The Twilight films received (and still get) a lot of unnecessary criticism and if you’re even a moderate fan of The Blueprint, you’ll know that we don’t have any time for that. One area of the series that’s often maligned is the acting, but we retain the opinion that the actors were doing really great work at exactly what they were tasked with. Sure, not every performance is perfect, but on the whole everyone is putting in some pretty good performances.
Post Twilight is another story entirely. The cast have gone their separate ways and their careers are progressing at different levels, but we still deeply appreciate them all and all of the work they’ve done in the time since the Saga ended. So, with that in mind, here are what we think are some of the best performances the cast have given post-Twilight.
The only rule we’re following here is to select just one (or two) performance per actor, that was released after their last on-screen appearance in the Twilight Saga.
This also works as a carefully curated watchlist if you want to spend some time catching up on what the cast have been up to in the years since the movies were completed.
Rachelle Lefevre
The Caller
Maddy saw this film once about ten years ago and thought it was alright. Lefevre stars as a troubled divorcee in this horror/ thriller, and holds almost the entirety of the film on her own with her scene partner on the other end of the phone. She gives a carefully layered performance that so easily could have been mishandled, and it only makes us ache more about her being recast for Victoria’s biggest movie in the Twilight franchise.
Cam Gigandet
Easy A
Twilight, Easy A and Burlesque? Gigandet really committed himself to being a staple in sleepover movies by securing this trifecta of films and we have to commend him for it. Even in these films, Gigandet’s range is something to behold: playing a bloodthirsty psycho vampire, an overgrown himbo Christian as a senior in a high school, and a hunky singer/songwriter. Frankly, having Easy A and Burlesque come out in the same year is a big flex for both Cam and Stanley Tucci, who was unfortunately not in The Twilight Saga but actually probably should have been.
Edi Gathegi
The Harder they Fall
Gathegi was mostly under the radar for a good few years after his appearance as Laurent in the first two Twilight movies, but he resurfaced in a big way in last year’s BAFTA winning Western by Jeymes Samuel as outlaw Bill Pickett. His impact in this large ensemble cast is minor but crucial, and his role gave a refreshingly competent, caring tone to the plethora of messy characters. He was much better in this than he was in Jamie’s sleep paralysis dream that one time.
Anna Kendrick
Pitch Perfect/The Last Five Years/A Simple Favor
Kendrick’s resume has been non-stop since leaving Twilight. Now, some of her notable performances were done during his stint as bestie legend Jessica Stanley, like her Oscar-nominated performance in Up in the Air and then 50/50, so we’ll just focus on the ones that count.
The Pitch Perfect trilogy is an obvious one here. Kendrick is perfectly cast as the sarcastic, edgy aspiring music producer-turned-acapella icon Beca Mitchell. It launched her even further into international spotlights, including giving her a US Top 10 single with the earworm “Cups”.
Since then, not every single film of hers has been a smash hit, but there are some hidden gems when you look past the Pitch Perfect franchise. She was an inspired choice for Cathy in The Last Five Years (a performance that deserved better than the movie surrounding it), and her campy, layered turn as Stephanie in A Simple Favor felt like a return to form for Anna Kendrick. We love her and we will always love her, we just hope she takes on some genuinely good projects that are worthy of her gargantuan range and talent levels.
Elizabeth Reaser
The Haunting of Hill House
We’re writing this post as we’re in the middle of a rewatch of The Haunting of Hill House, so it’s quite fresh in the mind. Even more so this time around, Elizabeth Reaser’s performance stands out as Shirley Crain, the eldest daughter of the family who struggles to keep everything together as the micromanaging peacekeeper of the family. It truly is a gorgeous performance that could have so easily been overshadowed by the “juicier” roles in the show, but Reaser holds her own with a graceful, captivating performance that shows shades of the caring maternal Esme Cullen, but goes far deeper than perhaps Reaser has gone in the rest of her career. Once again, god bless you Mike Flanagan.
Peter Facinelli
Glee
It’s the Blueprint. Of course, it’s Glee.
Kellan Lutz
What Men Want
This film really is not notable, nor is Kellan’s performance particularly, but he DID play a character called Captain Fucktastic and exclusively wore tight sportswear so…yeah, not much more to say about this one. Mr Lutz, sir, well done.
