Taylor Lautner: "Canada is great. I’ve spent a while there. I’ve spent six months out of this year. The first time we were there it was really rainy and dark and cloudy. It was snowing. And that was difficult weather-wise. But filming Eclipse, it was beautiful. It’s just one of the most beautiful cities and I’m definitely going to miss it a lot. Filming Eclipse, Eclipse was my favorite book so I was really excited to start filming the movie. I just love that it’s the height of the love triangle. Twilight develops Edward and Bella’s relationship, New Moon develops Jacob and Bella’s, and in Eclipse the three of them are physically together. It has one of my favorite scenes ever in that movie. The tent scene, where Edward is forced, and I guess it was a choice of his, to let me sleep in the same sleeping bag as Bella just so she doesn’t die, because she’s shivering to death and I’m warm. I’m the only thing at that moment that can keep her alive. It’s a funny scene. There’s a lot of ribbing going on between Jacob and Edward. It’s going to be a really good movie and visually stunning. David Slade is incredible visually."
In the movie you show up half-naked in the rainy forest. Can you talk about behind the camera how cold it was and how challenging it was not to shiver?
Taylor Lautner: "Yeah, the challenging thing is Jacob is supposed to be extremely hot, so he’s not supposed to feel cold at all. And the worst scene for that was the rain scene, the breakup scene where Bella first sees Jacob after his transformation. We’re standing on this little hill right behind Jacob’s house and it was 35 degrees and it was pouring rain on top of us, not regular rain, rain tower rain, which comes straight from the springs. And the scene was very long. It took four minutes to film the scene. And we filmed the same scene all day long. So it was really, really rough. It was hard. And as soon as we’d call cut, we’d run over to a heater quick and wrap ourselves in blankets and we’d have like two minutes off before we’d have to go do another take. So the weather was definitely extremely challenging. I just had to take myself to another world so during the scene I wasn’t sitting there shivering. It was hard. Sometimes I’d catch myself and I’d have to stop."
In the movie you speak a little Spanish to Bella. Do you speak any Spanish at all and are you going to speak more Spanish in Eclipse?
Taylor Lautner: "I don’t speak much Spanish. I took it in school; yeah, that was about it. I think it’s just Jacob’s personality. He’s really outgoing, he’s random, and it definitely doesn’t have anything to do with his character, just the fact that he’s friendly and you never know what to expect. I didn’t speak any Spanish in Eclipse. That was a bummer. But at the end of this one I did speak a little bit of Quileute, when I was leaning in to kiss her in the kitchen, and I’m not gonna tell you what I said. I’ll leave that to you to figure out. But it was really cool. There’s only like four people left in the world that actually speak Quileute so we were able to talk to one of these ladies. It was really interesting."
What did you think of your wolf when you got to see it on screen? And with you being so busy and this being the end of your teenage years, how are you trying to sort of relish and make sure that this all isn’t a blur in five years?
Taylor Lautner: "I must say I’m having the time of my life. It couldn’t be a better end to my teenage years. I’m doing what I love and I’m spending time with the people that I love. So it’s great. I’m definitely never, ever going to forget this. What was the first part? The wolf. I was blown away. I was really excited. Because when I’m filming, the famous trailer shot when I’m running through the field and I jump up and try and fly in midair, I’m attached to wires and I’m running and I let the wires pull me up in the air and jerk me to a stop and I just have to freeze there and let them convert my body into a CGI wolf. The whole time I’m like, 'I hope I look cool.' And yeah, after I saw the final version last week, after I saw the wolves, it was amazing. And the fight scene that comes right after that, the fight between Jacob and Paul wolf, was so cool. I thought they were extremely powerful and looked very real."
Aside from the physical, how has being part of this phenomenon transformed you?
Taylor Lautner: "Really, I’d have to say the biggest transformation would be my schedule. I’m really, really busy but it’s a lot of fun. I just got back from South America yesterday and here I am today for three days. And then I go to Europe. So I’m really, really busy, but it’s been a lot of fun. It’s been a great experience. I’m really excited to be part of this thing."
You’re filming a movie with Taylor Swift. Has she written a song about you? Do you want her to write one for you?
Taylor Lautner: "That’s a scary thing. I don’t know if she has. I have no idea. That movie was a lot of fun and it comes out pretty soon after New Moon does. It’s going to be fun, there were a lot of fantastic actors in it. I got to work with legendary director Garry Marshall and Taylor was great as well so I’m excited for everyone to see that."
What’s it called?
Taylor Lautner: "Valentine’s Day."
Was it hard to squeeze that in with your schedule?
Taylor Lautner: "It was hard, yeah. We had a very short break between New Moon and Eclipse and I knew that I wanted to be part of this film somehow, just to work with Garry and the entire cast. So I was able to squeeze a short thing in, quickly."
What about you and Taylor Swift?
Taylor Lautner: "What about us?"
Is it a publicity thing because the film is coming out, or are you really dating?
Taylor Lautner: "The very funny thing is that all of you have seen every single move I make so I guess I can leave it up to you to decide."
