Robert Pattinson was nearly fired from Twilight for his bad behaviour

Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen in Twilight. Photo / Summit Entertainment.

Robert Pattinson almost got fired from Twilight.

The 31-year-old actor portrayed Edward Cullen in the blockbuster vampire cult teen movies and has revealed he nearly lost the part when they made the first film in 2008.

Why? Because of his rebellious behaviour. His career was only rescued because his agents flew in to smooth things over and save the day on set in Canada.

Speaking about working on the five films, he said: "I didn't have to kiss anybody's [butt] the entire time. I don't think I did, anyway."

Looking back, the actor - who is engaged to pop star FKA Twigs, 29 - admits he was extremely lucky to get to work on the movies

He told The New York Times newspaper, he had "amazing luck, as well, to just have fallen into it with the group of people [he] worked with on it".

And the Remember Me star has no problem with being associated with Edward for the rest of his life.

He said: "I think one of the best things, basically, about being a bit of a sellout, is if you've done five movies in a series, you've had to accept some responsibility for playing the same character."

However, that doesn't mean he enjoys watching himself on-screen as anytime he does he admits he wants to give himself a "hard time".

He laughed: "I've never seen anyone give themselves such a hard time. I'm beating myself up afterward. And I think there's some weird perverted energy that comes out of when people criticise previous work or think you represent this certain thing; it gives you this energy."