Robert Pattinson's On-Set Behavior Almost Got Him Fired From Twilight

These days, Robert Pattinson is regarded by many as one of the most gifted, risk-taking actors of his generation who has created a body of work as wildly adventurous as it is staggeringly impressive. Circa the late 2000s, however, Pattinson was still a largely unknown talent whose only real claim to fame was the small, if absolutely vital, role of the ill-fated Cedric Diggory in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire."

That changed virtually overnight in 2008 when Pattinson signed up to play Edward Cullen to Kristen Stewart's Bella Swan in the blockbuster vampire drama "Twilight." The film and its ensuing sequels turned out to be not just a career-altering hit for the young actor, but a life-changing one, as well. While Pattinson has spent much of his post-"Twilight" career booking gigs as far from the teen melodrama realm as possible, it's likely he'll never fully escape his turn as the sparkly-skinned vamp that left hordes of Twi-hards swooning during the franchise's run. But as shocking as it might seem, Pattinson apparently came very close to losing his iconic role in the middle of production because of some sketchy on-set antics.

During a career-spanning interview with GQ, Robert Pattinson opened up about how a difference of artistic vision led to some less than pleasant behavior on the set of "Twilight." Recalling his experience with good humor, Pattinson offered that in his youthful ambition, he showed up for the "Twilight" shoot wanting to make the movie "as arty as possible." In Pattinson's estimation, the studio backing the project had other ideas. Pattinson explained, "We had this strange tension where the studio was kind of a little bit scared to make things a little bit too emo and stuff, and I thought it was the only way to play it."

The actor went on to claim the ongoing tension left him quite angry some days, offering, "It just seems so ridiculous talking about it now because I was literally enraged — I spent so much time just infuriated." Seems Pattinson's impassioned anger, however unintentionally, spilled out a little too often on the set of "Twilight." So much so that producers were apparently on the verge of replacing him.

Pattinson claims he was oblivious to the fact until his agent and manager paid an impromptu visit to set to straighten him out: "[I] just thought everything was fine. And then at lunch, they were like, 'Ok, so whatever you're doing right now, after lunch just do the opposite or you'll be fired by the end of the day.'" 

Stunned, Pattinson promptly checked his attitude, cheekily stating the threat of being unemployed "was the only thing that got me to smile a little bit." And almost 15 years later, that disarming smile continues to leave legions of "Twilight" fans fawning.