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Last November, newcomer Robert Pattinson had to prove himself to gazillions of “Twilight” fans when he starred as dreamy neck-biter Edward Cullen. If the nearly $400 million in box-office receipts are any indication, Pattinson passed the test with flying colors. Now, it’s Taylor Lautner’s turn.
In “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” the second installment in the to-die-for franchise, Edward is so fearful for the well-being of human gal pal Bella (Kristen Stewart) that he vanishes from her life, shredding her heart in the process. To the rescue comes her buddy Jacob Black (Lautner), an affable high-schooler who transforms into a ferocious werewolf.
While Pattinson is still an important presence in “New Moon,” Lautner is the one likely to inspire the most howls of delight. If he’s feeling any pressure about being the “Twilight” hunk of the moment, he’s not letting on.
“Look, I’m having the time of my life,” says the actor, 17. “I’m doing what I love, and I’m spending time with the people I love. So it’s great. I’m definitely never, ever going to forget this.”
Appearing briefly as Jacob in “Twilight” helped prepare Lautner for the onslaught of enthusiastic fans. Every day, he says, he encounters people overcome with emotion about the “Twilight” novels (penned by Stephenie Meyer) and the movies they inspired.
“Man, we have fans all the time that burst into tears,” he says. “It’s an amazing feeling to know you can touch somebody in that way. … But I don’t think there’s a way to ever get used to it all. It’s just not normal to drive down the street and see your face up on billboards. But this is ‘Twilight’; it comes with the job.”
He has a point. In the last few years, Meyer’s “Twilight” novels have sold more than 8 million copies domestically, and, together with the film, have inspired nearly 400 Internet fan sites around the world. As Meyer followers already know, there have been some changes in the “Twilight” universe. Director Catherine Hardwicke was replaced by Chris Weitz, and actress Rachelle Lefevre, who played vamp Victoria, lost her role to Bryce Dallas Howard, who makes her debut in the third film in the series, “Eclipse.”
Briefly, it appeared as if Lautner might not be invited back for “New Moon.” Executives at Summit Entertainment were worried that the then-16-year-old lacked the necessary physique and chops to dramatize Jacob’s transformation. A combination of fan protest and Stewart’s insistence that Lautner was right for the role changed Summit’s mind. Lautner helped convince the studio by adding 32 pounds of muscle to his lean frame. The actor hit the gym five days a week and scarfed down 3,200 calories a day.
“I was putting something in my mouth every two hours,” he says. “And I’m busy. I’m in L.A., going from meeting to meeting; there’s not a lot of time for me to be eating, so I literally had to carry a little baggie full of beef patties, raw almonds and sweet potatoes. It wasn’t like I was eating ice cream every two hours.”
The hard work paid off. Lautner not only got to keep the coveted role but he was also encouraged to show off his ripped physique in a handful of scenes.
“It was so embarrassing,” he says with a laugh. “But there’s a reason that Jacob’s not wearing clothes all the time. Firstly, when he transforms, all his clothes get shredded. And secondly, he’s also hot; (his body temperature) is 108 degrees.”
As ripped as Lautner got for the role, he couldn’t play the howling beast all by his himself. He had to rely on computer-generated imagery to help bring Jacob to hairy life.
“(When I first saw the wolf), I was blown away,” he shares. “I was really excited. When I filmed the famous transformation scene, I’m running attached to wires, and I jump up, and I let the wires jerk me to a stop. I just have to freeze there, and I know (during post-production) they’ll convert my body into a CGI wolf. The whole time I was hanging there, I was thinking, ‘I hope I look cool!’”
While Jacob’s physical transformations were challenging for Lautner, the character’s emotional metamorphosis was just as tricky. On the set, Lautner spent hours reading and re-reading Meyer’s novels in an attempt to get under Jacob’s skin.
“Basically, my job was to continue what I started in ’Twilight,’ which was to play this extremely happy, friendly, outgoing guy,” says Lautner. “He’s best friends with Bella. And I had to continue that for the first half of the film, but as soon as I transform, I snap and I become a completely different person.”
For a couple of scenes, Lautner did his own stunts. With the help of wires, he ran up the side of Bella’s house. For a transformation scene, in which he’s spied by Bella, Lautner was required to stand for hours under a rain machine on a freezing cold Canadian night. But to hear Lautner tell it, the toughest part of the job was dealing with the mop of hair he had to wear in the early part of the movie. Nothing relieved the actor more than hearing the heavy-maned Jacob was getting a haircut.
“It was very freeing,” he says. “(The wig) not only was uncomfortable, but I’d look at myself in the mirror and I wouldn’t recognize myself. It was very itchy, hot … and it got caught in my mouth. I’m spitting hair out in the middle of scenes. I’m coming this close to kissing Bella, and I’m, like, ’Sorry, I gotta spit my hair out.’”
If Lautner looks a bit familiar, that might be because the Grand Rapids, Mich., native has been a working actor since he was about 10 years old. Even before that, he popped up on “America’s Most Talented Kids” with a display of his martial arts moves.
As a tweener, Lautner appeared in a handful of TV movies, and in 2005 he landed one of the title roles in “The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl.” Parts in “Cheaper By the Dozen 2” and on TV’s “My Own Worst Enemy” followed. In 2008, he landed the life-changing role of Jacob in “Twilight.”
After shooting “New Moon,” Lautner snagged a part in Garry Marshall’s new ensemble romantic comedy “Valentine’s Day,” which is due in theaters in February 2010. The movie co-stars Julia Roberts, Anne Hathaway, Bradley Cooper, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Patrick Dempsey, Topher Grace and Shirley MacClaine, but Lautner performed most of his scenes with country singer Taylor Swift, with whom he’s been romantically linked.
With “Valentine’s Day” awaiting release and “New Moon” rising in movie theaters, Lautner is focused on “Eclipse,” which will be released on June 30, 2010.
“‘Eclipse’ is my favorite book, so I was really excited to start filming the movie,” he says. “I just love that it’s the height of the love triangle. … I think ‘Eclipse’ is going to be visually striking; it’s going to be a really good movie.”
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