LOS ANGELES ??Are you kidding me?? Taylor Lautner asked, laughing upon learning that there?s a line of Team Jacob underwear. He finished the sentence with, ?And that his face is on women?s underwear.?

Jacob, of course, is Taylor?s character in ?The Twilight Saga: New Moon.? The onscreen rivalry between Jacob and Edward (Robert Pattinson) for Bella (Kristen Stewart) has split ?New Moon? fans into Team Jacob or Team Edward. But thanks to Taylor?s ripped body in the blockbuster, werewolves are hot this season. Even Rolling Stone magazine has joined the screaming girls. ?Taylor Lautner?s body is a temple,? the publication declared with a straight face.

But when Taylor showed up for this interview, his temple was all covered up in a sports jacket, shirt and jeans. He looked more like the sweet, 17-year-old kid that he is. Onscreen, his deep-set, dark eyes, unsmiling countenance and shirtless torso translate into a smoldering presence.

Asked why werewolves are sexy, Taylor answered: ?It?s the fact that they are hot physically. There?s a scene in ?Eclipse? where Bella is shivering really bad. She?s really cold. Edward doesn?t have to, but he?s such a wonderful guy (laughter) that he does allow me to crawl into Bella?s sleeping bag. He watches me sleep with her during the night so she doesn?t die. So the fact that werewolves are hot would be attractive to the ladies.?

Taylor is coyly talking in literal terms but if you ask the ladies, it?s his ripped physique onscreen that is making their body temperatures rise.

On how he attained his temple of barrel chest and washboard abs, Taylor said: ?I trained a lot for about a year. I was in the gym five days a week. The main thing I couldn?t do was overwork myself. Because when I started, I was in the gym seven days a week. I realized I was losing weight and that?s not exactly what I was trying to do. Eating was the most difficult part.?

He continued: ?But I actually had to put something in my mouth every two hours, which was not fun. And it?s not like, ice cream, but raw sweet potatoes, meat patties and raw almonds. I didn?t eat in the middle of the night but sometimes, I did have my trainer wake me up a few times at 5 or 6 a.m. to give me a protein shake.?

From small to large

He worried that his efforts were for naught. ?It was weird,? he said. ?During the process, because I saw myself every single day, I wasn?t noticing the biggest difference. I was like, man, I hope this is working. I hope I?m not going to be on screen and people are going to say, ?He looks the exact same way he did in the first movie.? People ask me all the time if I feel different. I don?t. I feel the same.?

There was one way though that Taylor knew his regimen of drinking protein shake at dawn and going to the gym almost every day was producing results?his wardrobe size. ?I moved from men?s small to large,? he said.

Lest someone think that those abs are fake, Taylor stressed: ?The great thing about this series is that we stay very true and real. There?s no way that Chris or anybody would allow any kind of digital enhancement. We didn?t have spray-on abs or anything like that.?

Taylor chuckled at the memory of wearing cut-off shorts and nothing else even though it was very cold on the set. ?It was embarrassing at moments, especially when I was walking,? he said. ?We were in Vancouver. So everybody, including Chris, was walking around wearing several layers of clothing. They?re all bundled up. Then it was like, ?Okay, Taylor, take off your clothes now.? It was awkward but it was for a reason. I loved the story and character.?

What he hated was the wig he had to wear. ?I?ve complained so much that the wig is itchy and hot and it gets stuck in my mouth,? he said. ?So it was definitely a huge relief to chop that thing off in ?New Moon.??

Height of love triangle

On what?s in store for ?Twilight? fans in ?Eclipse,? the next movie in the series, Taylor explained: ?If you?ve read the books, you?ll know what happens. ?Twilight? developed Edward and Bella?s romance. ?New Moon? develops Jacob and Bella?s relationship. ?Eclipse? is the height of the love triangle. The three of them are physically together all of the time. They?re at war. And it?s time for Edward and Jacob to put their differences aside and realize that we need to team up to protect the girl we love. ?Eclipse? is my favorite book. And it?s going to be a great movie.?

As for romance in his life, Taylor could only say, and with laughter, ?I?d definitely say I?ve experienced some love and heartbreak. I think everybody has experienced it in one way or another.?

He bared that the love of his life is someone named Roxie. ?I have a little six-pound white fluff ball,? he said. ?She?s a Maltese. She?s really cute.? Just picture that?the hunk du jour with his ?really cute white fluff ball.?

Email the columnist at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com and read his blog, ?The Nepales Report,? on http://blogs.inquirer.net/nepalesreport.