Dakota Fanning knew what a big deal it was to land her small part in the “Twilight” film saga, recalling how “intense” the fandom was at the time.
During Monday’s episode of the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast, the former child star reflected on her time as part of the “Twilight” franchise, where she played high-ranking Volturi vampire Jane in 2009’s “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” 2010’s “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” and 2012’s “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2.”
“It was a huge deal. It was like all anyone was talking about. I was in high school at the time,” she told host Josh Horowitz. “I went to a regular high school and it was like, everyone was obsessed. So it was a huge deal.”
As Fanning went on, she clarified that she never auditioned for Kristen Stewart’s role Bella Swan, explaining she “just a bit young for it” at the time.
“Getting to play Jane was amazing and it’s where I met Kristen, who you know is one of my closest friends,” she added.
Per Fanning, being involved in the pop culture phenomenon that was “Twilight” was “such a specific thing.”
“They had no idea. They just had no clue it was going to be that,” Fanning said of the film’s stars Robert Pattinson, Stewart and Taylor Lautner. “They thought they did some little vampire movie.”
She added: “Then going to that Comic-Con and being like, hit with the wave of the fans was super intense. So, getting to be a part of that … I got like, kind of just all the good parts of it. ‘Cause, I was just a little character that was popped in, popped out, popped in, popped out.”
Fanning acknowledged that she “didn’t have really any of the pressure.”
“I just got the kind of fun experience,” she said. “So, it was like ideal, you know?”
The “Twilight” film saga was a global box office success, bringing in over $3.3 billion worldwide across its five films, which included 2008’s “Twilight,” 2009’s “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” 2010’s “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” 2011’s “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1” and 2012’s “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2.”
A new “Twilight” animated series is in development at Netflix, and is set to retell the first installment from Edward Cullen’s perspective. It’s based off of Stephenie Meyer’s 2020 companion novel, “Midnight Sun.”
