Ayanna Berkshire played Cora in Twilight
PP: Your scene in the movie did not involve Robert Pattinson, but did you see him on set at all during the filming of the movie? Were you familiar with him before this movie?
AB: I was aware of Robert from Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire and from a small role in Vanity Fair. I met him on set at lunch one day, because he was shooting another scene right after us and we all ended up having lunch together. He was funny, charming and incredibly friendly, really very normal, which comes as no surprise.
Inside story: Two days after that lunch I was back to work at my part time job, I worked in an eyeglass shop in Portland named Visage Eyewear. While I was there, an absolutely adorable British couple came in. We INSTANTLY bonded and I ended up talking with them for close to two hours. About an hour in, I finally asked what brought them to Portland and they told me that they were visiting their son, who was working in town. I asked them what he did for work and they told me he was an actor! “REALLY”, I said. (I get really excited for fellow actors, especially since I know every last one in town), “I’m an actor too!! What’s his name? Is he working on anything at the moment?” That’s when they both got a little quiet, “Oh, he’s working on a movie here…” I took a look at both of them again, took in their accents and it suddenly dawned on me. “Is your son Rob?” I asked. They both got this wide-eyed look on their face like they weren’t sure if they should say yes or no. “I JUST worked with him two days ago!” I said, “I loved him, what a great guy!” They both seemed completely relieved that they could tell their secret without having to say anything. After that, we had an even better time and if I remember correctly, they even brought me ice cream from the ice cream shop across the street. For the record, Robert Pattinson has awesome parents!
During the Wrap party for Twilight, a friend of mine (he played one of the frat boys), Rob and I were all standing around talking. I wanted to do an impromptu photo shoot, where either I was about to bite Rob, or vice versa… it ended in a total fail as neither one of us knew who was supposed to bite who. I hope I’ll be forgiven for sharing this less than flattering pic.*
PP: Did you have any idea, being in the first of a five movie series, that Twilight would become so big and that Robert Pattinson would go on to become as famous as he did?
AB: I think that the success of the movies came as a surprise to everyone. I’d had an idea that they were going to be huge just because EVERYONE seemed to be reading the books!
I think that anyone who played the role of Edward was going to experience mega fandom. Edward, of all the characters was the most untouchable, the most mysterious and the sexiest. To watch that type of character brought to real life by an actor (especially an actor like Robert who is fun, approachable and handsome, but who was still sort of a mystery himself), it becomes this instant gratification. The character was written with such passion that as a reader, you want that passion for yourself. It also didn’t hurt that Robert was coming from Harry Potter and had a built in audience who were already excited to see him in something new.
Added a few more old fan pictures from that day. Ayanna mentioned her friend (that played the frat boy) in the interview
The frat boys
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