Twilight was all Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. Now it’s Team Jacob’s turn. Taylor Lautner played Bella’s platonic friend and totally bulked up for the sequel. As readers know, he turns out to be a werewolf hottie in the next entry, New Moon, due out in November.
Zimbio: How did you get so ripped since the first Twilight?
Taylor Lautner: As soon as I finished up filming Twilight, I knew what I had to do. I knew I couldn’t wait to do it. I had to start right then, because to put on thirty pounds of muscle takes a long time. I had to sell myself. I wanted to portray this character correctly, so I was like, “I gotta start now.” That decision was not hard to make and it was not hard to get into the gym. The hardest part was actually eating. Eating a lot and eating a lot of good foods and cutting out all of the bad foods, and always putting something in your mouth. Every two hours, I always have to have something. So, that was the most difficult part for me, for sure.
Zimbio: Which of the Twilight books is your favorite, as a reader or as the actor who gets to say the words?
Taylor Lautner: My favorite book was actually Eclipse. I’m pretty excited [about] that. It’s got action. The action levels continue to build in this series.
Zimbio: Way to sell New Moon.
Taylor Lautner: Well, I think the love triangle in Eclipse is the ultimate high point of the series, so I’m excited to get going. Twilight sets up the romance between Bella and Edward, and then Bella and Jacob’s friendship grows in New Moon. But, in Eclipse, it’s actually the three of them physically together, and we have to team up and make this decision to try and be friends to protect Bella.
Zimbio: How do you ease the tension when you’re making such a dark movie?
Taylor Lautner: This is so random but I like to hold a football with me, and as soon as I finish filming, I’ll play catch with anybody who will play catch with me.
Zimbio: And actors can actually catch a football?
Taylor Lautner: Kristen and I play catch all time. She has a really good arm. She’s extremely accurate. I don’t know how I got on this subject but she’s extremely accurate, especially with grapes. So, maybe I’m a little bit talented at opening my mouth so that she can take aim and I can catch her flying grapes, but she aims straight and always hits the perfect spot. It is so weird.
Zimbio: What was your first moment of “Oh my God” in this whole Twilight phenomenon?
Taylor Lautner: When we were filming, it had no attention. The first big thing for us was Comic-Con and to just walk out on that stage and hear the screams of the 6,000 fans, it was really different and I don’t think any of us were expecting it. So, that was the huge eye opener for us the first time around.
Zimbio: The second year, you had people camping out the night before just to get into convention hall to see you for an hour.
Taylor Lautner: Over the past year, I’ve learned that anything’s possible from our fans. So we expect anything, and it was just awesome to get out there and be with them again, show them the two clips.
Zimbio: When the Twilight saga is done, how will you feel about getting your life back?
Taylor Lautner: Well, I’m so thankful to be a part of this and I’m having a lot of fun doing it and I’ve made a lot of great friendships with everybody that I’ve worked with and we’ve got a while left. I haven’t really started thinking about that yet because that’s my main focus right now.
Zimbio: What is the one Twilight question that you never want to answer again?
Taylor Lautner: To growl. Fans actually ask me to growl for them, and I really don’t enjoy doing that. So, please don’t ask me to growl. Just wait for the movie.
