Taylor Lautner and Gus Van Sant to Team Up for Next Film

Posted by on November 2nd, 2011   Filed under: Drama, Indie
Source: Hollywood Reporter

In Hollywood, it’s not always easy transitioning from teen heartthrob to respected actor… probably almost as hard as it is to transition to a steady acting career after being a child star. Taylor Lautner has had the great fortune of being involved in one of the biggest franchises of all time in Twilight and now there are hordes of adoring female fans who will follow him wherever he goes. But what do you do when all that wears off? His first attempt at carrying a studio film and becoming an action star didn’t turn out so well; Abduction made just $27 million domestically. Now it appears that he is going for critical acclaim instead by teaming up with Gus Van Sant for a currently untitled indie drama.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Taylor Lautner is currently in the process of setting up a small budget drama with Gus Van Sant based on a New Yorker article that Lautner himself optioned. There is no word yet on what that article is about, but Lautner is said to be taking on a producer role as well. An announcement is expected soon with news on who will write the script, but since Lautner was recently spotted having dinner with Van Sant and Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, I’d say he’s a pretty safe bet.

While this project could do wonders for Lautner’s career, it does kind of make you wonder what it might mean for Gus Van Sant as well. He hasn’t entirely avoided mainstream films in the past (Good Will Hunting, Psycho, Finding Forrester), and he was rumoured to be a possibility to direct Twilight: Breaking Dawn once upon a time as well. What do you think, is this a smart move for Van Sant and could Lautner still have a promising acting career ahead of him?



  • Ted

    Sean, Abduction has made $72 Million total (domes + internation). It was #1 in several south american countries. The budget was only $35 Million so it’s made double that already. I think the collaboration with Van Sant should work out well for both.

  • patrik

    He´ll have a short and forgettable career outside of the Twilight movies. Not that they are memorable at all.. Pretty terrible actor so far.

  • patrik

    Ted

    You have to take prints & advertising into consideration as well, which was probably a fair chunk of money.

  • You also have to take into consideration that his first film to feature him in the lead role after Twilight in a non-Twilight film did less than 10 percent of what the Twilight films have each done on their own. That is a pretty big indicator that non-Twilight audiences aren’t interested, and it doesn’t even look like the Twilight fans really wanted to check it out. “Abduction” shit the bed, and it shit it hard. The mattress needs to be replaced and burned, that’s the kind of stink it left. Box office performance aside, Lautner’s performance was awful, and he seemed to bring everyone else down with him with his anti-charisma. I work at a movie theater and I actually worked IN this movie when it filmed in Pittsburgh, and I’ve caught a few scenes here and there, but I’ve seen enough to know that there’s really no reason to see it in it’s entirety. I’m thinking that after Twilight wraps up for good, we’re not going to be seeing much of this kid in high profile projects. Just because he’s working with Van Sant, it doesn’t mean that he’s going to become a better actor. It just means that he can put “I worked on a Gus Van Sant film” on his resume.

  • Brendan

    Looking at that pic, they should do a remake of E.T. starring Lautner as the titular character.

  • Ted

    @patrik: deadline hollywood reported the weekend of release that Lionsgate didn’t spend that much money on advertising for ‘Abduction’ (it was outspent 4 to 1 by other studios). Lionsgate hasn’t spent much money on any of their films in the last year (main reason Warrior with Tom Hardy didn’t do as well as expected). So all in all with a 4% rotten tomatoes score, poor advertising, Abduction still made twice it’s budget. The rule of thumb is that studios start making profits once a movie hits twice it’s budget.

  • Alex

    Man, those Twilight actors get a lot criticism.

  • Taylor was really young when he went into the Scummit meatgrinder. He’s not well educated and not literary at all, so that makes it difficult for him to select scripts and books to film. He’s not particularly knowledgeable about films, he doesn’t seem to have advanced people advising him, so I think he is learning from Rob Pattinson what to do. Gus Van Zant is someone Pattinson wanted for Breaking Dawn and said so publically in an interview. VZ said he didn’t compete for it as flashy as the others and evidently Scummit only understands flashy.

    This is a good move for Lautner. He is a nice kid, but very corporate styled proper. VZ is a great director whether his last film was a big bucks BO hit or not.

  • Van Zant might also be looking for a box office hit
    and or a critical hit. his last film was RESTLESS
    came and went. by the end of 2010 trailers started to
    be shown in theaters and posters were in lobbies
    under coming soon with a stated release date of
    Jan 22. now for a film by a respected award winning
    director such as Van Zant to have a scheduled
    Jan. release date from the get go doesn’t sound
    like a good omen. well Jan. 22 came and went but
    no film eventhough the posters were still up in
    many theaters with the 1/22. date. then the film
    disappeared from sight and finally opened early
    this fall and came and went so quickly that if you
    sneezed you missed it.

  • Im sorry but that pic made me think of one thing: “The GAY Human Centipede”

  • Ted- “Abduction” has still only made a fraction of what any of the “Twilight” films have done, and Lautner is considered to be an important part of the equation of that franchise’s success, so whether it made it’s money back or not, “Abduction” was a failure if it was supposed to show that Lautner could be a movie star in his own right. It just wasn’t a very expensive failure. I don’t think it’s going to kill anyone’s career, but it sure isn’t helping anyone’s either.

    Also, having seen the kid up close and just hanging out, he seriously does have a weird giraffe neck thing going on. He’s pretty awkward looking.

  • 1138sw

    the guy is a really terrible actor. I hope he takes lessons or van sant makes him take lessons before they work together. lautner has a face of stone.

  • Pauline

    I can’t stand Lautner but maybe he can do sthg good in his life working with Gus Van Sant.
    Actually, the opening seems quite good. Looking forward to see it!!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tf3XhO3XpE&feature=player_embedded