Of all the rumors about who’s dating whom on the set of “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” you can definitely eliminate Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner as a real-life couple.
“Taylor and I are really close,” said Stewart, 19, of her 17-year-old co-star. “He’s one of my best friends.”
But that’s as far as it goes. Stewart has denied she and “New Moon” co-star Robert Pattinson are an item; Lautner neither confirms nor denies he’s dating country superstar Taylor Swift.
In “New Moon,” Stewart’s character, the lovelorn Bella, finds comfort in the arms of longtime friend Jacob (Lautner) when Bella’s true love Edward (Pattinson), a teenage vampire, goes away.
“New Moon” devotees have even picked sides on which hunk Bella should choose, dividing into “Team Edward” or “Team Jacob.”
During a benefit screening of “New Moon” in Knoxville, Tenn., recently, Stewart and Lautner greeted more than 1,500 fans who stood behind a barricade to catch a glimpse of the pair. The celebrity appearance raised more than $440,000, which goes to help local children’s charities.
To hear Stewart and Lautner tell it, work on the “Twilight” films takes up so much time they have little left for a social life.
With such a quick rise to stardom, Stewart and Lautner say they realize how fortunate they are. For now, work consumes both their lives.
“What we do is so wrapped up in what we do as people that I can’t call (acting) a job,” Stewart said. “It’s so not a 9-to-5 thing. Luckily, we love it so much that it doesn’t feel like we’re sacrificing anything.
“It’s just the way we live.”
Lautner won’t tell you that this gig as a movie star isn’t fantastic. “We’re having a blast,” he said. “We get to travel everywhere and meet so many people. I love to always meet new people, and we’re getting to do that this way.”
Lautner’s turn as the sexy Jacob has propelled him to instant celebrity-hunk status overnight.
As for fame, “it allows us to do what we love to do,” he said, “and that’s making these movies.”
Stewart described this moment in her career as “a once-in-a-lifetime experience” and one that will never be the same.
“No matter what I go on to do from now on, it will never be quite like all of this,” she said.
“To be able to make movies and share that with somebody, too? That’s pretty exceptional.”
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