Would You Rather Bank on Taylor Lautner or Sam Worthington?
You can't swing a barbell in this town without hitting a new Taylor Lautner project. Every studio wants to be in business with the almost-legal teen superstar, and since New Moon, Lautner's lined up project after project, including the action movie Cancun, the pilot drama Northern Lights, and the rubbery franchise Stretch Armstrong. The only actor who could possibly rival Lautner's sudden ability to get a movie greenlit is Avatar's Sam Worthington, who got cast in several tentpoles before Avatar had even come out. So why is Worthington getting a pass, while Lautner's come in for criticism?
"Taylor Lautner... Car Wreck of The New Decade?" wrote Dave Poland in a blog entry over the weekend. "Studios seem to be having a mass delusion about Taylor Lautner," said Poland, who admits to never having seen a Twilight film but did catch Lautner on Saturday Night Live. "He's a beautiful kid. And shows not the tiniest amount of acting skill. He make Justin Timberlake look like frickin' Olivier!"
Poland isn't alone in his sentiment -- each new Lautner project seems to inspire snickers and head-shakes from the bulk of the movie blogs, run by men who favor either fanboy projects or high art but certainly not the sort of female-targeted genre that Lautner hails from. That's all fine and good -- we all need something to make fun of! -- but aren't people underestimating Lautner just a little bit?
Poland took particular issue with the Stretch Armstrong press release, which heralded Lautner's rapid recent ascent. "Mr Lautner has most certainly not become a movie star in the last few years," said Poland. "He's never even been the lead of a movie." That would probably come as a surprise to Twilight fans, who were given a daily insulin drip of shirtless Lautner over the past year, or to Summit executives, who de-emphasized Robert Pattinson for Lautner in New Moon's marketing and thrilled as they built a star every bit as big.
The major difference between Lautner and Worthington is that though the latter stars in the biggest movie ever made, he still doesn't seem to have become a household name. Certainly, producers are just as eager to work with him as they are with Lautner, but there's no DiCaprio-esque sense of discovery and public frenzy around the Aussie star, nor even a Russell Crowe-sized buzz. It's my job to follow the movie industry, and even I don't know very much about Worthington beside his inability to hold an American accent and his love of wearing heavy metal T-shirts on red carpets. Still, he nabbed lead tentpole roles in Clash of the Titans and Terminator: Salvation based on nothing more than James Cameron's vote of confidence. (The fact Zoe Saldana's career hasn't gotten a similar jolt is another story entirely.)
Worthington may be a better actor than Lautner -- his ability to convey moods other than "chirpy" is surely a positive -- but there's no question to me that Lautner is the bigger star right now. What's more, Lautner has actually helped open a movie before, while Worthington's ability to do that is still unknown. We might be uninterested in which projects Lautner picks, but for all those naysayers who think Hollywood is jumping the gun by employing him, I wonder what exactly more they need?
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At quick glance I thought the title asked me "Would You Rather Bang.."
Ahem. Anyway, yeah Lautner has the young female demo on his side so that's why he's a "star." Worthington is still developing his reputation. Lautner = flash in the pan.
I mean, feel free to answer that question too.
The answer of course would be: I'll take the Worthington Lautner Club Sandwich to go!
I think the tween factor has to do with it. Adults automatically hate anything that kids in that age range are into. Mostly because kids that age range are generally into stupid people, places, things and ideas.
I would like to bang Sam Worthington, if you please.
i loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee taylor lautner
Anoter blogger getting paid by Lautner's management. Getting silly now.
you are right that sam worthington hasn't gotten the bounce (yet) from avatar. but this happens sometimes when the cgi is bigger than the sum of its parts (like with lord of the rings. no stars came out of that movie.
http://www.twitter.com/worthingtonfan
orlando bloom?
First of all, I'll happily bang Lautner over Worthington, any day, any time, any where. Having said that, this Lautner business reminds me of when Jon Heder lined up a million comedy projects and a production deal off of "Napoleon Dynamite"...until those projects started getting released and everyone realized he a) wasn't funny and b) couldn't act. It's smart of Lautner to strike while the iron's hot, but I have a feeling it's going to prove remarkably short-sighted of the studios. Will any straight guy want to pay $$ to watch him? I've seen him now in "New Moon" (btw, a stale piece of bread could have played Jacob and it still would have killed it @ the B.O.) and "Valentine's Day," and aside from his obvious physical beauty, I still don't see that *star* quality.
Your comment about straight guys is interesting -- are you positing that straight guys are actually threatened by Lautner, or simply won't go for him because of his Twilight origins? (And might the same argument have been used on Zac Efron a few years ago?) Paul Walker was similarly bland, but in the right vehicle, he did all right.
Lautner's SNL hosting gig actually surprised me; I thought he was actually quite good, and showed some actual comic potential. But who knows what will happen? No one, Hollywood least of all, really knows what makes a star and why some careers take off and some flounder and some stage a comeback.
But, hey, if it all goes south, he'll always have gay porn to fall back on!
This article is so ridiculous. Sam W. all the way. And Taytay is nowhere near as big a star as Robert Pattinson. New Moon opened big not because of Taylor Lautner but because of Robert Pattinson who was a true breakout star in the original Twilight. The roles which Taytay has taken so far are similar, and stupid. He is the most boring young actor in Hollywood, has zero charisma, and is not exactly good-looking with his pug nose and small squinty eyes, he has a big thick neck, and is on the short side (okay Sam W. is not tall either).
