Taylor Lautner was only sixteen years old when the first Twilight movie was released in 2008. He plays Jacob Black, the best friend of Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and rival to vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). In the second movie in the franchise (New Moon), Jacob is revealed to have a secret – he is a werewolf, and part of a wolf pack with his friends.
The day that filming finished on Twilight, Lautner had to immediately enter a strict diet and exercise regime to put on 35 pounds of muscle, which would reflect his transformation from weedy teenager to (literally) hot werewolf. New Moon was released in 2009, so Lautner did not have much time to achieve this huge task, and was apparently under threat of being recast if he couldn’t achieve the required body type.
“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,” Lautner recently told Yahoo! “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,” Lautner admits. “I had to consume at least 5,000 calories a day to maintain the weight that I was at.” It does not sound fun, and also sounds like a lot of pressure for a young teenaged kid.
In more fun food-related news, Lautner is currently planning his wedding to his fiancée, who is also named Taylor (a fact we will never get tired of sharing). Taylor Dome is Greek, something Lautner says he hopes comes into play as they’re planning menus for their wedding. “We’re definitely just starting the process, but I would love to incorporate some sort of Mediterranean food just to make her family proud.”
Check out our guide to the best fantasy movies.