FILM INTERVIEW: TAYLOR LAUTNER

Twilight Star Talks Kissing, Love & Hints at a Superhero Future

Emmanuel Itier: What drives you to succeed?

 

Taylor Lautner: Probably the people around me — the people I care about, their motivation. That’s probably what attracts me to succeed. Family and friends and what I’m passionate about.

EI: How was it doing the action scene in Eclipse?

 

TL: I was actually bummed. There was a lot more action in this picture, but for me personally, I’m a wolf when there’s any action going on, so I was bummed that I wasn’t involved in doing too much action. I got to kiss Bella for the first time.

 

EI: Was she a good kisser?

 

TL: Definitely. Bella is a fantastic kisser, so that was probably the most exciting new thing.

 

EI: You’re the new “it” guy in Hollywood because of these films.  What’s it been like to get to this place that people dream about? Do you now have an entourage?

 

TL: I don’t know about that, but it’s exciting. This franchise has been such an incredible platform, so I’m thankful for the franchise and everything it’s provided — the opportunities. I’ve had the time of my life in the past two years, and I’m just so thankful to be in this position now. I’m having fun and making movies. It’s great. I’ve met a lot new people and have had the opportunity to meet and work with a lot of really talented people. It’s amazing. That’s the best word for it.

 

EI: How are you now picking movies?

 

TL: It’s just gut instinct. It’s whatever I’d want to watch. I do read a lot of scripts, and whenever you can finish one and you really love it, it’s all based on story and character, but I want to challenge myself to many different things. I definitely don’t want to stay on one road. I do try to change it up.

 

EI: You’re playing a superhero next?

 

TL: Not next, but hopefully soon. Next is Abduction and I’ll just be a regular guy who’s in an interesting situation. Maybe a superhero like a year from now.

 

EI: You haven’t had a lot of downtime between these films. Is it easier to just keep the muscle mass on? Also, do you have a weakness for a certain food that you have to let yourself have?

 

TL: Occasionally I really want some ice cream. A little cheat a time or two, but when it comes closer to the time of filming or you have a magazine photo shoot, then you really just have to stay strong and cut it out. The most interesting thing I’ve found is that it’s just as hard to maintain it as it was to put it on in the first place. It was really hard to put it on, and it’s just as hard to keep it. If I’m really busy and I can’t get into the gym, or if I’m really busy and I don’t have time to eat, you lose it like that and it takes ten times the amount of time to put it back on again. So it’s tough.

EI: Can you talk about Jacob being more mature in this film and whether you think that has more to do with you coming more into your own as well?

 

TL: I don’t know if it really has anything to do with me. It’s all in the books, and that’s what we kind of go off of because that’s exactly what the fans want to see. Jacob definitely matures quite a bit because he’s been dealing with his new self now. He’s gotten to know his new self and the situations he’s been put in romantically. There’s a lot of stuff. He deals with a lot and becomes frustrated a little bit because he gets this close all the time and then gets told “no” over and over again. So that’s a bummer for him, but he’s persistent.

 

EI: Can you talk about working with Robert [Pattinson] in this film more so than you have before?

 

TL: I had a scene or two in New Moon where I was able to work with Rob, and I was really excited to work with him for that little bit. The hardest thing I’ve found in working with Rob is that usually I have to hate him in scenes, and that’s difficult. He’s such a funny and nice guy, so literally we’re doing a scene where we’re yelling and screaming at each other and he’s slapping my shoulder and I’m shoving him off of me and we’re spitting in each other’s faces, and then, as soon they call “cut,” we just bust out laughing. It’s really hard to be mean to Rob.

 

EI: Was there a favorite scene between you two guys?

 

TL: Probably the tent scene. The tent scene is really good because it has that intensity, but it’s also pretty humorous at the same time.

 

EI: One of the funniest lines in the film is when Edward tells Bella, “Does he ever put on his shirt?” Was that in the script or was that ad-libbed?

 

TL: I believe it was actually in the book, but it was definitely in the script. When I read that for the first time, I couldn’t wait for Rob to deliver that. It was fun, and it was quite obvious. They pull up in the middle of the street, and even the position I’m in, I’m leaning back up against the car with my hands behind me. It looks like I’m just waiting and flexing. Those are the awkward scenes — whenever everyone is fully clothed and it’s raining, and I’m the only person there, just waiting for them.

 

EI: Breaking Dawn was announced as two movies. Do you know if it’s going to be split — one film from your point of view and one from Edward’s?

 

TL: I don’t know that. I do know it will be two, which I’m extremely excited about. It’s going to be great. Bill Condon is doing both. It’s going to be awesome, and I can’t wait to work with him.

 

EI: Do you have a clause in your new contracts about having to keep your shirt on or having to take it off?

