In the August 2009 issue of Interview magazine, which happens to still be out, New Moon star Taylor Lautner discusses Twilight’s fame, his character Jacob’s transformation, his training regimen, and life outside of the Twilight phenomenon.

On Twilight’s popularity: “It’s the weirdest thing. Nobody really saw it coming. I mean, we knew we were making a movie of a very popular book, but we didn’t know how well it was going to do. When it opened, it exploded, and that was not something any of us saw coming. Filming New Moon is a lot different than the first one because this time we know what we are getting into.”

On Jacob’s transformation: “He’s a lot different than he was before. He transforms mid-story—in the first half, he’s Twilight Jacob. I’m wearing a wig. My character’s very clumsy, outgoing, and friendly. When he transforms into a werewolf, he becomes something very different. It’s like I’m playing a split personality. Which is tricky, because sometimes I’ve had to play pre- and post-transformation Jacob on the same day of filming.”

On New Moon book vs New Moon movie: “The coolest thing about the series is that we stay very true to the books; it would be silly for us not to, because the books are exactly what the fans want to see. There’s an action side to it, which I love, and there are werewolves now. There aren’t just vampires. There’s a wolf pack.”

On transforming from a human to a werewolf: “I think the most important thing with Jacob is that pre-transformation, he’s clumsy. He trips over his own feet. As soon as he transforms, he’s very agile. At one point, he flings himself through Bella’s window and lands at her feet, and that’s the first time Bella realizes this is a new Jacob: He never used to be this agile. I loved bringing out that side of him. The bummer is, when he becomes a wolf, that’s not actually me. When he does the cool fight scenes, he’s transformed into CGI.”

On bulking up for his role as ‘Jacob’: “As soon as I finished filming Twilight, I knew I had to get to work right away; there could be no waiting involved. The day I finished Twilight, I came home and started bulking up. For New Moon, I’m 30 pounds heavier than I was in Twilight.”

On his training regimen: ” I was in the gym five days a week, two hours a day. At one point, I was going seven days straight. I had put on a lot of weight, and then I started losing it drastically, so I was worried. It turned out I was overworking myself. My trainer told me that I couldn’t break a sweat, because I was burning more calories than I was putting on. The hardest thing for me was the eating. At one point I had to shove as much food in my body as possible to pack on calories. My trainer wanted me to do six meals a day and not go two hours without eating. If I would cheat on eating one day, I could tell—I’d drop a few pounds.”

On the intensity of Twilight fans: “They are very intense, but it’s cool that they’re so dedicated and so passionate. They’re the reason we’re here doing this sequel. So I’m thankful for the fans. I like meeting them. But, yeah, they’re pretty intense. Sometimes it becomes a little overwhelming.”

On being sorta worshiped: “I don’t know if it’s really hit me yet. They’re just passionate for the series and for the characters, and we’re just lucky enough to be a part of this. I don’t think it has much to do with me personally; it’s more because I’m playing the beloved Jacob Black.”

On hanging out with Robsten: “The whole cast is really close. It would be difficult for our characters if we weren’t. It’s a love triangle, and we need to understand each other. So the fact that we’re close and can talk things through in rehearsals, and if we’re out at dinner, we’ll just randomly start talking about the scene we’re shooting the next day . . . If we weren’t able to do those things, I don’t know where we’d be.”

On his next film endeavors: I love action films. I’d love to do an action drama. I’m always looking to give my character something action-oriented to do.

On what he would do if he wasn’t acting: “I always played sports when I was young. I played football and baseball for eight years. I loved football. So maybe I’d be doing some kind of sport. I also loved writing and directing. So maybe that could be in my future too. I’d love to get into that.”