Becoming a movie heartthrob is never easy and Taylor Lautner is handling it with as much patience and class that you could expect for a 17-year-old whose become instantly recognizable to almost every teenage girl in his peer group. So, when this writer and a number of journalists visited the set of “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” in May, Lautner was kind enough to journey to the Vancouver studio during his offtime to chat about the highly-anticipated sequel. It’s well documented how much work Lautner did to gain the muscle mass to play Jacob, a character that is described as physically imposing in Stephenie Meyer’s books.

Lautner spoke in detail to the few reporters on hand about his training regime, meeting “Eclipse” director David Slade or the first time and how painful it is to play Jacob’s unrequited love for Bella.

(Oh, and in case there was any doubt, this writer did not ask how often Lautner spends shirtless in “New Moon.”)

Q: Were you doing any stunts today?

I’ve been doing a lot recently, yeah. The cool thing is, they’ve pretty much let me do most of my stunts. I got to do all the dirt bike riding, I got to do this really cool sequence that I’m actually not going to tell you about, because I want you to wait to see it. But yeah, the stunts have definitely been my favorite part so far.

Q: What physical preparation did you have to do to get ready for the stunt work?

Well, I had to put on some weight. (Laughs.) While filming ‘Twilight,’ I knew that Jacob’s character transforms, not only emotionally and mentally but also physically, so I immediately, the day after filming Twilight, hit the gym, started eating a lot – good food – trying to pack on pounds. And here I am, thirty pounds heavier!

Q: Was it harder or easier than you thought it would be?

The actual getting into the gym and working out process was easier, but the eating was harder. Because I had to eat, and everyone’s like ‘Are you kidding me? I’d love to eat like that!’ I had to eat every two hours. At one point, my trainer said, ‘Put anything in your mouth. Go to McDonald’s, get the biggest shake possible, I just need to get calories in you.’ Because my body fat at the time was only, like, seven and a half percent.

Q: So you were on the Michael Phelps diet?

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