New Moon wolfman Taylor Lautner, who plays the super buff Jacob Black, has landed a stunning new role that promises to catapault his career to new heights.
Nikki Finke exclusively confirms Taylor will be playing the lead role in the Paramount screen adaptation of the hugely popular Max Steel, which began as a series of action figures in the ’90s. The franchise has since branched out into comic books, TV shows and animated DVDs.
Paramount has confirmed to me exclusively that it’s hired 8-pack-abs Taylor Lautner for the lead in Max Steel, instantly creating perhaps the next young big action star.
This is the Joe Roth-produced project based on the hugely successful Mattel property that’s an international bestseller. The movie will receive a major push planned as Mattel raises its stateside presence with the Paramount release. I’m told Max Steel will be a four-quadrant popcorn movie in the spirit of Iron Man about a 19-year-old extreme sports junkie recruited by a secret agency after an accident infects his body, leaving him with superhuman powers.
Paramount hopes to capitalize on the franchise with a blockbuster live-action movie in the vein of the recent GI Joe and Transformers movies, so this role comes as a huge win for Taylor as they are putting a lot of trust into his star-power to pull in crowds for a big-budget flick.
We’re going to be seeing a LOT more of Taylor in the future!