Once upon a time, the Twilight film franchise was just a twinkle in the eye of Hollywood. Before the roles went to Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart (now lovingly known as a R-Patz and K-Stew) and the films became a monstrous hit on the big screen, a lot of famous actors were almost cast in the central roles including Jamie Lynn Spears of Zoey 101.
Did you know Henry Cavill was Stephenie Meyer’s first choice for Edward Cullen? Jennifer Lawrence was also a contender for Bella Swan too, but ended up playing Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games a few years later instead. Jamie Lynn Spears recently admitted she was in the room for a Twilight opportunity, but she was not interested at all. For a couple reasons. In her words:
They had to force me. Force me. I remember just thinking like, 'Y’all are insane. I’m not playing a vampire. That is so stupid. Why would I do that?' But I went and read for that role. I remember sitting in this little room, and I think Lily Collins was there, and I felt so sick. Little did I know, I was pregnant.
Keep in mind the younger sister of Britney Spears was 16 at the time. She had just wrapped her four-season role on Nickelodeon’s Zoey 101 and her managers were pushing for her to keep her fame train going. She found herself in the audition room for Catherine Hardwicke’s Twilight just shortly before the actress would make headlines for her teen pregnancy.
Auditioning for Twilight does not sound like it was not a good time for the young actress and she didn’t connect with the material either. This is interesting insight to hear from Jamie Lynn Spears over a decade later, per her Nylon interview, because it shows how teen actors haven’t always had a say in the roles they’ve been considered for.
We’re not sure what Jamie Lynn Spears was auditioning for, but considering an 18-year-old Lily Collins of Emily in Paris was sitting next to her, it could very well have been for Bella. Collins has previously said trying out to play Edward’s better half in Twilight was one of her first auditions ever. By my eye, Jamie Lynn Spears would have fit best as Rosalie Hale, Edward’s feisty sister.
Of course, it’s all water under the bridge now. Twilight was expertly cast, with its main stars having so much oozing chemistry that they were an item during much of the franchise’s production. And Jamie Lynn Spears had time away from the spotlight to raise her daughter Maddie, who is now in seventh grade. Spears recently returned to acting to play Noreen in Netflix’s Sweet Magnolias, who she could personally relate to.
For the past week, Jamie Lynn Spears has been teasing the recently announced Zoey 101 reunion, which is set to premiere over the weekend. Check out the details below:
And where’s our Twilight reunion? The cast of the franchise is off to big things, with R-Patz starring as The Batman and K-Stew getting ready to play Princess Diana in a biopic. Though, Stephenie Meyer does have plans to make a sequel novel following the events of Breaking Dawn someday.
