Taylor Lautner Recalls ‘Twilight’ Fan Rivalry With Robert Pattinson

Taylor Lautner And Robert Pattinson rivals played in the Twilight saga, but the real challenge for the actors was navigating their off-screen dynamics.

“I think it was tough. I don’t know before [Pattinson] but for me at least, … especially at the age I was,” Lautner, 31, said on the Tuesday, December 14 episode of the “Call her daddypodcast. “Sometimes your feelings get hurt when they shouldn’t, but sometimes it’s hard not to.”

In Twilight’s heyday, fans were either die-hard supporters of Lautner’s character Jacob or Pattinson’s Edward Cullen, a werewolf and a vampire respectively, fighting for the love of Kristen Stewart‘s Bella. Ultimately, Bella ends up with Edward, but Jacob finds his happily ever after with the couple’s daughter, Renesmee.

Although Lautner and Pattinson, 36, had no issues with each other off-set, the on-screen rivalry proved challenging for the players. Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl star.

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“It was awkward at times for the two of us standing together on a balcony and a thousand girls booing Rob but cheering for me,” Lautner said. ‘And then this [other] me half booing and cheering [him] but it was hard that we had to have some kind of friendship.

Although he and Pattinson didn’t let public opinion sever their professional relationship, forming a personal bond wasn’t easy.

“The thing about me and Rob is that we’re very, very different people,” Lautner admitted. “We never really had a deep connection just because we’re different people, but he was always wonderful and the sweetest person ever.”

As Lautner reflected on his time in the Twilight franchise, he said he has nothing but “great feelings” about his time on the project. Lautner’s wife, Taylor Domeis also a fan of the series, but ultimately supported Pattinson’s character over her husband’s.

This is not the first time Lautner has spoken out about the clumsiness that… Twilight fan frenzy. Earlier this year, Lautner spoke about how the response to the franchise made him and Pattinson feel competitive with each other.

“I was so young and yes, I feel like it was very strange to travel around the world and be in different cities and have thousands of screaming fans taking your side or the other person’s side,” he recalled on a February episode of “The Toast” podcast. “Like we’re a team. We’re both just trying to make the best movies. It was kind of crazy, the competitiveness. There was no competition between me and Rob, but by that constant reminder, it definitely had an impact.”