Taylor Lautner details the nightmare diet he had to undertake in order to play Jacob in Twilight. Based on Stephenie Meyer's best-selling book series, Twilight tells the twisted love story of Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson), a vampire. The first film, which was released in 2008, earned very mixed reviews from critics but went on to become a major box office success, earning over $407 million. The first Twilight was followed by four sequels, with The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 concluding the franchise in 2012.
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While Bella and Edward often take center stage in the films, Lautner's Jacob is an equally important player. Throughout the series, Bella and Jacob also have a fair amount of romantic tension, which is made even more complicated by the fact that Jacob and his kin are all werewolves. This means Jacob and Edward are often at odds with each other, with the two mythical creatures presented as sworn enemies. The release of the Twilight films started spirited debates among fans, with "Team Edward" and "Team Jacob" becoming popular cultural references points. Although Lautner's muscular physique was a big draw for fans, the actor explains that it was unpleasant to achieve.
In a new interview with Yahoo, Lautner reveals that, in order to keep his role as Jacob, he had to undertake a very strict "nightmare" diet. Lautner, who was 16 at the time of the first Twilight movie, explains that he was required to put on 35 pounds of muscle for the role and that he was expected to eat 5,000 calories a day in order to maintain this new weight. Check out Lautner's full comment below:
"For this little role that I did starting when I was 16, I was 140 pounds and I had to put on 35 pounds of muscle to keep my role. That was an absolute nightmare in the diet compartment — raw sweet potatoes and turkey patties and protein shakes that were essentially just mud. That was rough. I had to consume at least 5,000 calories a day to maintain the weight that I was at."
While it's not uncommon for actors to undertake extreme diets for roles (Christian Bale is famous for his body transformations for various films), Lautner was in his teens when he started his Twilight diet. The work evidently paid off in the final film, but Lautner's comment affirms that the experience was certainly not a positive one. The actor also doesn't reveal whether he had any help from the studio when it came to his diet and exercise regime, but it's likely Lautner was working with a personal trainer and dietitian for the body transformation.
In addition to Lautner's own physical transformation, Pattinson has also previously detailed his struggles with getting in shape and gaining muscle mass for The Twilight Saga. Although Pattinson doesn't have nearly as many shirtless scenes as Lautner, the actor did joke about how difficult it was competing with his Twilight co-star's impressive abs. While Lautner is now many years removed from the Twilight franchise and has enjoyed a great deal of success because of the films, it's clear that preparing for this apparent dream role as Jacob was no cakewalk.