Ah yes. Jacob. Lautner’s biggest and most intense bit of luck was Twilight. And as if to underscore the idea that luck is massively fleeting, he almost lost the part. In 2008, Lautner was cast as Jacob Black, Native American teenager and platonic best friend to Bella Swan. (Lautner had just four scenes in the film and missed a week of school.) Released on November 21, 2008, the movie made instant tabloid stars of Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. Lautner was worse than an afterthought: The studio hinted at replacing him. (A press release was issued trumpeting the return of Kristen and Robert; Lautner was MIA.) Jacob discovers he’s a werewolf in book two and grows from a skinny wannabe into a six-foot-seven man-wolf. Offscreen, Lautner still looked like a pup. He had a Twilight lunchbox with his face on it but would have to audition for the sequel.

Lautner admits to some dark, if brief, moments of self-doubt. He hired a personal trainer on his own dime and started practicing some Tony Robbins mind tricks. “I’m in the gym,” Lautner says, “and I’m doing reps, and I’m reading the books, and I’m studying the character. I’m just saying to myself, ‘I want this role. I love this role. I’m not gonna lose it. And I’m gonna know it better than anybody, and I’m gonna do that extra rep, because I’m gonna be Jacob Black.’ ” He ate every two hours, mostly meat his parents cooked and then packed in a cooler he kept in the car. Sitting in traffic, Lautner would eat cold ground chuck from plastic Baggies. He put on thirty pounds of muscle, consented to a screen test with Stewart (who lobbied on his behalf), and kept his job. He also solved the film’s marketing issues when his abdominal muscles became New Moon‘s main talking point, not to mention his calling card. In one scene, Stewart crashes a motorcycle, and Lautner rushes to her aid. “It’s just blood, Bella,” he says. “No big deal.” And then pauses to peel off his shirt.