Robert Pattinson joined GQ for a look back at his most iconic roles, including his turn as vampire Edward Cullen in the blockbuster Twilight movies.

The actor filmed the original Twilight at 21 years old.

The young Pattinson wanted the movie to be as edgy and emo as possible, which didn't sit right with the studio.

"I wanted to make it as arty as possible," Pattinson said.

"We had this strange tension where the studio was scared to make things a little bit too emo and stuff. I thought that was the only way to play it.

"I spent so much time (on set) infuriated... I can't believe the way I was acting half the time."

Pattinson retold a story he first shared in 2017 about his managers visiting the Twilight set one day and encouraging him to smile more and not play things so serious.

His managers told him point blank: "You'll be fired by the end of the day if you don't stop doing what you're doing."