Billy Burke
Revolution
We do have to praise the casting director for giving this man a leading role in a pretty major series, but whoever decided to get rid of his beautiful, beautiful moustache should be tried at The Hague for war crimes. We also have yet to see either parts of Batman: The Long Halloween, but him as Commissioner Gordon is the most genius casting that Maddy predicted six months before the announcement and there are receipts to prove it:
Jamie Campbell Bower
Stranger Things 4
JCB has spent his already long career dancing around a few major franchises while never really gaining enormous fame, but it’s safe to say that his huge role in Stranger Things 4 this summer changed that for the better. A character so cloaked in mystery in the months leading up to the show that he was given a false name on IMDb so as not to draw suspicion, Henry/ 001/ Vecna is now a certified iconic television villain and internet meme. Bower stunned as both the all-too-friendly orderly and the all-too-evil Vecna, switching between each aspect of the role with disconcerting ease.
Bryce Dallas Howard
Nosedive/ Jurassic World
The latter only for running from a T-Rex in stilettos which does have to be respected, girly was keeping it camp.
But despite our utter disdain for this recasting choice, we do love BDH really, and her performance in the Black Mirror Season 3 standout episode, Nosedive is a good example of cementing why. The slow, eerie way she turns from a people-pleaser to someone who threatens to behead a ragdoll at a wedding…it’s brilliant work and, honestly, anything that keeps her away from The Twilight Saga is fine by us.
Christian Serratos
The Walking Dead
Rosita was introduced in season four of The Walking Dead and her impact was quickly recognised with her being bumped up to series regular the following season, where she’s remained in the main cast ever since. The Walking Dead has gone through some ups and downs over the years since, but Serratos has maintained a strong performance throughout, evolving the complex character of Rosita naturally as the show goes on.
Mackenzie Foy
Interstellar
We don’t stan Resume but it’s Interstellar and it is her running after Matthew McConaughey that starts the tears that continue for the rest of the film.
Michael Sheen
Passengers
Look, Michael Sheen’s a terrific actor and has shown such in many things (that we haven’t seen but have heard great things about) such as Quiz, Masters of Sex (Jamie’s seen one episode!), and Good Omens. But if we’re sticking to our rules, which we absolutely are, there isn’t much quality to choose from. So we decided to go with his creepy turn as the android Arthur in Passengers, which was incredibly camp and we really liked when he wopped his head down on the bar and dragged it across it, smashing all the glasses in the process. It’s what Aro would have done. In a film full of nonsense, it was nice to see an actor having a genuinely good time playing such a silly role.
Dakota Fanning
The Cat in the Hat
The only cast member whose pre-Twilight career we will allude to, because at the Blueprint, we will never miss an opportunity to discuss The Cat in the Hat.
Rami Malek
Mr Robot & Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb
It goes without saying that Rami Malek’s Emmy-winning performance in Mr Robot is excellent. He tackles such a heavy, complex character with relative ease, bringing tech whiz Elliot Alderson to life. Malek brings his signature quietude to the role but can also really bring it in the more dynamic scenes. There are a few monologues, in particular, that stand out that I won’t mention due to spoilers. If you know, you know. Either way, Malek’s performance in the series was steadily one of the best things about it.
Night at the Museum’s third installment explored the lore of Ahkmenrah’s tablet and gave Malek a chance to show a lot more depth to his character with a decent amount more emotional gravitas, as well as seeing him crack out some great moves on the dance floor. Night at the Museum is kind of Maddy’s thing, so she is deliberately not spiralling in this segment.
Malek also did win an Academy Award for his portrayal of legend Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody but we don’t really talk about that film here.
Justin Chon
Blue Bayou
It’s this film that inspired this post. As well as writing and directing this heartfelt film, Justin Chon puts his all into his performance in Blue Bayou which sees him creating a lead role for himself that he can really dig into. Chon displays incredible depth in his performance as a tattoo artist pursuing an immigration appeal. It could not be further from his turn as dorky Eric Yorkie (accidental rhyme but oh my god it stays) and it just shows how much talent is waiting to be put on display from so many actors if only they’re given the chance to show it off.
Ty Olsson
Supernatural
Though Jamie here is willing to spend his whole life campaigning for original Phil to be brought to justice for being recast; Maddy has seen every episode of Supernatural and therefore has to give due credit to Ty Olsson’s role as Benny Lafite, a vampire in purgatory who definitely had a homoerotic relationship with Dean Winchester.
Sarah Clarke
CODA
She’s in the movie for all of twelve seconds but it won Best Picture, so it’s pretty noteworthy. And we think that her brief cameo is the reason the film propelled itself to greater heights. Also are we going to just brush past how many Twilight actors have appeared in Best Picture-nominated films?
