Kristen Stewart Competed Against 4 Other Stars to Play Bella in 'Twilight,' & Another Actress Was Stephenie Meyer's First Choice

Emily Browning

Stephenie listed Emily Browning as her first choice to play Bella in a post on her blog before the movie was ever cast. However, the story about her audition is an interesting one.

“Maybe I should set it straight a little bit, because there are so many rumors flying around,” she told MTV in 2009. “People are coming up to me and saying, ‘Oh, my God. You turned [Twilight] down?’ and all this horrible stuff!”

She continued, explaining the truth: “What actually happened is that I was asked to audition – not take the part, but to just audition – shortly after The Uninvited had finished filming.”

“And I’m not the type of person who can just work back-to-back. So I was just exhausted, and I was like, ‘I’m sorry, but I just can’t sign on to a trilogy right now.’”