Taylor Lautner Once Made Robert Pattinson Feel ‘Emasculated’ in ‘Twilight’
Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner became heartthrobs after starring in the popular Twilight franchise. And although the two never really competed with each other, Pattinson quipped there was a point where Lautner unintentionally made him feel emasculated.
Taylor Lautner found his shirtless scenes embarrassing in ‘Twilight’
Lautner was willing to commit both mentally and physically to his Twilight role. So much so the actor made fitness a part of his daily routine and put on several pounds of muscle for the film. This was to correlate with the growth his character undergoes in both the books and the movies.
“Yeah, Jacob transforms a lot in New Moon,” Lautner once told Collider. “Not only physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. So it was a matter of going to the gym and eating the right foods and a lot of it. But also, reading and studying the book and my character over and over and over again so I could have his character down as well. Because he changed in many different ways.”
Lautner was able to achieve the desired physique. As a result, he found himself shirtless in New Moon many times during the film. Although he couldn’t help laughing at the scenes in question, he asserted there was a narrative reason for them.
“It’s so embarrassing. Yeah, I mean, here’s the thing. There’s a reason that he’s not wearing clothes all the time. One, when he transforms, all his clothes get shredded, he can’t help it. And when he goes into the woods to get something to put so he’s not naked, it’s just a ripped pair of jean shorts. And he’s also hot, he’s one hundred eight degrees. So that’s another reason,” Lautner added.
Robert Pattinson once quipped Taylor Lautner made him feel emasculated
Pattinson was one of the many who took notice of Lautner’s new physique. After seeing the results of Lautner’s hard work, The Batman star admitted to feeling a bit insecure. But it also acted as proper motivation for Pattinson to get in shape himself.
“I was really, really worried. I mean I only saw him for the first time in a long time when he was all ready to go for the film so I was feeling very inadequate and emasculated. I did feel a little inadequate but it did make me go to the gym so there was some good in it,” Pattinson once said in an interview with Glamour.
Pattinson also found working with Lautner a bit odd when he came back for the Twilight sequel New Moon. However, it wasn’t because of Lautner’s physique, but more so because they had very few scenes together.
“This one was weird, because I hardly did any scenes with Taylor. We did the scenes at the beginning and scenes at the end [together], and he had his entire story line develop without me being around, which is interesting, because I had no idea where his performance was going. So it wasn’t really a competition or anything,” he said in a 2009 interview with MTV News.
There was skepticism that Taylor Lautner could deliver on his physical transformation
Around the time, there were rumors circulating that Lautner might have been recast if he couldn’t bulk up in time. Twilight alum Ashley Greene, who played Edward Cullen’s sister in the franchise, recalled the situation in a fairly recent interview. She wasn’t entirely sure if there was someone in mind to replace Lautner for New Moon, but the rumors weren’t too far off.
“I don’t remember if they had someone actually waiting in the wings, but I do remember there being discussions on whether or not he could transform into what he needed to be,” Greene once said on her podcast The Twilight Effect (via Insider).
