Taylor Swift’s Rejected Twilight Cameo, Explained

Back in 2009, when Taylor Swift only had one Grammy for Album of the Year, she really wanted to join the “Twilight” franchise — but the team behind the vampire saga apparently turned her down. Why? She was simply too famous, even then.

Ashley Greene — who plays Alice Cullen in the films — recently hosted Chris Weitz, director of “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” on her podcast “The Twilight Effect,” and Weitz revealed that he had to fend off requests for Swift to appear in the film (per Entertainment Weekly). “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 told Greene. 

The director continued and said that because Swift was just a huge “Twilight” fan, she simply wanted to be present on set and appear in the back of a shot or something — but Weitz felt he had to decline for one particular reason. “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 recalled. Still, he had some regrets: “I was like, ‘Wow, I could have been, like, hanging out with Taylor Swift, and maybe we could’ve been friends or something.’ She must’ve just been like, ‘Who is this jerk who would say no?’ But sometimes you make decisions and you go, ‘This is for the best. It wasn’t to be.'” (Weitz did not say whether or not he really regretted this choice after attempting to get Eras Tour tickets.)

If Chris Weitz had accepted Taylor Swift’s request to appear in “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” Swift would have made her feature film debut (as an actress, not as herself) in the film alongside Taylor Lautner. As it happens, she did exactly that one year later … outside of the “Twilight” franchise. (I should say that, based on the timeline, Swift’s request likely had nothing to do with the presence of Taylor Lautner, who took on a bigger role in “New Moon” as Jacob Black, a shapeshifter and essential corner of the franchise’s love triangle. Filming on “New Moon” wrapped in the spring of 2009, and Lautner and Swift didn’t begin their short-lived relationship until the fall of that year.)

During their relationship, Lautner and Swift did show up in the same project — specifically, Garry Marshall’s ensemble rom-com “Valentine’s Day,” where they play two high schoolers in the throes of young love. Swift is definitely not a natural actress, but she’s actually pretty funny in this small role (and, true to form, she can’t resist throwing in an Easter egg for her fans by scrawling her real-life lucky number 13 on her hand). In the end, Swift found an acting opportunity outside of the “Twilight” films, and it’s safe to say it hasn’t hurt her career one bit.

Sure, it probably sucked — at the time — that Taylor Swift didn’t get to participate in the “Twilight” movies, but you know what? She’s okay. Swift, just in case you’ve been residing under a very large rock as of late, is basically the biggest star on the planet. Between 2020 and 2024, Swift released three brand-new albums as well as her first four albums completely re-recorded with new tracks after a dispute over her master recordings (please, Taylor, tell us when we’re going to get your version of “reputation”). This is to say nothing of her world-spanning, record-smashing Eras Tour, which will conclude in December of this year after kicking off back in March 2023, and she even fully reworked it for the start of her European leg in May to include an “era” for her newest album. (R.I.P., Bella Swan; you would have loved “The Tortured Poets Department.”)

Sure, Swift is a musical phenomenon — but she’s also quietly staging a takeover elsewhere in the entertainment industry. After her longform music video “All Too Well: The Short Film” became a critical success, Swift inked a deal with Searchlight Pictures to write and direct a feature film — and while there’s no news about this project just yet, she’s been a little busy as of late. (She did pick up yet another directing award at MTV’s recent Video Music Awards, though, for her music video “Fortnight.”) The bottom line is that Swift’s career wasn’t affected one bit by the saga over the “Twilight Saga” — in fact, she could probably buy and sell the rights to the entire film franchise if she felt like it.