Pattinson Draws Twilight Parallels for His Villain Role in The Odyssey

Robert Pattinson has spent much of the last decade methodically dismantling his Twilight-era image through a string of daring, unconventional choices — yet here he is, finding unexpected common ground between Homer's ancient epic and Stephenie Meyer's vampire romance. At the London world premiere of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, the actor drew a disarmingly funny line between his new villainous role and the franchise that first made him a household name.

An Antagonist With a Familiar Dynamic

In The Odyssey, Pattinson portrays Antinous, the primary antagonist among the swarm of suitors pressuring Queen Penelope — played by Anne Hathaway — to accept that her husband, King Odysseus (Matt Damon), is never coming home and to simply move on. It is, at its core, a love triangle set against the mythological grandeur of ancient Greece, and Pattinson, with characteristic self-deprecating wit, recognized the structural echo immediately. Speaking to MTV U.K. at the premiere, according to The Hollywood Reporter, he compared Antinous to Taylor Lautner's Jacob Black from the Twilight saga — a rival suitor who, despite being the ostensible obstacle, still managed to earn a passionate faction of fans. "I keep comparing it… it's kind of like Jacob in Twilight," Pattinson said with a laugh.

The analogy holds up better than it might first appear. Jacob spent several films making an earnest, if ultimately futile, case for Bella Swan's affections against Pattinson's own Edward Cullen. Antinous operates from a similarly self-justifying position — convinced that persistence and pragmatism are on his side. "Penelope just can't make her mind up between the two guys and I'm just trying to help her make a decision," Pattinson quipped. "It's like, he's dead, get over it." It is the kind of casually irreverent observation that Pattinson has become adept at delivering, undercutting the epic weight of the source material with a comedian's timing. For fans revisiting that earlier franchise, it's worth noting that Robert Pattinson's best Twilight film is exiting HBO Max this July, making this a strangely timely moment for such a comparison.

Craft, Costume, and a James Woods Reference

Beyond the playful press-circuit commentary, Pattinson has spoken more substantively about his preparation for the role. In a June interview with GQ, he revealed that he looked to James Woods's feverishly energetic performance in Martin Scorsese's Casino as a reference point for Antinous — a choice that says a great deal about how he conceptualized the character. Where a less imaginative actor might have leaned into Homeric gravity, Pattinson sought something looser and more dangerous: a man who is slick, slightly trashy, and entirely convinced of his own appeal.

That instinct extended into the film's costume design conversations. Pattinson reportedly lobbied persistently for Antinous to sport leopard-print undergarments — something flashy just visible beneath his period robes, a glint of anachronistic vanity that would immediately communicate the character's fundamental nature. It is the kind of specific, tactile detail that separates performers who think about character from the outside in, and it is consistent with the increasingly adventurous creative choices that have defined Pattinson's post-Twilight trajectory.

A Nolan Epic With Serious Star Power

The broader scope of The Odyssey is considerable. Christopher Nolan — working from Homer's foundational poem about Odysseus's perilous return to Ithaca following the Trojan War — has assembled one of the more striking ensemble casts in recent memory, with Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Lupita Nyong'o joining Damon and Hathaway. Early reactions from the London premiere have been emphatic, with some describing it as Nolan's most ambitious film to date. For Pattinson, landing a pivotal antagonist role in that context represents another carefully chosen step in a career that has consistently prioritized artistic ambition over easy commercial calculation.

The Odyssey opens in theaters on July 17.

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