Lee Pace
Bodies Bodies Bodies
Where do we start with Lee Pace? There’s an argument that his best performance is just him walking around and being 6’3”, but that does his actual acting career a disservice. He went through a fantasy franchise era with his performance as Thranduil in The Hobbit trilogy and then Ronan the Accuser in Guardians of the Galaxy. We could talk about Pushing Daisies (could genuinely talk about that show all day), but recency bias and a love of tall men dancing around in tiny shorts brings us to Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, a satire-slasher that sees Pace be fun and charming. Sure, he doesn’t do all that much, but some great casting allows Pace to flex what makes him such a watchable actor.
Julia Jones
Dexter: New Blood
The Dexter revival series wasn’t the best. It had its moments (let’s not talk about the dreadful ending) and a lot of those moments were kept afloat by the steely, steady performance from Julia Jones.
Gil Birmingham
Hell or High Water/ Wind River
Gil Birmingham has been one of Hollywood’s most reliable Native American actors for years now and while not every film has utilised his talents the way he deserves, Best Picture nominee Hell or High Water and writer Taylor Sheridan’s directorial debut Wind River are two examples of films that do take time to highlight Birmingham’s screen presence. We still think that his storytelling scene in Eclipse beats everything just in terms of him having the most calming voice ever. We also wish we’d seen Under the Banner of Heaven by this point, but sadly we have not and cannot discuss it here. (Probably for the best really, talking about Andrew Garfield is dangerous).
Jackson Rathbone
Mixtape
This is the only thing we’ve seen him in but he played a washed-up rockstar and it was kind of hot.
Ashley Greene
Aftermath
She’s a leading lady capable of supporting big screenplays. Her performance as Natalie Dadich, a woman trying to mend her fraying relationship while being haunted in a new home is better than the film requires. Greene plays the role aptly, conveying the frustrations of being a woman going through a traumatic event while nobody believes her with ferocity, while also nailing the intense fear required to turn in a good horror performance. We love you, Bestie Ashley!
She was also in Academy-nominated Bombshell, though very briefly. This is mainly notable because of how much she actually resembles Abby Huntsman, the woman she plays in the movie.
Taylor Lautner
Those BBC3 interviews with Greg Davies
For someone with such a huge role in the franchise and subsequent worldwide fame, Lautner’s post-Twilight career has been pretty lacklustre. However, his series of promotional videos opposite Greg Davies for BBC3 and their show Cuckoo are excellent. Does this count? Probably not, but since neither of us have seen Season 2 of Scream Queens, there honestly isn’t anything else that we can comment on.
Robert Pattinson
Good Time
Our boy RPatz has potentially one of the most interesting career trajectories we’ve ever seen and it truly is fascinating to dissect. Making his film debut as one of the most beloved characters in a major franchise, and then going on to do this again and truly make a name for himself in Twilight. Sure, he might have (mistakenly) garnered himself a couple of Razzie nominations and a win (loss? We’re not sure), but the last decade has seen Robert Pattinson go on to work with such acclaimed directors as Claire Denis, David Cronenberg, James Gray, and Christopher Nolan: he’s even turned Bruce Wayne into an emo boy under Matt Reeves’ direction. But it’s his collaboration with Josh and Benny Safdie in Good Time that really turned his career around. And what a performance it is. Pattinson is commanding and yet always teases an underlying labyrinth of complexity in his character and it brings out the best of his skills in a major way.
Kristen Stewart
Spencer
Though Stewart had been proving her talent in films such as Still Alice and especially Personal Shopper, it was last year’s Spencer that really changed public opinion on her. An initially surprising casting paid off massively, as Stewart disappears behind Diana completely and utterly with a clear understanding of the version she doesn’t want to portray her as, delivering a wild, delicate and validating performance of a young woman suffering from a decade of not being in control of her own life. It’s a career-defining moment that solidifies her talent indisputably once and for all, with a pitch perfect accent and all. Frankly, the Academy voting board majorly embarrassed themselves by not awarding her the Oscar for this performance.
What we should be taking away from this is pretty simple: no matter what was said about the Twilight films or their performances, the cast is a majorly talented group of actors who just needed the opportunity to showcase this. And honestly, a lot of them did this in the franchise itself, even if some didn’t get the chance to shine quite so obviously bright. Actors like Justin Chon and Jamie Campbell Bower didn’t really get the opportunity to do anything major in the series but have shown that they just needed the right role to sink their teeth into (vampire pun?) so they can show the world just how good they really are.
Here’s hoping for lots more exciting projects in the future for these skilled artists.
the blueprint. 