Taylor Lautner made a name for himself playing the werewolf Jacob in the hugely-successful Twilight film franchise, but it doesn't seem like too many people in Hollywood are Team Jacob these days. While his Twilight co-stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson have gone on to successful careers with plenty of critically acclaimed performances, Taylor Lautner hasn't gotten there yet.
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00:00Taylor Lautner was poised to be the next big thing when the Twilight saga was at its peak…and
00:09then he just wasn't.
00:10What went wrong?
00:12Twilight hype died.
00:13Lautner's co-stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson were clever with their careers.
00:18While still attached to the franchise, they both starred in other films, like 2009's
00:22Adventureland and 2011's Water for Elephants.
00:25As a result, the duo had an easier time transitioning to other roles post-Twilight.
00:29Lautner, however, only had a bit part in 2010's Valentine's Day to tide him over until the
00:34franchise was over.
00:36A source told The Hollywood Reporter,
00:37"...it's not easy to move out of the shadow of a hit like Twilight, but he's still very
00:42young.
00:43There's time for Taylor to become more than just Jacob."
00:46His first star vehicle bombed.
00:48Lautner was a marquee name in 2011's Abduction, but the movie didn't do well at all.
00:52The film was critically panned, earning a measly Metascore of 25 and only scored 4%
00:58on Rotten Tomatoes.
00:59That wouldn't be so bad if the box office numbers were better, but it only made $28
01:04million domestically.
01:05An agent told The Hollywood Reporter,
01:07"...his first movie just wasn't very good, and it didn't justify what he was asking
01:11for at the time."
01:12And on that note, he's too expensive.
01:16Studios just don't see Lautner as being worth the money he thinks he deserves.
01:20And they might be right.
01:21Lautner demanded $5 million for Abduction.
01:24When that bombed, studios could no longer justify the whopping $10 million he asked
01:28for to star in the retelling of the biblical story of David and Goliath.
01:32Or the $7.5 million he asked for to star in Stretch Armstrong.
01:36Yes, that Stretch Armstrong.
01:39Help!
01:40We've been robbed!
01:42Stop!
01:43Stop, evildoers!
01:44Introducing super-stretching superhero Stretch Armstrong!
01:48Both movies were shelved indefinitely.
01:50One source told Vulture,
01:51"...I remember when Universal co-chairman Donna Langley cast him in Stretch Armstrong.
01:57She said to me, he's the real deal.
01:59And I thought, based on what?
02:02Based on Twilight?
02:04Ouch."
02:05His acting isn't the best.
02:08For most stars, acting requires emoting, not just the removal of one shirt.
02:12When Lautner was expected to do the former instead of just the latter, well, things got
02:17difficult.
02:18The reviews for Abduction weren't exactly merciful in their descriptions of Lautner's
02:22ability — or lack thereof.
02:24Movieline wrote,
02:25"...this may be the first film I've seen where when an actor goes to put his hands
02:29thoughtfully on his chin, it's so awkward I become afraid he'd somehow miss and poke
02:34himself in the eye."
02:35The Village Voice said Lautner,
02:36"...looks like a stranger in his own performance."
02:39And Salon even went so far as to call Abduction,
02:42"...a fourth-rate Hollywood thriller that bungles a lot of thievery from better movies,
02:46is entirely bereft of suspense or excitement, and features a leading man who absolutely,
02:51positively cannot act."
02:53If Lautner were more skilled, Abduction's failures wouldn't have weighed so heavily
02:57on his resume.
02:58But most critics agreed that while the film's story was flimsy, Lautner's inability to
03:02convey any real emotion on screen was a huge part of the movie's problems.
03:07No one bought his faux-mances
03:09Lautner has had a lot of famous girlfriends, with suspiciously convenient timing.
03:14He dated Lily Collins when they were promoting Abduction in 2011.
03:19When that didn't generate quite enough buzz, they made headlines when Us Weekly reported
03:23that they broke up a week before the premiere.
03:25When he had a cameo in Grown Ups 2 in 2013, Life & Style noted that he was dating Micah
03:30Monroe shortly before the movie hit theaters.
03:33He dated his co-star from 2015's Tracers, Marie Abderopoulos, but E! Online reports
03:38that they split a few months before the film was released in theaters.
03:41Lautner's most famous flame was Taylor Swift, who he dated for a few months in late
03:452009-2010.
03:47What makes that pairing suspicious?
03:49Well, they broke up after their movie Valentine's Day hit theaters in 2010, and he's the only
03:55ex that Swift apparently didn't write a bitterly angry song about.
03:58In fact, the pair were actually friendly post-split, according to MTV News.
04:04That's very unlike her, especially if their relationship was real, so it probably wasn't!
04:10Another hot werewolf replaced him
04:12All three Twilight fans who were actually Team Jacob have moved on to other hot lycanthropes.
04:17Dylan O'Brien stars in MTV's Teen Wolf series, and his acting chops are significantly better.
04:23Additionally, O'Brien found success in an action franchise, starring in 2014's The Maze
04:28Runner and its sequels.
04:30Everyone's probably all hashtag Team Dylan these days.
04:34How he can turn it around
04:35Lautner has been making smart choices lately.
04:38During the box office, if not critical, success of Grown Ups 2 in 2013, Adam Sandler sought
04:43him out for his Netflix offering, 2015's The Ridiculous 6.
04:47Since then, Lautner nabbed a reoccurring role in the BBC comedy Cuckoo, where his comedic
04:51timing shines.
04:53And although he's really late to the party, he just joined Instagram, which is pretty
04:57important these days.
04:59His first post featured cameos from Adam Sandler.
05:01Well, whatever I decide on, would you do a cameo in my video?
05:05I would, but, you know, the dog doesn't want me to and that kind of thing.
05:09And David Spade.
05:10Okay, so it's simple, you just take your arm and you just dab, dab, that's all you gotta
05:15do.
05:16It's just not my thing.
05:17I'll give you Taylor Swift's cell phone number.
05:19So it's your right arm?
05:21Could Lautner's reinvention as a comic actor be in the making?
05:23If he can keep it up, he'll be back on the big screen soon.