The Rise and Fall of Taylor Lautner – The Human Shirt
DYOR Dave
For anyone that went through school in the early 2010s, Taylor Lautner was one of two things – for most teenage girls, you couldn’t stop looking at him, and for most teenage boys, you were infinitely envious of him due to the aforementioned attention of young girls.
After becoming a household name thanks to his work playing the role of “chiseled torso” in the Twilight series, Lautner has since failed to maintain his status as a Hollywood icon, and all but disappeared from the public eye for half a decade, so what happened?
As a child, Lautner fiercely pursued both acting and karate, earning himself a black belt by age 8 and a handful of TV and commercial gigs.
His breakout year came in 2005, when he starred in The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl and Cheaper by the Dozen 2, which was named one of the worst films of the 2000s by Rotten Tomatoes.
In 2008, he landed the role of Jacob “jerry” Black in the first Twilight film, alongside Robert Pattinson and Kirsten Stewart, who have both gone on to have prolific careers after Twilight.
Despite the runaway success of the first movie, the role of Jerry was set to be recast due to the transformation of the character between books, but Lautner rose to the challenge and gained over 30 pounds to secure the role.
The signs were clear from early on that the role he was playing required little to no acting abilities, but rather required a throbbing canvas for young women to drool over, and this all but proved it.
For a moment, he had Hollywood fooled into thinking he was a drawcard, someone whose name could top the poster of an expensive blockbuster, and he tried to make the most of it.
He snared multi-million dollar deals in action movies Abduction and Tracers, both of which failed miserably to attract critical attention, as well as a small role in Valentine’s day, for which he was barely noticed.
By the time the Twilight series had finished, his co-stars were already making a name for themselves outside the fantasy genre, but all Lautner had to show was a minor role in Grown Ups 2, and a regrettable part in Adam Sandler’s western parody The Ridiculous 6.
Once considered to be the highest-paid teen actor in Hollywood, Lautner then turned his sights to the small screen, starring in the shows Cuckoo and Scream Queens, and working on the independent film Run the Tide.
He has said in interviews that he often felt he was seen as “just a pretty face,” and that he preferred living outside Hollywood, as he had for the majority of his career.
After a few shelved productions and a short run on TV, he settled down with non-famous partner Taylor Dome and enjoyed a quiet life until 2021, when his old friend Adam Sandler came calling.
Starring as an under 12’s American football coach alongside Kevin James and Rob Schneider, Taylor Lautner returns to the big screen in Home Team, a story inspired by NFL Coach Sean Payton coaching his son’s team during a years suspension.
The film was released in January, and has been described as “A shallow representation of sports, parenthood, and comedy, with almost no laughs.”
Taylor’s return to the screen may not have been the breakthrough he was looking for, but with an estimated net worth of $40 million thanks to his time as the hottest man in Hollywood, I think he’ll be ok.
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