'Twilight' director finally explains why Emmett carries a bag of hard-boiled eggs in the cafeteria scene

• "Twilight" fans recently noticed a strange detail in Catherine Hardwicke's 2008 movie.
• In the cafeteria scene that introduced the Cullens, Emmett carried a plastic bag of eggs.
• Hardwicke told Insider that she saw the actor Kellan Lutz with the eggs and wrote it into the scene.

A bag of eggs was hiding in plain sight in "Twilight," and many fans only recently noticed the baffling detail. The director Catherine Hardwicke explained what was really going on.

The 2008 movie starred Kristen Stewart as a teen who fell in love with a brooding vampire named Edward Cullen (played by Robert Pattinson).

"Twilight," based on the first novel in Stephenie Meyer's fantasy series of the same name, became a worldwide phenomenon, sparking four sequels and propelling the cast to new levels of fame. More than a decade later, people are still praising the film's iconic baseball scene as a cinematic masterpiece.

All the movies in the saga were filled with hidden details, goofs, and callbacks - but somehow, many fans didn't realize that "Twilight" included literal Easter eggs, carried by Emmett Cullen (Kellan Lutz).

The sneaky moment happened early in the movie when the Cullen family made their grand, slow-motion entrance in the cafeteria, establishing all six of the vampires' personalities.

Emmett, the buff and athletic Cullen, was carrying a clear plastic bag with several eggs. The bag was also on the table the Cullens sat at. Bella kept turning back to glance at them, and Edward stared back at her, wondering why he couldn't read her thoughts.

Emmett never did anything with the eggs, so their inclusion baffled fans.

Many didn't even catch the detail until months ago, when people began pointing it out on Twitter, Reddit, and TikTok. Some people aware of the bag of eggs have referred to Emmett as "Eggmett."

Lutz acknowledged the chatter on Instagram in September when he posted a photo of himself on set holding the bag of eggs.

The confusing detail made its way to TikTok in a viral video in April.

When reached for comment, Lutz told Insider via email that he was "taking that secret to the grave."

Hardwicke, however, told Insider recently that the "super quirky detail" was inspired by Lutz.

"I saw Kellan one day carrying a bag of, like, one dozen hard-boiled eggs," the director recalled. "I'm like, 'What in the hell is going on? You're not going to eat like a dozen eggs, are you?'"

Hardwicke said the actor had likely been eating protein-packed eggs because he was working with a trainer and adjusting his diet for his vampire role.

"I never had seen anybody carrying around a Ziploc bag of one dozen eggs and going to eat them all day long," the director said.

"I was just laughing so hard," she continued. "I'm like, 'OK, [Emmett] has to have those eggs. You have to carry that in that scene,' because it was just outrageous."

Hardwicke added: "So that was really it, just a super quirky detail that the real Kellan was doing."

It also worked in the context of the scene, because vampires don't eat human food, so the Cullens used various items as props to blend in.

Emmett didn't eat the hard-boiled eggs, but they didn't go to waste either.

Hardwicke said that after the scene, Lutz "ate those eggs, because that was his real meal for the day." She added that she enjoyed any opportunity to "weave in any little bizarre thing" into her projects.

Perhaps the eggs went largely unnoticed because people were too busy focusing on the Cullens' slow-motion debut or fawning over Edward's knowing smirk after Bella's new friend Jessica said he was "totally gorgeous, obviously, but apparently nobody here's good enough for him."

Hardwicke said she wasn't surprised that eagle-eyed fans noticed the most minute details of the hit movie.

"When people see a movie as much as 'Twilight,' they do start picking up on all the funny little things you sneak in there," she said. "So I love it. It's great."