Robert Pattinson has drawn a light-hearted comparison between his role in Christopher Nolan's forthcoming epic The Odyssey and Taylor Lautner's character Jacob in the Twilight saga. Speaking to MTV U.K. at the film's London world premiere, Pattinson — who plays the antagonist Antinous, one of the suitors pressuring Queen Penelope (Anne Hathaway) to remarry while Odysseus (Matt Damon) is away — joked that audiences might end up rooting for his villain, much as many fans backed Jacob against his own Twilight character, Edward. The remark is a playful nod to Pattinson's breakout franchise as he promotes a very different high-profile project.

Based on Homer's ancient Greek poem, The Odyssey follows Odysseus's perilous voyage home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, and also stars Tom Holland, Zendaya and Lupita Nyong'o. It reaches cinemas on 17 July. Pattinson has said he took inspiration from James Woods in Casino to make Antinous suitably "sleazy", even requesting sparkly leopard-print underwear for his costume. Early reactions have hailed the film as Nolan's biggest to date.