Robert Pattinson Says His Odyssey Character Is Basically Jacob From Twilight

Robert Pattinson is playing one of The Odyssey’s most unlikeable characters. In Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of the ancient Greek epic, Pattinson stars as Antinous, one of the arrogant suitors competing to marry Penelope while believing her husband, Odysseus, will never return home from war.

When MTV UK pointed out that fans might have a hard time rooting for his character, Pattinson joked: “I think they will be rooting for him. I keep comparing it—it’s kind of like Jacob in Twilight. What The Odyssey is about — Penelope just can’t make her mind up between the two guys and I’m just trying to like help her make a decision. It’s like, ‘It’s fine. He’s dead, get over it.'”

Clearly, Pattinson is joking as Jacob is a mostly wholesome, likable character in Twilight. In The Odyssey, not only is Antinous a jerk, but he crosses the line the line into real moral depravity.

When Odysseus was preparing to leave for the Trojan War, there was a draft lottery in Ithaca to get an army together. Antinous was selected in the draft, but was too cowardly to go to war. Instead, he tricked a young farm hand, Sinon (played by Elliot Page), into taking his place in exchange for promising to provide for the boy’s father.

After Sinon left, Antinous broke his promise. He does not provide for Sinon’s father, who falls into poverty and ultimately dies homeless. Sinon learns the truth in death and seeks vengeance.

While I don’t think Jacob Black fans from Twilight would support Antinous, Pattinson is likely just dunking on his former costar (Taylor Lautner, who portrayed Jacob) with this comparison. The punchline is that fans mostly preferred Pattinson’s character, Edward, and so Jacob was the less liked suitor — just like Antinous in The Odyssey.

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