MTV talked to actress Emily Browning about the time when she was considered to play Bella.

Under the message-board heading “Steph Meyer wanted Emily to play Bella in Twilight, but Em turned it down,” a battle rages between Twilighters who think Browning snubbed their beloved author and non-fans who say the actress was wise in doing so. “Emily is too good for ‘Twilight,’ and I’m glad she realized that,” says Spidersilkx9. ” ‘Twilight’ would have rocketed her to mega-fame!” argues Carma.

Browning is eager to finally tell her side of the “Twilight” tale. “Maybe I should set it straight a little bit, because there are so many rumors flying around,” she said. “People are coming up to me and saying, ‘Oh, my God. You turned [‘Twilight’] down?’ and all this horrible stuff!

“What actually happened is that I was asked to audition — not take the part, but to just audition — shortly after ‘The Uninvited’ had finished filming,” the actress said. “And I’m not the type of person who can just work back-to-back. So I was just exhausted, and I was like, ‘I’m sorry, but I just can’t sign on to a trilogy right now.’ ”