It's old news that, for some crazy reason, the cast and crew of "Twilight" originally didn't realize that the film would be a hit. Two sequels and over $1.1 billion worldwide later (with more sure to come with the release of "Eclipse"), it seems like the cast is still trying to maintain a back-up plan if acting doesn't work out: music.
This week, we got word that newcomer BooBoo Stewart released a new single called "Rainy Day" on iTunes, and it got us thinking about all the other musically inclined stars of the film. They far outnumber the rest of the cast, it seems.
Oh, and if you're wondering about that picture of Taylor Lautner to the right, we'll get to that in a moment!
The most obvious examples are Robert Pattinson and Jackson Rathbone, both of whom are often found on the set singing and strumming some chords on their guitar. Rob famously had some of his music make its way onto the "Twilight" soundtrack, but seems to be on something of a music hiatus, so don't expect him to be going on tour any time soon.
Jackson, on the other hand, is part of the group 100 Monkeys (that's him on the far right) who just recently embarked on a fan-picked 100 City Tour. Though they haven't had any songs make it to "The Twilight Saga" soundtracks, the last we heard they were going to be making the soundtrack for Jackson's upcoming indie, "Girlfriend."
Then there's Anna Kendrick, who was a Tony-nominated Broadway performer before she kicked off her career in film with "Camp" and "Rocket Science." Most recently — and comically — she showed off her singing abilities during a drunken karaoke session in "Up in the Air." We love a girl who can laugh at herself, Anna.
Though they don't sing off-screen (unless it's alongside Joan Jett & The Blackhearts), Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning did sing their own tunes in their biopic, "The Runaways." Singing someone else's songs in someone else's skin is a little different than being a musician in your own right, but we still count this as proof that Kristen and Dakota are musically inclined.
On to the lesser known musicians, Justin Chon (who plays Bella's classmate, Eric Yorke) has his own band as well. Apparently he rocked out with Rob and the rest of the gang on "Twilight," but didn't get a chance to on "New Moon" because he only was on set for a week and a half.
That might have given Chaske Spencer and Tyson Houseman, two members of the wolf pack, a chance to show off their own musical talents with the rest of the bunch. Both list music as among their interests, and Chaske admits to playing the drums, though he finds musicians more intimidating than actors.
Newcomer Julia Jones might not be able to hold a tune herself, but she did nab the leading lady role in country singer Chuck Wick's titillating music video for his song "Hold That Thought." It gives her the chance to look a bit sexier than she will in "Eclipse," though we already knew she could pull that off thanks to her red carpet looks.
Fortunately for all of us, Julia isn't the only "Twilight" star to have starred as the romantic interest in a music video. That's right: a much younger Taylor Lautner was the boy of Cassie Thomson's dreams in her music video for "Caught Up In You." We still haven't decided if this tops his martial arts YouTube video.
But wait! Just when you didn't think it could get any better, turns out Taylor must have loved the music video business so much he decided to go off and make his own! Lipsyncing to OneRepublic's "Apologize," Taylor apparently made the video for a school project. Pretty impressive work for someone his age, though we're a little concerned about his choice in shorts and that random upside down phone.
Did we miss any other "Twilight" stars who are hiding musical abilities? Do you agree with our suggestion that they go on a country-wide musical tour?
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