13 years later, Breaking Dawn director recalls horrifying Twilight fans with that "incredibly cruel" fake-out ending: "I've never, ever heard a scream as loud and last as long"

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Bill Condon had a lot of fun taking off Carlisle's head

Twilight
(Image credit: Lionsgate)

Back in 2012, Twihards were left rattled to their core when, in the final act, young and excessively sparkly vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), along with his recently converted wife, Bella (Kristen Stewart), went to war with toothy Martin Sheen's well-dressed vampire leader of the Volturi and lost. Well, we say 'lost,' when the truth is that our heroes got absolutely annihilated. Thankfully, the whole sequence was a premonition of what could be, and looking back, director Bill Condon reveals he has absolutely no regrets in tearing the viewer's worlds apart in such horrific fashion by way of a gory gotcha.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about the creative decision that's as iconic as it is divisive, Condon revealed that the temptation was just too high. "It’s been a wonderful opportunity to mix it up and to have something where there is such a dedicated audience waiting for it, and you’re in dialogue with that audience knowing that we were going to do this incredibly cruel thing of killing off all of their beloved characters," Condon explained. "That, to me, was like, 'Oh, I have to,' because I just want to be there the first time we show it. I’ve never, ever heard a scream as loud and last as long as when we cut off Carlisle’s head."

"For me, personally, as a gay director, I thought I brought a bit of camp to it that was permissible," Condon added. "Michael Sheen, that laugh. There’s a line that Molina has in Kiss of the Spider Woman where he says, 'Call it kitsch. Call it camp. I don’t care. I love it.' And that’s how I feel about that movie."

Nick Staniforth
Nick Staniforth
Contributing Writer

Nick is a freelancer whose work can be found at Screen Rant, The Digital Fix, and Looper. He loves movies, TV, DC, and Marvel. He also believes that the best Robin Hood is still a talking fox.

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