Way back in 2009, major Twilight fan Taylor Swift was interested in appearing in the Hollywood-blockbuster series—and was turned down. Twilight: New Moon director Chris Weitz spoke on the podcast The Twilight Effect with Ashley Greene and Melanie Howe this week about why he couldn’t accept Swift’s agent’s request to have her do a cameo in the franchise’s second film.
“Taylor Swift was a huge Twi-hard, and Taylor Swift and I had the same agent at the time and he said, ‘Taylor would like to be in this movie–not because of you, but she’s a Twi-hard!’” Weitz said, via The Independent. “‘She would be someone at the cafeteria, or the diner or whatever, but she just wants to be in this movie.’”
Weitz said he chose to reject the Swift cameo with some regrets because he was afraid she’d overshadow the main characters. “The hardest thing for me was to be like, the moment that Taylor Swift walks onto the screen, for about five minutes, nobody is going to be able to process anything,” he explained. “I kick myself for it too, because–I was like, wow, I could’ve been hanging out with Taylor Swift.”
Swift did manage to get close to Twilight‘s Edward, aka actor Robert Pattinson, on her own. The singer was seen on a double date with her boyfriend Joe Alwyn, Pattinson, and his girlfriend Suki Waterhouse in June 2019. The group went to Hollywood’s San Vicente Bungalows, an exclusive members-only club that doesn’t allow people there to take pictures.
Still, an eye witness shared details about how the quartet interacted. “The four were laughing and talking” all night, an onlooker told Us Weekly at the time. “They were at a table, just the four of them. Rob and Taylor were across from each other.”
Swift also famously dated Twilight‘s Jacob, aka Taylor Lautner, in fall 2009, including during the time Twilight: New Moon was released. They broke up that December. “He liked her more than she liked him,” a source told Us Weekly then. “He went everywhere he could to see her, but she didn’t travel much to see him. They decided they were better as friends.”
Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she’s not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #ootd pics of her, and exploring New York City.