Eclipse Interview: Taylor Lautner

From the Twilight press conference

A new group of evil vampires is on the hunt for Bella and Jacob wants to do everything he can to protect her even though she still loves Edward.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, is the darkest movie out of the franchise so far and ComingSoon.net and Shock Till You Drop sat in on the press conference with Taylor Lautner who talked about that aspect of the film and joked about being shirtless most of the movie, why he would never want to be in Bella’s position and how he stays so grounded in the midst of Twilight chaos.

Question: Can you talk about what you get to do that’s different in this picture?

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

Q: You’re the new Hollywood “it” guy. What has it been like from your point of view? And do you now have an entourage?

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

Q: How do you choose your projects now?

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

Q: Are you playing a superhero next?

Lautner: Not next, but hopefully soon. Next is Abduction. I’ll just be a regular guy who is an interesting situation, but maybe a superhero in about a year from now.

Q: Jacob seems to be more mature in this film. Do you think that’s because you’re coming into your own person as well?

Lautner: No, I don’t know if it really has anything to do with me. It’s kind of all in the books and that’s what we go off of. That’s exactly what the fans want to see, but yeah Jacob definitely matures quite a bit because he’s been dealing with his new self now. He’s come to know his new self and the situations he’s been put in romantic wise. He deals with a lot. He becomes frustrated in this one a little bit because he gets this close all the time and gets told no over and over again so it’s quite a bummer but he’s quite persistent.

Yeah, that’s right. 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 Eclipse quite a bit. The hardest thing I found about working with Rob is that usually I have to hate him in the scenes and it’s difficult. He’s such a funny nice guy. Literally doing a scene where we’re yelling and screaming at each other and he’s slapping my shoulder and I’m shoving him off me and we’re screaming and spitting in each other’s faces and then as soon as they call cut we bust out laughing. It is really hard to be mean to Rob definitely.

Q: Is there a scene in particular that was tough?

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

Q: The line where Rob says “Doesn’t he have a shirt,” referring to you being half naked throughout the entire film, was that in the script?

Lautner: 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 funny. It was quite obvious when they pull up in the middle of the street –even in the position I’m in. I’m leaning back up against the car with my hands behind me. It looks like I’m waiting flexing for her to come up. Those are the awkward scenes. When everybody is fully clothed, it’s raining and I’m just the only person there waiting kind of posing for them.

Q: For Breaking Dawn is it going to be one movie from Jacob’s perspective and one from Edward’s?

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

Q: What about for Abduction?

Lautner: No, it really all comes down to character. If I love the character and if 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.

Q: Can’t hear the question. I think it has to do with an upcoming project.

Lautner: You know they’re doing all of the designing and all that stuff right now. They’re writing the script and everything so I haven’t seen any finalized version, but chances are it might be a little different from ??

Q: Do you know what the back story is going to be like?

Lautner: No. They’re not finished with the script yet. I think they should be shortly so hopefully we’ll know soon. The cool thing with the toy is that there is no story. Like with a superhero you have to stay along these lines, but with a toy you get to create everything which is super exciting and creative.

It’s true—keeping the straight face was the tough thing. That was another line when I read it and I loved the line, but I was like this is going to be so hard to deliver and especially with a straight face. I was looking Rob in the eyes and he’s starring at me with that Edward look.

Q: Which line?

Lautner: “After all I am hotter than you.” It’s in the tent. It’s funny, but another one of those lines that was difficult to say to Rob.

Q: Why should people see this movie?

Lautner: If you like the first and second movie then you are definitely going to like this movie. 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 everything in the first two movies and times it by five in this one. It’s by far my favorite movie. It’s exciting. It’s very dangerous. They’re at war the entire time, but you still have that romance and it’s elevated because this is the height of the triangle. Edward and Jacob are forced to team up together and protect Bella from Victoria and Riley who are after her. It was a very long way of telling you why you should see this movie. You should see the movie.

Q: What feedback have you heard from Native Americans about the wolf pack?

Lautner: I haven’t heard too much feedback from them, but two years ago maybe even longer when we filmed Twilight, I met with some real Quileute’s. I kind of just wanted to get to known them before we started filming and the biggest thing I learned—I was going there with a pad and paper and a pencil. I was thinking I was going to have to write down notes and transform myself into this different person. I was like, ‘What do you guys like to do in your free time’ and I was expecting some different answer and they were like, ‘We go to the beach and we play basketball, but most of all we like to check out girls.’ I was like, ‘Oh really? Alright.’ It would definitely interesting to hear feedback after the movies have come out.

Q: What are your thoughts on Breaking Dawn being two films and have you talked to Bill Condon?

Lautner: I have only met Bill once and very briefly so we have not had time to discuss it. He seems like a very nice guy and obviously he’s extremely talented. I think whatever comes our way he’s going to deal with it fine. I’m looking forward to talking to him for sure.

Q: What about the movie being broken up into two?

Lautner: I think that was definitely the right thing to do. It’s hard enough to break down 500 plus 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 to condense that into one film would probably be a challenge. I’m very excited that it’s two. Looking forward to it.

Q: Looking forward to Breaking Dawn, how do you think you’ll approach the romantic triangle?

Lautner: I really haven’t started thinking about it too much. Right now you know we’re focusing on Eclipse coming out so we’re promoting that and after that I’m focusing on Abduction and then after that will be Breaking Dawn. I’m sure as soon as we meet with Bill further on down the road we will go towards that, but that will be interesting for sure.

Q: What are your thoughts on keeping Breaking Dawn faithful to the book?

Lautner: It’s definitely super important to us to maintain as faithful as possible to the books because that’s exactly what the fans what to see—they want to see the books. There may have to be a few changes here and there but as long as we maintain the basic story and everything the characters go through—all those emotions we’re going to be fione. I think whatever Bill Condon does is going to turn out amazing. I definitely trust in him and I think the fans should as well.

Source: Heather Newgen

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