'Twilight' Director Catherine Hardwicke: Original Script Had Bella 'on Jet Skis Being Chased by the FBI'

Twilight may be one of the most beloved film franchises of its kind, but the iconic love story, based on the book series of the same name written by Stephenie Meyer, almost played out differently on the big screen.

During an appearance on The Big Hit Show podcast on Wednesday, Catherine Hardwicke, who directed the first film, and original screenwriter Mark Lord (who was later replaced by Melissa Rosenberg, who penned all five of the franchise's scripts), offered a startling admission about the film's first screenplay.

"They wanted to take the concept [of Romeo and Juliet with vampires] and build in a structure that was far more like a cinematic structure," Lord explained of the film's initial concept, adding that they wanted to add more action into the movie to draw in a male audience.

"I said, 'First of all, this script's got to go in the trash. It's no good. You've got to make it like the book,' " Hardwicke, 66, said. "The original script literally had Bella [Swan] on jet skis being chased by the FBI. She was the star athlete, nothing to do with the book."

Lord also revealed that his original script had Bella, who was played by Kristen Stewart, shooting vampires with a shotgun.

"Do you want her to do nothing? I want that girl to shoot some vampires. I want her to blow some s--- away," Lord said.

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In an interview with The New Yorker in November, Stewart, 31, reflected on filming the first Twilight film with Hardwicke, telling the publication that the director was "kind of the perfect person to do a young-adult novel that had these dark romantic elements."

"She had this childlike openness and teenage triggers, and her whole sensibility was that the movie was going to feel horny and overconfident," added Stewart.

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In 2018, Hardwicke told PEOPLE about the "electricity" between Stewart and costar (and ex) Robert Pattinson, who played the role of Edward Cullen in all five films.

"It was funny because they were both pretty shy and kind of a little bit nervous and awkward," Hardwicke explained. "I said, 'Okay, let's go do the biology scene where you guys first meet.' So we went to my kitchen table for that scene and you could see pretty quickly that they were vibing off of each other."

Added Hardwicke: "It was pretty positive. After the end of their audition, I could tell that there was a lot of electricity and chemistry."