Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner inThe Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2(2012).Photo: Summit Entertainment, LLC.
Taylor Lautneris getting candid about how the Team Edward vs. Team JacobTwilightdiscourse affected his real-life dynamic with costarRobert Pattinson.
The actor, now 30, appeared alongside wifeTaylor Dome Lautneron Thursday’s episode ofThe Toastpodcast, admitting he’d “be lying if” he said the infamous fan debates over who reigned supreme between his and Pattinson’s characters didn’t affect him.
He went on to describe the “very strange” feeling he had while “traveling the world and being in different cities and having thousands of screaming fans either take your side or the other guy’s side.”
“Like, we’re a team. We’re both just trying to make the best movies … but itwas a little bizarre, the competitiveness,” Lautner said. “There wasn’t a competitiveness between me and Rob, but having that constant reminder, it definitely had an impact.”
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Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner in 2010.Kyle Rover/startraksphoto.com
Lautner also recently opened up on his new podcastThe Squeezeabout how although topics ofbody imageare often associated with women, “being viewed as having thisunbelievable body” inTwilightwas difficult on him.
“When I was in it, when I was 16 through 20 years old, starring in this franchise wheremy character is known for taking his shirt offevery other second, no, I did not know that it was affecting me or going to affect me in the future with body image,” Lautner began. “But now looking back at it, of course it did, and of course it is going to.”
Lautner played werewolf Jacob Black in all fiveTwilightsaga movies, rounding out the series' love triangle oppositeKristen Stewartas Bella Swan and Pattinson, 36, as Edward Cullen.
For the role, the actor has to make an impressive transformation from human to wolf inNew Moon. At the time, he credited his routine of five days a week at the gym — and a 3,200-calorie daily diet — with getting him in werewolf shape.
“It was my entire life,” he admitted, in part. “In the first movie, I was 140 lbs., and inNew MoonI was 175. So yeah, that wasn’t my natural body. Ihad to work very hard for itand very, very hard just to maintain it.”
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In January 2022, Lautner told PEOPLE about the new generation of fans who are being exposed toTwilightfor the first time, as a result of the vampire fantasy film series streaming onNetflixat the time.
“Before that, to be honest,it was mainly the ‘Twi-moms’ that would still stop mein the streets,” the actor said with a laugh.
And now? “It’s like teenagers again,” Lautner added.
He went on to say of his time acting in his childhood through his early 20s, “I’m super thankful for what I did experience, but I did miss out on a lot of just normal-life things, like going to college.”
“I wanted to take a step back and enjoy life and spend some time with my family and friends. AndI met my fiancée out of it, so it all worked out,” Lautner said.
source: people.com
