Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke wanted the film to be a lot more diverse

In very jarring news that will make you feel old: Twilight is slated to celebrate its 10th anniversary this November. Ahead of this monumental feat, Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke reflected on the film in an interview with The Daily Beast. Among the biggest tidbits of the candid talk? Along with the blatant sexism she had to endure within Hollywood, Hardwicke wanted the film to be a lot more diverse. But Stephenie Meyer, author of the novels the films are based on, wasn’t on board with that.

Hardwicke noted that Meyer wasn’t heavily involved in casting since she was writing the fourth Twilight novel. But in her limited meetings with the writer, Hardwicke expressed that she wanted a more diverse cast. She told The Daily Beast,

“She probably just didn’t see the world that way. And I was like oh my God, I want the vampires, I want them all—Alice, I wanted her to be Japanese! I had all these ideas. And she just could not accept the Cullens to be more diverse, because she had really seen them in her mind, she knew who each character was representing in a way, a personal friend or a relative or something.”

Hardwicke added, “She said, I wrote that they had this pale glistening skin!”

As many will recall, the Twilight series follows teen Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) as she falls in love with vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). The films are based on author Stephenie Meyer’s novels of the same name.

Hardwicke’s comments come during the “Twilight Renaissance,” as fans are reflecting on and reevaluating the film series. While many are heralding the film, others are pointing out its flaws. In BuzzFeed’s report of the renaissance, one fan lamented, “Things that haven’t aged well: general racism towards Native American people and the basic destruction of a native story, making Jacob Black ‘imprint’ on a literal infant.”

Lack of diversity and unconscious racism? Yikes. That’s 2008 for you.