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EXCLUSIVE: Anyone in Hollywood gnashing their teeth over how much 18-year-old Taylor Lautner has going on right now — well, here’s one more film project to chew on. (We know you’re complaining he hasn’t yet proven he can carry a film by himself, yet is on a salary trajectory rarely seen for someone so young. But the studios are still in hot pursuit. And it’s not our fault he’s in such demand…) Lionsgate won the bidding with the “most aggressive offer” for the Verve client Shawn Christensen‘s script Abduction with WME- and Management 360-repped Lautner attached. But that’s not all: we hear the screenplay sold for nearly $1 million in this sluggish spec script market. And the Twilight Saga teen’s new Tailor Made production company is producing as an equal partner with Roy Lee and The Gotham Group. (Tailor Made also is a producer on Universal’s Stretch Armstrong.) Here’s what else sources are telling us; in order to make Lautner’s July availability, Lionsgate will hurry to select a director and get a script polish by then, or Tailor Made will still produce but hire another actor for the lead.
Verve sent out the script to studios the night of February 10th – by 9 AM the next morning, 2 studios were ready to bid when the auction got going. The script has Lautner playing a teen who has long felt disconnected from his parents, and figures out why. That unleashes a chain of violent events and enters Bourne territory. Considering he just got on the Hollywood radar because of the Twilight Saga (imagine, he was almost recast before New Moon) and just days ago blew out the candles on his 18th birthday cake, Lautner with his 8-pack abs is the newest and youngest action star in a dizzying volume of movie deals made over recent weeks. He’s already the lead in two major studio superhero franchises — Universal’s Stretch Armstrong and Paramount’s Max Steel. As one of Deadline Hollywood’s more astute commenters noted: “Don’t hate the player. Hate the game.”
- EXCLUSIVE: Universal Pays Taylor Lautner $7.5M For ‘Stretch Armstrong’; ‘Northern Lights’ Loses Him “Over Casting Issues”; 2 Movies Now Woo Him For April Slot
- Taylor Lautner & Steven Soderbergh Films Still Haven’t Sold But Bidding Continues
- Studios Battle Over Another Taylor Lautner Project
- Taylor Lautner Gets Another Huge Film Franchise: He’ll Be ‘Stretch Armstrong’
- EXCLUSIVE: Taylor Lautner Is Now Hollywood’s Highest Paid Teenage Actor
- EXCLUSIVE: Taylor Lautner To Be Paramount’s Next Big Action Star
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Well, thank goodness we have news on this. I’ve been waiting on pins and needles. The exposure of this actor on this site is pretty out of hand.
Wow… Just wow… I’m all for specs selling. But when a script this mediocre goes for this big. It only makes it harder for the next three guys with way better scripts to sell because the Development money goes flooding out to crap with attachments. Good on all who got paid – but you’d at least hope a million dollar sale was for a GOOD script.
It is a mediocre script! I expected it to be fantastic since it was so hot. But I read it this weekend and thought the setup was so forced and the dialogue was very clunky. I was totally disappointed.
Sadly, Randy, you could be talking about any number of scripts, past, present or future. Let’s not pretend there’s a lot to sing about right now, yea? It’s mind-boggling what kind of crap gets greenlighted.
I haven’t read the script, yet, so I have no idea whether it’s good or bad. However, the premise is probably a big reason it sold. Not to mention that Christensen has firmly established himself with a couple of juicy spec sales already, nor does it hurt that he’s the front man for a hot band. I’ve read one of his earlier scripts, and I was impressed by the writing.
Wow. I haven’t read ABDUCTION yet but this comment regarding its “mediocrity” is ignorance at its stupidest. Someone CLEARLY does not know how things work.
It is all about “the package” (in addition to the writer’s pre-established quote and relative hotness right now) my naive little friend. Taylor could be attached to a spec about booger-flicking and a bidding war would ensue. “Well, if we can get Randall Wallace to rewrite it?”
I REALLY need to stay off these message boards. Its become like crack for me. I’m looking for my next hit of total braincell destruction and I can’t stop.
