Taylor Lautner still baffled by Twilight mania

Taylor Lautner still baffled by Twilight mania



THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE has already broken box office records in the USA and now the UK is gearing up for its share of the franchise's fan frenzy when the film opens this weekend.

It sees lovelorn teenager Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) caught up in a love triangle with vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and native American werewolf Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner).

Michigan-born Lautner says the Twilight franchise has "changed everything" and although he doesn't seek fame, he says: "I like what comes with it, which is the work. It allows me to make movies and that's what I love to do."

Far from letting the success and adoring fans go to his head, he manages to keep his feet firmly on the ground.

"I describe it as I live two different lives. I have Twilight, this acting life and I have the same life I had before. I spend time with the same people, I do the same boring things and I think that's what's important, maintaining that life that you had before, not just completely changing it and becoming something new.

"The weirdest thing about this whole experience is we're still baffled by it. When we were filming Twilight, we were making a lower budget movie that we were passionate about, we didn't know if anybody was going to want to see it. We were just happy to have a job, so the fact that it has led to this, I can't even soak it all in."

Lautner explained that, unlike his co-star Robert Pattinson, who trained to do stunts, his fight scenes were mostly as a giant wolf and so had to be created using CGI after filming.

"I didn't do the fight training that the Cullens had to do, which was a bummer because I would have enjoyed it... I was quite jealous of my wolf during this film," Lautner admits.

There was one scene, however, that demanded full use of the honed physique he unveils on screen.

"The only action I had in the entire movie was where I carry Bella through the forest. I have four pages of dialogue, so there was a rig set up to carry her for me, so I could focus on the scene.

"But I showed up to work that day and they were like, 'The rig doesn't work'. I was like, 'OK, I'll carry her, she's like 110 pounds, that can't be too hard'. Twelve hours later, after we'd finished every single angle possible of that scene, my arms were burning. Whoever said acting is not hard work..."

The 18-year-old also admitted it was tough filming fight scenes with Robert Pattinson.

"The number one goal of this film is to hate Edward and the challenge is that when I'm looking at Edward, I'm looking at Rob. Rob and I are good friends and he's a ridiculously nice guy, so we ruin plenty of takes because we we can't keep a straight face."