'Twilight' Director Reveals Iconic Line Robert Pattinson Chose to Include in Movies

Catherine Hardwicke, the director of Twilight, revealed that we have Robert Pattinson to thank for one of the franchise’s most iconic lines.

The 38-year-old actor starred in the project alongside Kristen Stewart.

While attending Comic-Con 2024, Catherine spilled some tea about her experience with the franchise. In the process, she explained how a conversation with Robert led to one of the most memorable moments onscreen.

Keep reading to find out more…

The line in question was “You better hold on tight, spider-monkey,” which Robert says to Kristen‘s character Bella in the first movie.

“I was kind of worried,” Catherine told EW. “We were shooting for a few days and there were so many scenes where [Robert and Kristen] just look into each other’s eyes. Look, look, look. And I’m like, man, I better come up with some dialogue.”

She continued, recalling, “So, the night before we did the treetops, I wrote like 10 lines. And I thought, ‘I wonder if he’ll like to say any of these.’”

“I handed them to Rob, and I said, ‘See if you like any of these. If you do, you can say them.’ And he said, ‘I like spider-monkey.’”

While many of the movie’s other memorable lines were lifted directly from the source material, this was all Catherine and Robert.

The director added that Robert was “self-conscious” while filming and felt the pressure of portraying his character Edward Cullen.

While he was nervous, apparently Robert took to calling Kristen a spider-monkey with ease.

Catherine also opened up about casting Robert in the movie, saying that the studio had reservations about giving him the role. See nine other stars who auditioned to play Edward. One of them even said the role was “stupid.”

We rounded up some other behind-the-scenes details from Twilight, too.