Taylor Lautner's Breaks Out For 'Abduction', Completely Solo Outing?

Taylor Lautner's Breaking Solo For Abduction

He's got three world martial arts championships under his belt. He runs his own film production company. He's at the helm of a global blockbuster franchise. At the ripe old age of 19, it must surely be time for Taylor Lautner to chill out, and, I don't know, go and play with a console or whatever it is his earthbound peers do.

Instead, he's sitting in London, his teeth gleaming in the near-dark of the large room, grinning at the pretty girl at his side - Lily Collins, co-star and reported squeeze - and fielding questions about Twilight, Tom Cruise and off-screen chemistry with the ease of a veteran. So, let's get it out of the way, is there any truth to the rumours of romance?

"We're very good friends," is his obviously well-rehearsed answer, while Collins stares straight ahead. Poor them - imagine trying to deal with all those hormones AND the world's press monitoring every glance.

Okay, onto the film, a genre thriller starring Lautner as a normal chap who suddenly spots himself on a lost persons' website and realises his circumstances aren't as he thought.

Abduction is gamely described by director John Singleton as the only time "a kid is seemingly living a life, and then is suddenly living a lie" (he can't have seen Witness, Oliver Twist, The Sixth Sense), but is basically an exercise in allowing this teenage superstar to flex his muscles, literally and figuratively both - on trains, in cars, baseball stadiums, you name it. Lautner emphasises the character's "emotional journey" was of equal importance, and you can't blame him for wanting to extend his range beyond that of a werewolf.

So how does he feel about having his name above the title and such esteemed acting peers as Sigourney Weaver, Jason Isaacs, Alfred Molina? "I couldn't have done it alone, that's for sure," he explains, with that particular type of disarming all-American good manners. "I learnt so much from them, just watching the way they treated other people on set, as well as their acting skills."

Abduction also brings all Lautner's celebrated martial arts abilities to the set, where he admits he would get a bit carried away on set with some unforeseen consequences - he managed to knock a 6'5" "Russian" out cold, and he was told to pull it back by the directors, worried he wasn't being "realistic" - his skills were outshining those of his character.

This solo outing coincides with the imminent finale of Twilight, something Lautner describes as "bittersweet", and it's obvious that Lautner, like his co-stars, is ready to mix with a wider set, including his new biking buddy Tom Cruise:

"He didn't give me any advice (about riding a motorbike on screen), but he was very excited for me. He just told me, 'you should train'."

Abduction is on nationwide release in the UK from Wednesday 28th September. Watch trailer here:

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