Robert Pattinson was ’Twilight’s golden boy when the romance flick hit the screen last year, but fans of the Stephenie Meyer vampire series are now turning their eyes on the newest hunk on the block, Taylor Lautner.
In the second part of the Twilight Saga entitled “New Moon”, Lautner plays the American werewolf Jacob Black, whose character, as the new protector of Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) after Edward Cullen (Pattinson) leaves her, earned the devotion of millions of fans.
“We have fans all the time that will just burst into tears, it’s just moving,” Lautner said. “It must mean so much for them to meet us, and it’s an amazing feeling to know that you can touch someone in that way.”
But Lautner nearly didn’t make the cut. Summit Entertainment, the studio behind the movie, did not initially include his name in the actor list for “New Moon” but fans campaigned for his inclusion.
“The doubts came up because he had very few scenes in the first movie, and also because he’s described as being 6′5” in the second book, so there were reasonable facts that we had to come to grips with,” “New Moon” director Chris Weitz said.
To play the role of the werewolf Black, Lautner started getting buffed up by working out regularly and eating a meal of beef, sweet potatoes, and raw almonds every two hours. Scenes in the movie showing Lautner baring his chest makes the actor laugh but he knows that it is necessary to make all his fans swoon. An online poll conducted last month via AOL’s JSYK.com shows Lautner surpassing Pattinson in the “cool guy you’d like to hang out with” and favourite male movie star categories.