 

TL: No, no clause. Whatever the book says, that’s most likely what we’re going to do.

 

EI: What about Abduction?

 

TL: It really all comes down to character. If I love the character and I love the story, and the character requires me to be shirtless or if it requires me to lose 30 pounds, I’m ready to do it.

 

EI: Stretch Armstrong, the doll, is shirtless, which indicates that you might have to be shirtless in that movie.

 

TL: They’re doing all the designing and all of that stuff right now — writing the script and everything — so we haven’t seen any finalized version, but chances are it might be a little different.

 

EI: Do you know what the character’s back-story is going to be yet?

 

TL: No. They’re not finished with the script yet. I think they should be shortly, but hopefully we’ll know soon. The cool thing with the toys is that there is no story. With a superhero, you have to kind of stay along those lines, but a toy — you get to create everything, which is super exciting.

 

EI: What’s the downside to this whirlwind that you’ve been on for the last couple of years? Or is there one?

 

TL: It’s hard to choose one. It really is. There are a million more pros than cons, for sure. Obviously the privacy thing — that’s a little different. It’s usually not normal to wake up and have 12 paparazzi cars waiting outside to follow you to Starbucks in the morning. But like I said, there are a lot more pros, and I’m willing to put up with those cons for sure.

 

EI: You have the line of the movie when you get to say, “I’m hotter than you.” What was your reaction to seeing that line in the script and getting through the scene with a straight face?

 

TL: It’s true — keeping a straight face was a tough thing. That was another line I read and loved. I thought, “This is going to be so hard to deliver, and especially with a straight face.” I’m looking at Rob in the eyes as he’s staring at me with that Edward look. It’s in the tent and it’s funny, but it was another one of those lines that was a little difficult to say to Rob.

 

EI: Why do you think someone should go see this movie?

TL: If you liked the first and second movies, then you’re definitely going to like this movie, and if you haven’t seen the first or second movies, you’re still going to like it. It basically takes everything — the romance, the action, the suspense, the danger — in the first two movies and times that by five in this one. It’s by far my favorite. It’s exciting and it’s very dangerous because they’re at war the entire time. You still have that romance, and it’s even elevated because this is the height of the love triangle, but Edward and Jacob are forced to team up together and protect Bella from Victoria and Riley, who are after her.

 

EI: The whole MTV Awards were great. Would you ever work with Les Grossman?

 

TL: Yeah, for sure. That was awesome. Working with Mr. [Tom] Cruise was pretty surreal, definitely. Doing a movie with him would be one of my dreams for sure.

 

EI: Have you ever been on the losing end of a love triangle?

 

TL: [Laughs] Maybe when I was younger, in elementary school or something, and there was a girl and five guys who wanted to be with that girl. You know, like 5th grade and you have crushes. But not really seriously. Definitely not anything [like this]. I’ve never been in a love triangle. I would not want to be in that situation. I wouldn’t to be in Bella’s situation for sure. I wouldn’t want to be in Jacob’s or Edward’s. It’s not fun. I’d have to say no, nothing seriously.

 

EI: What kind of feedback have you heard from the Native American communities about the wolf pack?

 

TL: I haven’t heard too much feedback from them, but maybe more than two years ago, when we filmed Twilight, I met with some real Quileutes and wanted to get to know them before we started filming. The biggest thing that I learned was that I was going there with a pad of paper and a pencil thinking I was going to have to write down notes and transform myself into this different person. I said, “What do you guys like to do during your free time?” and I was expecting some different answer. They said, “Well, we go to the beach and we love basketball, but most of all we like to check out girls.” But it’d be interesting to hear some feedback after the movie has been out.

 

EI: Can you give your thoughts on Breaking Dawn being turned into two films, and what you’re hoping work with Bill Condon will be like?

 

TL: I have only met Bill once, very briefly, so we haven’t had time to discuss it. He seems like a very nice guy, and obviously he’s extremely talented. I think that, whatever comes our way, he’s going to be able to deal with fine, but I’m looking forward to talking to him. And the fact that it’s going to be two films, I think, was definitely the right thing to do. It’s hard enough to breakdown 500+ pages into a 110-120-page script, but this one is 800 and there’s just so much going on with the wolf pack and the baby. There’s a lot of stuff, so condensing that into one film would be a challenge. I’m pretty excited that it’s going to be two.

EI: Do you have any guilty pleasures like Jersey Shore or Housewives — anything like that?

 

TL: American Idol definitely. So You Think You Can Dance as well, but American Idol would definitely be number one. I haven’t missed an episode in nine years. I think I shouldn’t have said that. I can’t sing. That’s the funny thing. Maybe that’s why I like watching it so much, because there’s no way I can do that.

 

EI: Looking forward to Breaking Dawn, how do you think you’re going to approach the unique romantic continuum that your character will find himself in?

