hardwicke’s worst weather problem; that was the rain. One scene that was an absolute nightmare to film because of the rainy weather was the family baseball scene, in which all of the vampires came together to play a game of baseball. 

Hardwicke spoke about it with Insider, and she said, “The weather did not cooperate, and you can’t have pouring rain because of all the makeup drips; the hair. They just don’t look like the cool vampires in the pouring rain.”

Nikki Reed, who played Rosalie Halke in the film, was also featured in the Insider interview, and she recalled how the terrible weather affected the cast and created a close bond between them. She said, “It was super chilly, and we became this little family very quickly.”

The terrible weather may have brought the cast closer initially, but it’s very likely it faded after weeks of enduring the cold and discomfort the weather brought on. According to Anna Kendrick, who joined the film towards the end to play the role of Jessica Stanley, it was pretty challenging to connect with her castmates.

In her book, Scrappy Little Nobody, she wrote about her experience on set and said, “Wet and cold is not an environment conducive to making friends. Imagine if the first four weeks of a new job were spent outdoors in the freezing rain.”

She admitted that some castmates were nice to her despite the weather. She said, “Kristen Stewart - one of the most committed actors I’ve ever worked with - made a valiant effort to be friendly, but I could tell she was putting her back into it. Underneath every word, I heard, ‘You don’t know, man, you don’t know what it’s like out there.’”

Despite her late entry into the film, it didn’t take long for Kendrick to understand why her castmates weren’t the happiest and most friendly version of themselves. She soon realized how uncomfortable the weather could become. 

In her book, the “Pitch Perfect” actress wrote, “If you told me I had to be in that weather with no relief, I would have bailed like the little b**** I am. Extreme cold messes with you. The elements don’t discriminate. And no amount of ‘you’re getting paid to do this’ matters when your body’s basic survival requirements are in play.”

With the cold and rainy weather, the cast ended up turning to each other for a bit of comfort and a sense of family. They spent a lot of their free time together, even after they were done filming for the day. 

In a Vanity Fair interview, Kellan Lutz, who played the character of Emmett Cullen, recalled how they always hung out together. He said, “We would all hang out at the end of the day in a different cast member’s room, order room service, and just chill. Rob Pattinson (Edward Cullen) would play the guitar, and we’d just eat and talk and sing.”

He also mentioned that they were always playing pranks on each other, particularly the men in the cast. Lutz said, “All the guys always goofed around with the girls. Especially when the weather got bad, the girls would be freezing, and we would throw hail balls at them.”