FanBoys get threatened by guys that are 1. Very good looking and 2. have a huge young female fanbase. You only have to read the Users Talkback section of AICN to see example after exmple of that.
If Clash of the Titan's is a hit, it'll do wonders for Sam Worthington's career.
Valentine's Day and Eclipse are guaranteed to be hits so Lautner will be around for a while yet, although getting compared to Tom Cruise more and more isn't going to help his career any.
The twilight crew can't act any more than my dog can. but i felt the same way about the harry potter kids when that started and now i feel that they are at least better than animatronics. Maybe the same will happen with the twilight kids after they get through these movies, but i strongly doubt it.
Worthington for the win (and the sex)
It's inevitable when someone gets this big and has this much success, there's going to be a huge backlash. Particulary if that person happens to be young and attractive. There's a reason some people are household names and some people aren't. It's called star quality. To dismiss Lautner as just a pretty young thing is remarkably short-sighted. That suggests that every pretty young thing in Hollywood should be as big as him right now. Yet they aren't. Why? Simple, no star quality. Lautner will have his fair share of haters, but at the end of the day, he has plenty of star quality. As you point out, there has to be a reason Lautner is bigger than Worthington. You don't have that kind of ascent for no reason. You just don't.
why would you compare an 18 years old boy, whos got one stupid movie (with a avery questionable performance) under his belt, with a 33 old man with great performances in a good number of movies.
These two actors go after completely different demographics...
btw. I hardly see Sam Worthington wanting to be chased down the street by screeming 12 years old girls. Beside, Sam hates papz, Lautner's team is probably working hands in hands with them to keep the hype high.
Can Zac bring in straight guys? He actually did the smart thing and, for his first post-HSM project did 17 Again, which still catered to his fanbase (teens, girls, gays). Meanwhile, nobody saw Me & Orson Welles. So whether straight guys will pay to see him remains to be seen. And Paul Walker's breakthrough was with a testosterone-fueled movie, the 1st Fast & the Furious, and aside from that franchise he's virtually disappeared. Lautner would be wise to do what Zefron did and pick a project that will appeal to his audience while still transitioning him out of Twilight-land.
As far as why straight guys won't want to see Lautner, I think it's for both reasons that you said - ultimately, he's not currently perceived as a guy's guy. He's a pretty beefcake twink-himbo from "Twilight" who seems to have a hard time doing photoshoots that don't come off as homoerotic. His PR people will have to do some serious work on his image if he's going to be taken at all seriously as an action hero, which is clearly what Lautner wants to be (and to be fair, he has the physique and skills to theoretically pull it off). That's why I think Sam Worthington has been so popular with places like WB - he's a man's man. Even Paul Walker, bland as he is, comes off as more of a guy's guy than either Lautner or Efron.
Sam Worthington who? Seriously, he's about as much of a reason that Avatar is a success as it is the movie theater for selling popcorn. I'm on Team Neither, but even comparing the two seems irrelevant.
The only reason that fans went to see New Moon was because of Kristen and Rob (that is what the Twilight series is about, it's a romance between the two characters Bella and Edward and nothing more)...THAT IS WHY IT WAS A SMASH HIT, not because of Taylors..wee wee wee awesome ABS...give me a break!!! The movies that Taylor is getting right now are stupid. I hope the studios lose they're shirts
AWESOME SAM WORTHINGTON FOR THE WIN....he can act circles around Taylor
I think it's fruitless to compare the two, one is 18 the other 33 and there not competing for the same roles.
Lautner appeals to tweens and teenage girls, but that's all. He'll keep being popular because of the twilight saga, after that who
knows as all it takes is a couple of flops and it's over.
Worthington has a broad appeal, men/teenageboys/scifi/nerds/women. Men like him because he's a guy's guy and for women he's got the whole masculine but vulnerable thing going on, a winning combination.
Besides Clash of the Titans he also has a 2 films coming out soon. Last night with Keira Knightly and a drama with Helen Mirren, showing that he can do character roles as well as action. Also his choice of doing The Fields and Dracula seem very interesting.
Worthington attended NIDA, the prestegious Australian acting school that the likes of Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving also went to. He's had a career in theatre, tv and small films before hitting it big. Call me crazy, but that just might be one reason why he's more respected by people than a little Twilight teen. It's kind of ridiculous to compare the two.
but, can an art school really be prestigious? I mean, outside of the art world.
Sam Worthington is by far a better actor and definitely the best newcomer in Hollywood. And taking his looks, he's actually more handsome than the American men Hollywood markets. He's got 10 years of acting experience under his belt, it's not like it's first time in a movie. Taylor Launter lacks in everything. I was surprised to know people even bothered to pay him attention. He's just a teenage gilr's crush.
The difference is that Sam Worthington can actually "act"
He has 10 years of experience playing character roles in film, theater and tv. He won an AFI best actor award for Somersault with Abbie Cornish, he's not in bad company with Geoffrey Rush, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce and Eric Bana being previous winners.
We will have to see with Lautner, right now he seems
pretty lightweight but then he's only 18.
Finally someone who knows what Sam W been up to!!! because everyone is talking about this guy as if they know his carrer before Avatar, and the truth is that this man has been arround, doing great movies, for a while now...he´s a great actor!
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