Im a 27 year old male and Im actually rooting for Taylor to succeed. Here is some advice to all of the envious, fat hater trolls wishing for the kid to fail. First and foremost, you NEVER criticize a kid who works…NEVER. The thought of it is sickening and disgusting. Ive been working since I was 5 years old, into my teens at various fast food establishments of course now, im 27 and still hustling. Taylor is a hustler and you dont knock the hustle baby. Maybe if you jealous, fat film school grad trolls spent more time hustling and less time congregating in your stupid little circles outside of indie movie theaters talking about why Citizen Kane revolutionized film and the emotional core of character arks and story, you assholes might come up with an idea or a brand that people outside of your shit circle actually wanna support.
You dont knock WORKING TEENS!!!
Wow, you’re certifiably mental. Have fun stroking your little rod to Lautner’s pecs, o great moral conscience of the world.
YAY! Taylors is going to be the highest paid actor this year.
What is the obsession with this guy on this site? Nikki, you used to proudly announce “I don’t do geek.” Honey, you’re doing geek. We get it–he’s a temporarily hot commodity and his agents or managers can’t stop yammering about him. Can we move on to somebody else?
In my opinion Deadline’s coverage of him is adequate. This isn’t geek it’s typical of the deals Hollywood is making these days, and needs to be discussed.
I don’t think people are that annoyed that he’s signing up for a lot of projects. I think it’s the tone and frequency of these updates that turns some of us off. I don’t think there is any other actor around getting the coverage on this site that Lautner is, and I don’t think it’s because he’s the only guy out there hustling. We’re getting reports on every script sold, number of scripts being sent to him, salary negotiations. And the tone of these updates feels very, very PR-driven. Considering how usually cynical and on it Nikki generally is, when I see her posting this kind of news, my radar goes up a bit.
“Lautner with his 8-pack abs is the newest and youngest action star in a dizzying volume of movie deals made over recent weeks. He’s already the lead in two major studio superhero franchises — Universal’s Stretch Armstrong and Paramount’s Max Steel.”
Come on. Really?
It isn’t a franchise till the second film. That’s BS talking right there.
I’m guessing the only reason Taylor Lautner keeps getting cast is because he’s cheaper than Robert Pattinson.
all the haters. taylor lautner is the arnold schwarzennegger of this decade. and maybe beyond. or maybe tom cruise (pre-melt-down) is a better comparison. remember top gun, cocktail and all those tom cruise theme movies from the 80s? totally sucked ass artistically but made loads of money.
maybe lautner won’t win an oscar, but he’ll keep working. he’s charming and unconventionally cute (as opposed to delicately zac cute), so straight guys don’t actually hate him. and some poster tossed shia under the buss with the rest of the zac-pattinson look-a-likes. but straight guys actually went to see transformers 2.
Oh don’t worry. I have nothing against the guy getting paid.
But I definitely hate the game. Plenty.
I read this script for one of those studios and while the general teenage Bourne premise has a lot of potential, the script itself was at best, clumsy and at worst, ridiculous. There were a lot of those “worst” moments and it will take more than a polish to bring this one up to snuff. I shouldn’t be surprised that it sold for a million bucks – it’s “I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused” time.
I hope Taylor succeeds as well. I just hope the kid doesn’t fall hard if it’s discovered that he is not the attraction that Hollywood thinks he is.
He is being force-fed to us by Hollywood solely via his role of Jacob in “Twilight”. Many people – including myself – may find it hard to accept him in any other role besides Jacob.
I guess we’ll see. It’s not my money that Hollywood is gambling with so I wish them well.
Poinrt well taken, Mr. rod… but Hollywood is acting like HE’S THE ONLY TEEN WORKING… basically, no other teen will be getting rolls, because Taylor will be attached to everything… and when he’s unavailable, those projects will just linger and die… and it’s his managers/agents/publicists who are putting him in contention with A-List talents — so basically, it’ll be sink or swim. Instead of being able to build on his craft and draw attention for his talents and drawing power — he’ll have to show-off against the best of the best… which isn’t fair to him, either.
