Interview

When rumors surfaced last year that 17-year-old Taylor Lautner would not appear in the Twilight sequel because he was too physically slight to portray a bookworm-turned-werewolf, a great shriek rose from Fangirl Island. “Noooooo!!” wrote one obsessive on a Twilight discussion board. “omg. Pleezze let Taylor come back,” implored another. Some were more militant: “If they don’t put him in . . . there will be a massive Twilight fan attack!”

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The producers opted not to mess with their core constituency. While Twilight was ringing up $380 million at the box office and becoming one of the top pop-culture phenomena of the past year, Lautner was busy packing on 30 pounds of -muscle at the gym. His character, Jacob Black, the platonic best friend of heroine Bella Swan (played by Kristen Stewart), transforms in New Moon from a likable klutz into a member of a wolf pack. Likewise, the film gives Lautner a chance to bust out of more than his shirts, challenging co-star Robert Pattinson’s dominance of both the teen mags and the movie’s monster love-story narrative.

After an unusually chaotic post-release period that saw Pattinson shear off his -vampire hair (noooooo!), Stewart photographed on the steps of her L.A. apartment smoking what appeared to be weed, and director Catherine Hardwicke replaced by American Pie helmer Chris Weitz, the cast reunited—a lot more famous—in Vancouver last March to begin -filming New Moon. The sequel shakes up the central trio—teen vampire Edward (Pattinson), his devoted Bella, and her best friend Jacob—sending Edward packing, turning Jacob into a werewolf, and heating up the love--triangle element as Jacob makes a play for Bella in Edward’s absence. Frost/Nixon’s Michael Sheen joins the fray as a vampire leader, and the sequel’s scoreboard reads werewolves vs. vampires.

Lautner grew up in Michigan and L.A., a youthful karate star who transitioned at the age of 12 from martial arts to acting in benign cinematic family fare like The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl. He was excited to talk about shooting New Moon, dirt biking, his new set of muscles, and playing up the sexual tension.