Anna Kendrick Keeps Forgetting She Was In Twilight

The Twilight movies are beloved by so many fans who grew up on Bella and Edward's love story, but part of the unique charm of the film series is how freely the actors have spoken about not exactly loving the movies. For whatever reason, hearing the cast of the films rag on the production process, plot holes, or just general ridiculousness only makes the Twilight saga more enjoyable. And Anna Kendrick in particular hasn’t been shy in sharing her feelings about the movies over the years.

Since first appearing in 2008's Twilight and its sequels, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson have infamously dinged the movies several times, but they aren't the only ones to do so. Kendrick had the smaller but still memorable role of Bella's high school friend Jessica Stanley in the film series, and in a 2020 interview with Vanity Fair, she revealed that filming the first movie was particularly brutal — so brutal, in fact, she compared it to a hostage situation.

“I just remember being so cold and miserable,” Kendrick recalled. “I just remember my Converse being completely soaked through and feeling like, ‘You know, this is a really great group of people and I’m sure that we would be friends at a different time, but I want to murder everyone.’”

The only silver lining was that the harsh conditions did manage to bring the cast together. “It was also kind of bonding. There was something about it, like if you go through some trauma event,” Kendrick said. “Like you imagine people who survive a hostage situation, and you’re kind of bonded for life.”

Kendrick said she bonded with the cast much more when making the second movie, since the weather was not as intense.

Although, at the time, Kendrick was pretty sure a second film would never get made. While at the Palm Springs International Film Festival on Jan. 5, 2024, Kendrick recalled a recent conversation she had with her friend about how she thought Twilight was a one-and-done project. “Remember when I made the first movie and we thought, ‘There’s no way this movie is getting a sequel!’” Kendrick said. “Like, we didn’t even have a wrap party. That’s how much it was, like, some vampire thing, I don’t know.”

She went on to confess that she often forgets she was even part of the saga. “It’s so unbelievable to me that those movies did what they did, but also that I was in them,” Kendrick said. “It seems so huge and outside of me that I totally forget that I was there. Because I also was not the part that anyone really cared about ... I had a great time because I was the person going, ‘This is so weird! Why is everyone acting so weird around here?’ And it’s like, because they’re doing battle with their immortal souls.”

This isn't the first time Kendrick has joked about forgetting her not-so-vampiric Twilight role. In 2018, she tweeted, “Holy sh*t. I just remembered I was in Twilight.”

She has also spoken a lot more about the tough filming conditions on the set of the first movie. She previously spoke about how the extremely cold weather was not conducive to making friends, and said in her 2016 memoir Scrappy Little Nobody that the conditions ruined any possible positive mood on set.

Kendrick also revealed her true feelings about her character's big moment in the third movie (Breaking Dawn Part 1) in her Vanity Fair video. During high school graduation, Jessica is revealed to be the valedictorian and gave a speech to her classmates.

A lot of fans were confused about how Jessica became valedictorian, and Kendrick echoed that confusion, saying she thinks they just wanted to give her something to do. She also mentioned how fans will sometimes tell her they were moved by her speech, but Kendrick pointed out all the credit for any emotion viewers felt in that moment is due to Stewart's reaction.

Now that a new Twilight TV series is on the way, superfans can only hope more secrets and stories about the cinematic universe will start coming out of the shadows.