Taylor Lautner Interview

There’s no doubt that Taylor Lautner is hot property, and while his fame has hinged on the Twilight Saga, the young actor has become one of entertainment’s highest paid young actors and has also set up his own production company. With filming on the two part Twilight finale in the can, Lautner is out promoting his new action flick Abduction, which sees him putting his martial arts skills to use in his own ‘Bourne’ style thriller.

In Abduction, Lautner plays Nathan Harper, a high school teenager who’s alerted to a missing children’s website by a friend that features his picture as a child. Before he can get answers from his parents, they are gunned down in their home and he is forced to go on the run with his neighbor Karen (Lily Collins), and begin the quest for answers. The film is directed by John Singleton and stars acting heavyweights Sigourney Weaver, Alfred Molina, Maria Bello and Jason Isaacs.

Christina Radish recently spoke to the young actor and asked him about all things including fame, family and of course the Twilight saga.

Production on the movie was at one point shooting in Pittsburgh, and hordes of female fans were lining the streets at night waiting to get a glimpse of him.

I would go out and there would literally be 800 people down the street. I would pretty much take pictures with all of them. It took about an hour. We tried to do it fast, but doing it fast for 800 people is still an hour. But, it was important to me.

Lautner was asked about using his martial arts, and how it differs when making a film:

It was very exciting that I got to use it, for the first time in a movie. It is different because it’s all choreographed, but it was exciting. What was also exciting was being able to learn new things, like boxing, motorcycle riding and wrestling. Those were all new for me. I had to do about three months of training, in all of those aspects, before filming, which was a lot of fun.

What attracted him to this thriller and does he see it becoming a teen ‘Bourne’ franchise:

In the very first place, it was this character’s journey. Just hearing the idea of the script, and where the character starts and where he ends, and everything he deals with, I knew it would be exciting and challenging for me, as an actor. That’s what attracted me to it, originally… I guess it could make sense, but I try and not think about it. We try to just take it one movie at a time and, right now, our focus is Abduction, and Abduction alone.

What else does he hope to achieve:

Maybe I’ll direct, down the road. I’m definitely loving what I’m doing right now, and that’s what I’m focusing on. But, I’ve always been super-interested in all aspects of film. Ever since I was in video production class in high school, it was a dream of mine to be involved in movie-making, not only in front of the camera, but behind the camera as well. That’s why this movie was such a dream come true for me. It’s my production company’s first movie, and being able to be involved from the ground up, in developing the story and creating the characters and the journey that they go on. It was a lot of fun for me.

Was there a movie that inspired him to get into acting:

I don’t know if there was one movie. There are a few actors, like Tom Cruise, Matt Damon and Leonardo [DiCaprio]. I’ve always looked up to them. They’ve definitely inspired me, since I was very young.