Hate on me all you want but these days it seems to me like the only people working in the biz are teens and creepy reality types. A lot of that has to do with their willingness to work cheap and not knowing any better
I have no problems with the younger set of entertainers geting paid well (and getting it while the getting’s good, because if it’s good enough for the execs it’s no surprise young ‘talent’ wants the exact same) but 1) there are some older folks out here who would also like to see some grownup well-scripted entertainment that has people over 30 in it and 2) seriously how many of these teen stars will have really long careers thanks to the fucked-up way the big media companies run things these days?
Good luck to Lautner & his peers but recent history & the odds are against him.
Whew. I read Abduction last week…it’s interesting, because the hero never really DOES anything. And as someone else noted, it’s just not good. So, while I’m not “hating” on the piece, it’s worth noting that script needs a lot more than a polish to justify the price – and the new star they’ve cast as the lead.
Congratulations to Taylor please let us know who the director is and the rest of the cast. Good stuff.
Let’s not knock Taylor. Who wouldn’t accept millions of dollars to star in huge film franchises and get top-of-the-line trainers to make you look like Stallone and Schwarzenegger via 1985 rolled into 1? However, it’s getting a little absurd seeing these young guys in roles suited for older males in their late 20s, early 30s, mid 30s, late 30s. All those roles seem to be going to either 17 year olds (Taylor Laugh-tner) or Shia LeBlah (Have you seen the One-Sheet for Wall Street 2? He looks 12. Have you seen the trailer? He looks 11.) I have no problem with these guys getting parts and makin’ dough and livin’ their lives… but sometimes, well, they’re just miscast, and — ahh, ughh, grr — I don’t know how to put an end to it.
Lautner is unlikely to ever appeal to anyone outside of West Hollywood or the Twilight Tweeners and their Moms. Why? Because its damn hard to be an action hero that guys young and old aspire to be, and identify with.
Harrison Ford from 1977 to about 1993 (the Fugitive) had it. Then lost it. Bruce Willis from Die Hard to Die Hard III had it. Then lost it. Liam Neeson, Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, are all examples of actors who had it for one or two films, then lost it.
Consider say, Kiefer Sutherland. As a young male actor, he was good. He should have been, from that acting family. But he was never in demand, as a lead, until he GOT OLD ENOUGH, BUT NOT TOO OLD. To bring a mature, masculine presence to Jack Bauer in “24.” [Sutherland was great in "Dark City" btw, but nowhere near his masculine tough guy lead on the small screen.]
Lautner? Guys don’t want to grow up to be HIM … someone drooled over by the West Hollywood crowd, Twilight Moms, and tweeners. He does not have the screen presence to command respect and authority and leadership and toughness, the way Dennis Haysbert, William Peterson, Gary Sinise, or Michael Chiklis do on the small screen. [Chiklis is another, compare/contrast "the Commish" with "the Shield."]
Maybe, maybe the spec script is going to pull in the Tweeners and Moms. Twilight without the vampires, in other words.
But (straight) guys are not girls. They don’t care if their action heroes have six pack abs and moussed hair. They care, deeply, if the actor can project AUTHORITY, COMMAND, DISCIPLINE, LEADERSHIP, TOUGHNESS, and RESPECT.
Lautner at 33, with some age on him, experience, the way Willis had in Die Hard, might or might not be interesting. But he’s guaranteed to be this generation’s Scott Baio.
I really like this analysis. I think it’s spot-on. My boyfriend could care less about Taylor Lautner and said he doubts if we would go see an action film where he’s the main star.
His response was the same – “The kid doesn’t look tough”.
And like I said above, I doubt if Twilight fans like me and my friends will accept him in any other role besides Jacob. That is the risk you take when you accept an iconic role – be forever identified with that role.
Just ask Mark Hamill.
Just one note – maybe he doesnt look tough at 18, but let’s remember he is a black belt and holds martial arts championships. Right now he is a sweet kid. He was raised to be a sweet kid, and respectful. Doesn’t mean that he can’t handle the hard roles when he grows up. Like Kristen Stewart said, he just needs to “grow into his cojones”. I’m betting he will. I think the studios are betting he will. And it sounds like he’s a got a good head on his shoulders – setting up his own production companies. Hopefully he can stay grounded and not get caught up in the mess that is Hollywood. If he’s smart – he won’t live there. SO Not the real world.
