Ah, the Twilight craze. After Stephenie Meyers’ vampire series became worldwide bestsellers, it only got bigger with all the Twilight movies. And over the years, as fans followed Kristen Stewart’s Bella Swan on her journey to the undead, they were split into a few sectors, the most popular being Team Edward and Team Jacob. While audiences were sparring as to whether the vampire or werewolf life was better for Bella, how did Taylor Lautner feel about the whole thing?
Lautner is now a decade removed from starring in the Twilight saga. The actor recently got married to Taylor Dome, who is now legally Taylor Lautner as well. When the actor behind Jacob Black was recently asked if the Team Edward/Jacob aspect of the franchise ever got to him, here’s what he said on The Toast:
I feel like I’d be lying if I said no. And I was so young. I was 16 when ‘Twilight’ came out, 17 for ‘New Moon’ and ‘Eclipse.’ I finished the franchise by the time I was 19. I was so young and yeah, I do feel like it was very strange traveling the world and being in different cities and having like, thousands of screaming fans either taking your side or the other guy’s side. Like, we’re a team. We’re both just trying to make the best movies.
Twilight had Bella placed in a high-stakes love triangle that took forbidden love to a new level, considering vampires and werewolves are basically rivals in Stephenie Meyers’ established world. And since Robert Pattinson’s quiet intensity as Edward Cullen and Taylor Lautner’s sweet, but hot-headed Jacob Black were so different from each other, the teen girl demographic that greatly consumed the successful franchise would pick sides, make shirts and hang posters of their actor of choice. (Though, there were many who were Team Alice, too). Lautner continued:
Yeah, it was a little bizarre, the, like, competitiveness. There wasn’t a competitiveness between me and Rob, but having that constant reminder, I think it definitely had an impact.
Lautner shared these thoughts on the Twilight fandom during an interview with The Toast alongside his wife, Taylor Lautner. Check out his response on the podcast below:
As previously revealed, his wife was originally Team Edward before she met Taylor Lautner through knowing his younger sister first. Lautner brings up a great point during the interview that he was really young when he was part of the Twilight phenomenon, and a lot of things did emotionally affect him. In the past, Lautner has also opened up about being “super anxious” for years about even going outside his house due to the super fame he attained almost overnight as the franchise’s hottest werewolf.
Lautner has also gotten real about how intense his diet was to get into and stay in Jacob shape. He said he had to gain 35 pounds of muscle, and then consume at least 5,000 calories a day in order to keep those highly-coveted abs for all those shirtless scenes.
Even though it sounds like playing Jacob Black was no easy breezy walk in the woods for the actor, he has shared he wouldn’t say no to playing the Twilight role again. Although, another Twilight movie is not among the upcoming book adaptations coming our way, so the actor certainly won’t be thrust back into the Team Edward/Jacob discourse with the intensity of his own teen years anytime soon.