 

TL: I haven’t really started thinking about it too much right now. Both the books are going to come out and we’re promoting this, and then, after that, I’m focusing on Abduction, and then, after that, will be Breaking Dawn. But I’m sure that, as soon we meet with Bill further down the road, we’ll go toward that. That will be interesting for sure.

 

EI: Do you think that Bill Condon might end up having the werewolves doing a musical number?

 

TL: I think he actually already released a statement promising that there would be no musical numbers.

 

EI: What have been a few weird encounters you’ve had with some of your passionate fans?

 

TL: I wouldn’t say they’re weird, but they’re definitely passionate. Funny. I was just in Australia a week ago or so, and we were at a fan event with a red carpet, and there were like 4,000 fans and I was walking down the line. The fans like to hold out their hands or their arms for you to sign, and this one arm I went by had a massive tattoo of the wolf pack — the real one, the same exact thing, and it was pretty cool. She was like, “Can you sign it?” I said sure and I signed right underneath it, and the next day someone told me that the girl got my signature tattooed right under the wolf pack tattoo. I don’t know whether to say that’s cool or that I feel bad that I signed her arm. But that’s definitely some passion there.

 

EI: How do you keep all that balanced, and how do you remain a normal guy throughout all that craziness?

 

TL: That’s a good question because it definitely is about surrounding yourself with your family and the friends you’ve known forever. I live in two different worlds, and they’re complete opposites. This is our job. We go to work and we live in this business world, and then we go back to our regular world and we do the same things we did before. I sit at home — it’s not that exciting — and I watch American Idol every Tuesday and Wednesday. I spend time with my family and friends. I think maintaining that world is extremely important to me.

 

EI: But dealing with all the paparazzi in front of your house — isn’t that a pain?

 

TL: Yeah, sometimes. Sometimes it becomes aggravating, but you have to tell yourself that this comes with the job, and what you’re getting out of it on the other side is definitely worth it, and you just can’t – sometimes it’s hard – let them affect you that much or it’ll drive you insane. Maintaining sanity is pretty important to me. You’ve got to push that stuff aside. It’s never normal.

 

EI: Can you ever go out without being recognized?

 

TL: Yeah, you can be creative. It’s a matter of choosing where you go and when you go. A mall probably not. A movie theater probably not. But I have my hangouts — the good low-key restaurants — and sometimes you’re just like, “I don’t care. I want to go bowling and I’m going to do it.” You do it, and sure enough it’s a little hectic, but you have fun and then you go back home and go, “I’m not going bowling for a while.”

 

EI: When The Twilight Saga finally comes to an end, what’s one item from the set you’ll keep that has sentimental value to you?

 

TL: It would probably be those little jean shorts. They have a lot of value. I’m going to miss those shorts. [Laughs]

 

EI: Is it the same brand that carries you through the whole way? Or do you even know the brand?

 

TL: I don’t even know what they are. It’s just some jeans that he finds in the woods, man. I don’t know if there’s a brand. Just because you said that, I’m definitely going to look at that when I wear those little jean shorts again. I’m so curious about that.

 

EI: Over the years with Robert and Kristen Stewart, traveling the world together and going through all of this together, how much has that friendship meant to you guys? Are you all closer now?

 

TL: Definitely. It means everything. I can’t imagine filming this franchise if the whole cast really wasn’t so close and friends. It would be a nightmare. Working with Rob and Kristen — we’re all really close, and that helps a lot because, when you’re filming, you can be open and honest with each other and discuss things, and it just makes the filming process a lot easier. And then when we’re promoting or even when we’re not doing anything, when we’re just hanging out on the weekends, it’s great. They’re incredible people — very talented — and we will definitely maintain a friendship for a very long time past this franchise. So that’s extremely important.

 

EI: In your mind, what makes a great action movie?

 

TL: I think it’s the story that comes with the action. Abduction really has an interesting story. It’s about a high school senior who finds a picture of himself on a missing person’s website and realizes that his whole life for 18 years has been a lie. It can’t be nonsense. Action has to make sense. That’s in the story behind it, and so I’m super excited to get going on that. I start in three weeks.

 

EI: Have you ever fought for a woman, or would you?

 

TL: Yeah, I would say so. If it’s important enough to you, then yeah, definitely. I’ve fought for a woman.

 

EI: What are your thoughts on keeping Breaking Dawn faithful to the book or interpreting it?

 

TL: It’s definitely super important to us to maintain being as faithful as possible to the books because that’s exactly what the fans want to see. They want to see the books. There might have to be a few little changes here and there, but as long as we maintain the basic story and everything that the characters go through and all those emotions, we’re going to be fine. I think Bill Condon, whatever he does, is going to turn out amazing. I definitely trust him, and I think the fans do as well.