Does Taylor Lautner Deserve $7.5 Million?
By Christopher Campbell | Posted Under Miscellaneous | Comments (32)
Dustin has already covered the news this question is spawned from, about Taylor Lautner co-starring as Tom Cruise’s son in something suspiciously akin to a Top Gun sequel, so let’s get down to the brass tax tacks. Does Taylor Lautner have any right to be crowned the highest paid teenaged actor in Hollywood?
Let’s not forget that just over a year ago the People’s Choice nominee wasn’t even considered good enough to reprise his role in the talent-not-required Twilight franchise. Now he’s getting $7.5 million for Northern Lights. That’s more than a million bucks per ab — though when I took a quick, non-pervy glance, it looked like the dude has more than six in his pack. Is that possible? I’m a flabby movie blogger and know nothing of things like “muscles.” Neither does Nikki Finke apparently; she thinks Lautner has 7.5 abs (see below).
I’m no pedophile (unlike other bloggers), so I’m not even familiar with many teen movie stars out there, let alone who’d be more deserving of the title, but there’s probably someone more worthy. Of course, $7.5 million is only half as much as what Daniel Radcliffe was making per year in his late teens, so I guess it’s no big deal. Besides, Cruise is likely getting even more of an undeserved fee for the film.
Here are some reactions to the paycheck anyway:
- Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood:
I’ve just learned that Taylor Lautner is now being paid per ab. That’s right, the 17-year-old co-star of the Twilight Saga franchise who’s famous for his buff physique that is making girls scream when he takes off his shirt in New Moon, is getting $7.5 million for his next pic.
- Bob Westal at Premium Hollywood:
In another scoop for the Finkster, she reports that underage It-boy Taylor Lautner is Hollywood best compensated teen and now being paid “per ab,” though he apparently has half an ab. I wonder if I get figure out a way to get paid per nose hair.
- Kyle Buchanan at Movieline:
Nikki Finke says that Taylor Lautner is Hollywood’s highest-paid teenager on account of his decision to star alongside Tom Cruise in Northern Lights. Daniel Radcliffe is mumbling to himself, “Only because I just turned twenty.”
- Jessica Barnes at Cinematical:
According to Finke, Lautner will earn himself a $7.5 million payday for the film, making him the highest paid Hollywood teen actor around — take that Team Edward!
- Krystal Clark at ScreenCrave:
If the cartoonish premise of this film doesn’t get under your skin perhaps Lautner’s price tag will. Word on the street is that the teenager will earn 7.5 million dollars for starring in the film. Not bad for someone who was living in Robert Pattinson’s shadow over a year ago.
- Ethan Anderton at FirstShowing.net:
It sucks when you hire someone to re-shingle your roof, but he puts holes in it, throws tools around and goes shirtless for your girlfriend. That’s what I think of Taylor Lautner. Studios pay him to act, but instead he aimlessly walks on screen, talks like a robot and of course there’s the shirtless thing. And yet Sharkboy is now the highest paid teen actor as Deadline Hollywood reports he’ll get a whopping $7.5 million to star with Tom Cruise in Northern Lights
- Katey Rich at Cinema Blend:
The biggest news about this is Lautner’s gigantic payday, and the sense that he’s already of leading man caliber to star alongside Cruise. Given that Lautner hasn’t carried a single movie without the word Twilight in the title, that’s a pretty significant gamble. Robert Pattinson’s projects beyond Twilight haven’t really gone anywhere, though granted, he hasn’t been groomed as a new star by a studio in the same way. But can the Twilight effect carry on without Bella lurking somewhere in the frame?
- Russ Fischer at /Film:
Seems premature to be giving Taylor Lautner multi-million paydays based only on New Moon, doesn’t it? The film did amazingly well, and he became an instant heartthrob, but how much of that was Lautner and how much was just Twilight? Impossible to tell until he’s in a non-Twilight film or two.
- Mark at I Watch Stuff:
Deadline Hollywood notes Lautner will make $7.5 million for the part, making him a higher paid teen star than even Disney groomed TeenBeat stars Zac Efron and Hannah Montana. So whoever said you can’t become a huge star solely by having a vacant stare, working out, drinking protein shakes, and playing second fiddle in an awful teenage girl-focused genre franchise, you were sure wrong! I don’t know why you were wrong, but you were apparently wrong.
- Laura Kelley at Collider:
This film makes Lautner now the highest paid teenage star with his salary for the role rumored at $7.5 million, though that salary does not include countless tween-girl screams. […] Lautner’s career is definitely growing quickly following his turn in Twilight, with this new film as well as Max Steel, Paramount’s latest announced Lautner star vehicle. Lautner’s career is growing fast, with his recent SNL hosting gig showing off his comedic timing and his crazy martial arts skills, and the Twilight films making massive bank
- Paul Tassi at JoBlo.com:
The only good thing I’ve managed to take out of TWILIGHT is that I think Taylor Lautner’s actually a pretty legit dude, and I’m curious to see him in more roles that are not written by trained monkeys.
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Comments
Posted by: BarbadoSlim at January 6, 2010 8:12 PM
First of all the fact this meathead don't deserve 100k much less 7.5 mil is a given.
Second, does he have 1/2 an ab somewhere in his "core" that the rest of us don't have?