'Twilight' star reveals why he declined lead role of Edward Cullen

Kellan Lutz and Jackson Rathbone are revealing why they didn’t play Twilight hero Edward Cullen.

Lutz, who ultimately played Emmet Cullen, revealed that he just wasn’t ready to take on the lead role in a major franchise.

"I had been doing Generation Kill in Africa for seven months, so I was something that was very timely and sensitive and a lot of death, a lot of destruction and away from my family," Lutz explained.

"So I wasn't in the best piece of mind. I just wanted peace and joy in my life again. So when that audition came and I read it, I just wasn't in that sort of mindset," he shared.

Another problem he had with the role was that he’d have had to star in multiple films.

"I'm like, that's even worse like to play this depressing character who I saw him as. I was like, 'I know that's not for me,' so I passed on it," he shared.

He agreed to audition for Emmet’s character since he saw him as a funny guy.

Rathbone, however, had a more serious chance to play the character. He was among the four final candidates to play Edward alongside Robert Pattinson, Ben Barnes, and Shiloh Fernandez.

"I was [director] Catherine Hardwick's favorite, and when they trotted me out, [author, Stephanie Meyer]s like, 'No, that's not Edward," Rathbone recalled,

He noted that Meyer had Man of Steel star Henry Cavill in mind for the handsome vampire’s role, which ultimately went to Pattinson.

He added, "And they wanted the Harry Potter guys, so they brought in Cedric Diggory, and now we have Robert!"