Taylor Lautner Admits He Should’ve Been Gone After First Twilight Movie

Summary:

• Twilight is a film franchise based on the series of novels of the same name by Stephenie Meyer.
• The plot explores the love triangle between Bella Swan, a human, and two fantasy creatures, a vampire Edward Cullen, and a werewolf Jacob Black.
• Jacob was portrayed by Taylor Lautner throughout the series, but the actor admits it wasn't meant to be.

It's no secret that recasting is a very common practice in both television and film productions. This is especially true for certain legacy characters that have been adapted from books and comics by various directors. James Gunn 's reboot of the DCEU is just one of the most recent examples that is now being widely discussed.

What isn't so common, however, is the recasting of a specific actor in the middle of a famous movie franchise. But that was almost the case with Twilight in the late 2000s, simply because the people behind the production found it hard to believe that any of the actors could live up to their book counterparts.

Fortunately, they were proven wrong, but it came at a high price.

Taylor Lautner Twilight Recast

Taylor Lautner has shared his nearly-getting-recast experience on the Call Her Daddy podcast with Alex Cooper. Turns out, the first Twilight film could’ve easily been his last one as well, because of the transformation that Jacob has come through in the middle of Stephenie Meyer’s second novel:

“My character in the first book is supposed to be like a 16-year-old little scrawny boy, and in the middle of ‘New Moon,’ he transforms into this 25-year-old-looking built, muscular man,” the actor explained.

According to Lautner, he had to put up quite a fight to stay with the franchise and keep the role he now felt was his. The battle included 9 months of excessive training and special diets just to prove to the team that he was in as good shape as any other ripped guy they could find.

Fortunately, the persuasion worked, and Lautner was able to keep the role and continue to ride the waves of the franchise's insane popularity among young adult audiences. Losing an opportunity like that would have been the most devastating turn of events.

If you want to revisit Twilight (2008) to see Lautner's first appearance and compare his form to the second in The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009), you can rent or purchase both movies on Prime Video or Apple TV Plus.

Source: Call Her Daddy Podcast