Jennifer Lawrence Was “Immediately” Turned Down For Twilight

Although currently busy promoting her latest film No Hard Feelings, fans can’t help but ask Jennifer Lawrence about some of her previous big-screen portrayals, including her turn as the much-loved Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games trilogy. In a new interview, the Oscar winner also recalled some of the major roles that didn’t come her way, revealing that she previously auditioned for the hugely-popular Twilight fantasy series but was “immediately” turned down.

During a June 2023 appearance on The Rewatchables podcast, Lawrence shared that she read for the leading part of Bella Swan — a role that ultimately went to Kristen Stewart. “I auditioned for Twilight [and] they turned me down immediately,” the actor shared, adding that she auditioned for the character just once and wasn’t asked back for a follow-up. “I didn’t even get a callback [laughs]. But my life would’ve been totally different. I got Hunger Games I think, like, a year later.”

Lawrence went on to reveal that, at the time of her Twilight audition in 2008, she didn’t know what the movie was. “When you audition when you’re a run-of-the-mill actor... you just get five pages and they’re like, ‘Act monkey,’” she explained. “When it came out, I was like, ‘Hot damn.’”

Speaking to Howard Stern back in 2018, the actor previously disclosed that she also missed out on a role in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. “The only time I’ve been truly devastated by losing an audition — because most of the time, you're like, ‘Ah, wasn’t meant to be, move on, what can you do?’ — was in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. That one devastated me,” she added.

Reflecting on the movie roles she did end up landing, Lawrence also recently told Variety that she would “totally’ be up for reprising the character of Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games franchise. “If Katniss ever could ever come back into my life, 100 percent,” she added.