What’s the general consensus on Taylor Lautner at this point? I find him to be cute and gracious, of course, but I don’t find him sexy in the least. He just seems like a really sweet kid who is very “handled” by a team of experts and what we’ve gotten is a very manufactured “sexy” that just doesn’t work. But I’m speaking as an adult woman – maybe young girls find Lautner unthreatening and cool. But to me, I just don’t get it. I get Robert Pattinson, I find Pattinson to be much sexier than the Edward character. But Jacob/Lautner? Eh, on both counts. Anyway, I don’t think Lautner is really the ideal cover boy for GQ magazine, but here he is (he was photographed by Mario Testino). He does have lovely arms. As you would expect, Taylor doesn’t say anything unexpected or controversial whatsoever in the interview, he’s simply happy to be the one Twilight star without angst. And there’s something to be said for that, honestly. He’s a real pro, and he’s got his eye on a long career in Hollywood. The full GQ interview is online, here are some highlights:

Lautner on Brazilian Twihards: [He] tells me about Brazil. How he and his Twilight co-star Kristen Stewart were trapped in a hotel suite when hundreds of teenage fans stormed the lobby, outwitted security, and charged the stairs to get to them. “We were in lockdown in this little room for forty-five minutes waiting for the SWAT team to arrive,” Lautner says, his eyes wide. “We said to each other, ‘Let’s say they get into this room. What are they going to do? Tear us to shreds? What do they want?’ ”

On presenting at the Oscars with Kristen Stewart: “I would have passed out if she wasn’t there!” Lautner says. “You’re looking down and you’re talking to George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio—and they’re listening to you!” This is his baseline sentiment: honest, enthusiastic bafflement. It’s probably the only suitable reaction.

On the Taylor Swift-Kanye incident: He talks about the MTV Video Music Awards, where he presented a trophy to his then maybe-girlfriend Taylor Swift, only to watch Kanye snatch the microphone. “I was standing behind her as it was happening, and 100 percent I was sure it was staged!” Lautner says, eyebrows raised. “I thought, ‘This was something that they rehearsed.’ I was enjoying the show! But then Taylor turned around and I saw her face.”

He lives with his parents and loves The Olive Garden: Taylor Lautner pulls up for lunch in Valencia, California, a suburb forty-five minutes north of Hollywood. This is where he lives, with his parents and younger sister, in a home that’s almost indistinguishable from the others in the neighborhood. Lautner suggests the Olive Garden for lunch. “Do you like this place?” he asks, a little unsure, adding: “My father turned me on to it.” Without glancing at the menu, Lautner orders the Toscana soup, then asks to substitute the Caesar salad for the house. Before the waiter can reply, Lautner interrupts innocently: “I know,” he says, “it’ll be a dollar fifty extra. That’s fine.”

On almost getting fired from Twilight: 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.

On talking off his shirt, but not for Valentine‘s Day: “Originally I was supposed to take off my shirt,” he says. “The script said we were walking into school and Willy takes off his shirt. I said, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. Time out. He’s gonna take off his shirt in the middle of school? No, no, no. The reason I took off my shirt for New Moon is because it’s written in the book that way. And there’s reasons behind it.”

On his future as a bankable action star: “I can’t get caught up in that,” Lautner says. “If I start thinking, Is this movie going to open? Is this movie going to do well? I’m not focusing on the job. The job is to make a good movie.”

On the paparazzi: “There’s some things you just have to live with,” Lautner says, pulling out of the parking lot. “Like twelve cars camping outside your house, and when you wake up in the morning, they’re going to follow you wherever you go. It helps that I live in Valencia. It eliminates some. But they’re still here.”

Does he ever think about moving out of his parents‘ house? “Um, you know, not so much,” he says. Really? What 18-year-old movie star with millions wouldn’t move out of his parents’ house? “There’s really no point. I’m so busy. I really haven’t thought about it.” I think he likes it in this small town, with its strip malls and Olive Gardens. Because there’s too much at stake, and he can’t get into any trouble here. “There’s some of that,” he says. “The thing I love is that my home life hasn’t changed. I still help out with the garbage. I still help out with the lawn.”

[From GQ]

I like him more now that I’ve read the whole thing. He does come across as very wholesome and nice, and that part probably isn’t manufactured. Kristen Stewart is what? Like, a year or two older than him, and she seems a lot more worldly… I guess Taylor just wasn’t interested in trying to come across as the sullen guy, the guy with pain, or damage or whatever. He’s just happy to be working.

GQ photos courtesy of GQ.