The director was impressed with his young actors’ maturity in handling the emotional aspects of the scene. Even the oft-joking Pattinson was deadly serious as he prepared to channel the feelings of potentially losing his on-screen wife.

“Rob normally has that sense of humor where he (laughs) at everything,” says Condon. “But not that day. It was like he was hooking into what it would feel like to lose Kristen.”

Meyer, on hand to watch the filming, was touched. “There were people tearing up watching the scene,” she says. “You could actually see him going through losing the person most dear to him.”