Jamie Lynn Spears Recalls 'Twilight' Audition: 'I Literally Was Like "Vampires? Are You Kidding Me?"'

"I remember reading it and going, 'Who is going to watch these vampires?' Boy, was I wrong," recalled Jamie Lynn Spears

Jamie Lynn Spears almost went straight from Pacific Coast Academy to Forks, Washington.

In an interview with Variety, Spears, 32, discussed the trajectory of her career after Zoey 101, the Nickelodeon series that ran from 2005 to 2008.

Spears recalled wanting to jump to something bigger, like movies. That’s when her managers asked her to audition for Twilight — and she didn't realize it would become a phenomenon.

"This was before vampires had really made their mark. Now we all love to watch stories about vampires, but I literally was like, 'Vampires? Are you kidding me?' ” Spears recalled. “I remember reading it and going, 'Who is going to watch these vampires?' Boy, was I wrong.”

TheTwilight franchise became a hit, grossing more than $3 billion at the global box office over the course of five movies. Kristen Stewart starred as Bella opposite costars Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner.

In a 2020 interview with Nylon, Spears touched on her Twilight audition, saying, “They had to force me. Force me. I remember just thinking like, ‘Y’all are insane. I’m not playing a vampire. That is so stupid. Why would I do that?’ But I went and read for that role. I remember sitting in this little room, and I think Lily Collins was there, and I felt so sick. Little did I know, I was pregnant.”

It was this pregnancy, which Spears announced when she was 16, that prompted the actress out of the spotlight. The Sweet Magnolias actress told Variety she had to make the best decision for her and her baby, which was to leave the industry.

“The press wasn’t exactly very nice,” Spears said. “I wanted to get as far away from it as I could. So I got a house in Mississippi. I put up a gate, put myself on a budget and said, ‘I’m gonna raise my baby back here.' ”

For years, the new mother did just that, but never lost sight of building a career. She said, “I also wanted to show her that I could provide for her future and that I could continue on to be what I wanted to be. Bringing her into my life was not something that I regret or held me back.”

Related: 'Twilight' Cast: Where Are They Now?

In 2011, Spears and her daughter Maddie moved to Nashville, where the actress began to write songs for country musicians like Jana Kramer — a way to reestablish herself in the industry.

“Acting is always something that feels really good. I love telling stories, whether that’s writing music for myself or for other people or playing a role. It’s something I feel really good and comfortable in — I think it was somewhat of my first love,” Spears said.

“But I was kind of afraid to come back," she added. "I was like, ‘What if it doesn’t work out?’ But it was something I always wanted. I think I was afraid to admit it to myself because I didn’t wanna give everybody the satisfaction of saying, ‘It’s not gonna happen for you. You had a baby, remember?’”

Now, the Zoey 101 star is returning to her roots as Zoey Brooks in the upcoming reboot film Zoey 102, premiering July 27 on Paramount+.

Related: Jamie Lynn Spears Teases 'New Era' of 'Zoey 101' with 'Magical' Behind-the-Scenes Pics from 'Zoey 102' Set

Spears isn't the only actress who tried to sink her teeth into the Twilight saga at the time. Last month, Jennifer Lawrence recalled how she was rejected for a role in the beloved franchise. While appearing on The Rewatchables podcast, the actress, 32, told host Bill Simmons about her experience auditioning for the 2008 film.

"I auditioned for Twilight," she said. "They turned me down immediately. I didn't even get a callback, but my life would have been totally different."

A year later, Lawrence landed the role of Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games, another mega successful series of teen movies that catapulted her into stardom.

“That was just something I never had in mind," Lawrence said of that "Twilight-level" fame. "I want to do indies and I wanted to do good films, but I didn't want to be the most famous person on the planet. That's a very different life than what I had pictured for myself."

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