Josh Peck Reveals He Almost Played This Beloved ‘Twilight’ Character

Josh Peck says he was among four finalists for the Twilight role that ultimately went to Robert Pattinson. And he was just as shocked as everyone.

During the latest episode of his Good Guys podcast, Peck tells guest Taylor Lautner about his manager telling him to audition for a role in a film based on the popular book series. Peck says he obliged and put together an audition tape for the role of telepathic vampire Edward Cullen.

“I remember it’s like 2006? [2007]? They’re like, ‘Audition for this movie, Twilight, it’s based on a book and it’s going to be great,'” the Drake & Josh alum tells Lautner. “So I send in my tape, for Edward. A month later I’m with my manager and he goes, ‘It’s down to you and three guys, you’re close.'”

That he was a finalist was a major shock to Peck himself.

“I’m like, ‘Really?’ I hadn’t even had a tummy tuck yet,” he continues. “I’m like, ‘There’s no way. He’s got to be so shirtless, it’s not going to happen.’ Spoiler alert — didn’t get it …. but I remember then seeing R-Patz playing this part I’m like, ‘In what f***ing world were they like, ‘OK, here’s what we’re thinking: Chris Hemsworth or Stanely Tucci?’ Like, what the f**k? Impossible. Impossible! So, we almost worked together.”

Lautner, who played Jacob Black in the Twilight films, asked rhetorically in the middle of Peck’s story, “Did I know this?” before describing Peck’s near-casting nugget as “amazing.”

Peck’s the latest actor to reveal he auditioned for a Twilight role. Back in June, Jennifer Lawrence shared she auditioned for the role of Bella Swan, which ultimately went to Kristen Stewart. Lawrence shared the nugget on The Rewatchables podcast and added that she was quickly rejected.

“I auditioned for Twilight. They turned me down immediately,” she shared at the time. “I didn’t even get a callback.”

If she had landed the role, Lawrence said her “life would’ve been totally different.” Her life did change about a year later when she landed the role of Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games franchise, a part she wasn’t sure she should accept.

“I almost didn’t do Hunger Games because Twilight had come out and that fandom had happened,” she said of the vampire franchise’s massive success. “When I was trying to talk to people about making this decision after they offered it to me, I was just like, ‘I don’t know.’ It was so hard to explain to people, like, I don’t think you understand this level of fame.”

Someone else who auditioned to play Bella Swan? One Jamie Lynn Spears, who made the stunning revelation in a 2020 interview with Nylon.

“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?'” she recalled. “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.”

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