Lionsgate starting to smell a bit desperate. With the exception of Tyler Perry (including Precious), the 3D horror movie from last spring and their awesome TV department, it seems they can not make anything work in the last few years.
That’s weird. I read the script this week and told Relativity to stay away. You see I also read the same story when I was in high school. It was called THE FACE ON THE MILK CARTON, a book by Caroline Cooney. Teenager realizes they were stolen when they were young and raised by a different family. If Lionsgate makes it they’ll be giving their profits to Cooney.
I was confused as to how the Gotham Group got involved in one of their “do nothing” producer credits. Turns out they hired the kid who came up with the idea (ie, read Cooney’s book) and then demanded they be cut in or he got fired. Nice people.
Great for the Verve guys. Selling a spec. Putting a package together. Navigating studio waters at this level. All things that are rare and difficult in this climate. Those guys got it.
And which one do you work for?
Read this over the weekend.. It was just ok, some of the plot points were preposterous. I agree, it needs much more than a simple polish. The conceit is interesting though but as it stands now only a major rewrite would make this a viable movie even with Tay Tay attached.
Lautner is the perfect archetype of what young hollywood has become. A homogenous group of skinny jean / skinny tie / six pack pretty boy male models! If they would just spend as much time on learning the acting craft as they do staring into their mirrors/ doing sit ups, they might actually become decent actors. I bet dollars to donuts they have never heard of, much less read, meisner or stanislavsky.
The funny thing is, Lautner might be the worst star out of the miserable crop (efron, pattinson, labeouf, crawford, tatum, et cet) in not only in terms of acting, but presence, charisma, look, personality! LMAO. Jesus, I’m glad this is happening to Universal for even thinking about making a movie called Stretch Armstrong. This reeks of stupidity. AHHAH and Universal went ahead and matched 7.5 mill AFTER that company rescinded their offer! I hope this tanks. And Abudction will tank too because Lautners only fans are teenage girls, who only want to see him as a werewolf.
It’s time the studio heads / agents/ casting directors, go to NY and find some real actors.
Enough about Taylor, we all know he’ll be a nobody after the Twilights are done. What I want to know is, who the hell is Shawn Christensen? Is he that indie rock kid? And why is he getting paid a million dollars for a spec script that everyone claims is nothing special?
This town has really lost it.
He’s sold before and a little hot right now.
Like it or not, the “rock star” thing adds a little too.
When I was at (a top agency) we sold a spec for a first timer whose day job was Pro Skater. Script was decent but by no means all that special. Add the “Pro Skater” and “First script ever” and suits get interested. Like it or not.
Does anyone know who will handle international sales of the project?
Lionsgate sells international on its own. Go to AFM or any other market and do your homework. I dont even get what that has to do with the topic at hand (but i digress)…
for all we know Taylor is getting these scripts for the simple reason that there are no other actor out there in HW who is willing to play the roles from these moronic scripts thus, sacrificing their artistic integrity for money and temporary fame. I do feel very sorry for this kid.
You’re kidding right?
i read this script today and i thought it was okay. it definitely needs a good polish. the first 20 pages are especially in need. After that it is very much carried by the action but all the action is stuff we’ve seen before. So while i dont think its terrible it just wasn’t worthy of the buzz etc…
So I have to ask, would this have sold at all with out the attachment?
it’s stupid to knock the kid, he’s 18, what is he going to do, turn down the chance to work?
this site however is absurd with all its recent coverage of him. maybe it’s to drum up traffic from the teen beat crowd. nikki?
Who knows. It IS the attachment.
I haven’t read this script yet but Shawn Christensen’s other spec script Karma Coalition was a shameless rehash of about half a dozen other sci-fi/action films all mashed up together.
I wasn’t impressed at all, but if he can find someone to give him a massive sack of cash for his work than ‘have at it’ I say!!!!
Holy over the top Batman…a million for this crap? If this trend continues better scripts out there won’t get anywhere near this or even get sold period because the development money is gonna vanish like a fart in the wind. I’ve read over a hundred scripts so far this year and nine alone this weekend including this Abduction clunker and the only ones that came close to being worth a million were The Darkening, ATM and Safe House.
Rome is burning and the emperors are fiddling.