Taylor Lautner Talks Almost Losing Jacob Black After 'Twilight,' Reveals Who Pushed Him to Start Gaining Muscle Before 'New Moon'
Taylor Lautner is recalling how he was almost recast as Jacob Black after the first Twilight movie.
If you didn’t know, the 31-year-old actor nearly lost his role due to how small and slim he was in the first film, and his character goes through a major physical transformation between the first and second books/movies.
In a new interview, Taylor opened up about how he had to re-audition for the role, how Kristen Stewart helped him get the role again, just how close to filming he found how he re-booked it, and who pushed him to start his physical transformation early.
Keep reading to find out more…
“The first time I had heard of [being recast] was shortly after the first movie came out, but I knew that if the first movie did well, they were going to want to start filming the second movie pretty shortly after, like at the beginning of the new year,” Taylor shared on the Good Guys podcast. “I’ve read the books, so I know where my character goes, so thankfully long before the first movie came out, I started my transformation journey.”
He then went on to explain how the studio didn’t know that he was already putting on weight and muscle.
“Right after the movie came out, it did very well, they decided we’re greenlighting the second movie, I got a phone call my from my agents and my managers saying, ‘Hey, you know, tough news, but the studio just called us and they let us know that they thank you for your participation in the first movie, but they’re going to be moving on and recasting for the second movie,” Taylor says.
“I kind of saw it coming, but what the studio didn’t know is I started my journey probably nine months before that call,” he adds. Taylor said his team then asked the studio if they had seen him recently and that they should meet with him.
The actor shares that the executives were surprised to see how he looked, and at that point, he had put on about 20-25 lbs of muscle, however, that didn’t stop them from continuing their search for another actor to take on the role of Jacob.
“They kept talking to me as they were doing auditions with, you know, 10 year older guys than me,” he said. One of those people who made it further in the New Moon audition process was Michael Copon, who at the time was most well known for Power Rangers Time Force and One Tree Hill.
“I understood why, because there’s no way I could have played Jacob in the second movie and on looking like I did in the first movie,” Taylor adds. “so I understood that, but as soon as they saw the amount of work that I had been putting in for the last nine months, at the point, I was like come on guys.”
He then had to star the audition process all over again, and at one point, he even called Kristen Stewart to read with him!
“I called Kristen up and I was like, ‘Could you do me a favor? Would you read opposite me for this?’ and she said, absolutely, absolutely yes,” he said. “She was a huge part of that.”
Taylor shared that the audition process continued all the way to about two weeks before filming on the second movie began, and he wasn’t sure if he still had the part until then!
So, who pushed him to get started on that physical transformation way before New Moon was greenlit? His dad!
“To be honest, it was my father who led the charge. He was the one who sat me down and he said, ‘Bud, you know where your character goes and if you wait until after the movie comes out to start that journey, it’s going to be too late. So, if you want any chance of this, you got to start right now,’” Taylor revealed.
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