Taylor Lautner performs MA demo on SNL

By Mark Pollard | Published December 15, 2009

Taylor Lautner

I’ve been ducking the TWILIGHT film frenzy for fear of being trampled to death by a pack of stampeding females, or having to endure teen melodrama, but I have to take a moment to acknowledge the martial arts skills of NEW MOON star and fellow Michiganian Taylor Lautner.

This 17-year-old heartthrob, whose bare-chested antics in the latest TWILIGHT film have undoubtedly earned him prime real estate on the walls of teen girl’s bedrooms everywhere, was a karate practitioner before he became a star. To prove it, he recently hosted Saturday Night Live where he opened the show with a surprising floor demonstration directed at a mock-up of hip-hop star Kanye West.

I cannot say Lautner is made for comedy but he is made for action and if he ever escapes from the vile clutches of teen idol fame, he could have a bright future as a martial arts-fighting action star.

Lautner started out in the business as a child actor playing Bas Rutton’s younger self in the action B-movie SHADOW FURY (2001). I first saw him in Robert Rodriguez’s THE ADVENTURES OF SHARKBOY AND LAVAGIRL 3-D (2005) and he had some good moves back then despite being hopelessly overshadowed by vomit-inducing production design and special effects.

Lautner is going to undoubtedly have a lot of film offers coming his way in the wake of NEW MOON’s mammoth success. I see before him a fork in the road. One leads in the direction of Bruce Lee’s legacy and the other to Matthew McConaughey. Let’s hope he chooses wisely. Either way shirts are optional so he doesn’t have to give that up.

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  • PaulChaos
    "I used Bruce Lee as representation of the martial arts genre, not the person I expect Lautner to specifically emulate."

    Ah ok, that is a lot more believable.

    "XMA is a performance art, like wushu, stage fighting and Chinese opera. All of these disciplines translate very well to film and have provided the basis for many talented stunt actors to contribute to excellent fight sequences."

    Yes, but most (if not all) of those actors have been training their whole life. Plus, XMA is a different type of performance than wushu and Chinese opera. The latter actually have depth to them. Heck, the guys who do XMA don't even have their eyes open half the time.

    I'm super critical about that kind of bull crap, (XMA) but I guess I can't rule out Taylor actual pulling off something decent. I mean freak, Rain pulled it off and he had less than a year of martial arts training.

    I apologize for reacting so aggressively.
  • Paul
    "I see before him a fork in the road. One leads in the direction of Bruce Lee’s legacy and the other to Matthew McConaughey."

    I seriously can not believe you typed that. The only future he has with his exponential martial arts experience (a whole 7 years from ages 6-13) is hokey, laughable, garbage, Hollywood action roles. The ridiculous 'display' should have tipped you off, but the double fail at the end is solid proof.

    XMA = Show MA = Xtremely Inapplicable MA = garbage movies
  • I used Bruce Lee as representation of the martial arts genre, not the person I expect Lautner to specifically emulate.

    XMA is a performance art, like wushu, stage fighting and Chinese opera. All of these disciplines translate very well to film and have provided the basis for many talented stunt actors to contribute to excellent fight sequences.

    Lautner could manage very well if he continues to train and hooks up with the right filmmakers.
  • That was pretty impressive. Can't hate at all.
  • I've replaced the deleted Youtube clip with the official video embed from NBC.
  • The Darque One
    i really hate XMA
  • Atherton
    Yeah, it's not really my thing either. I admire their talents and hard work yet something about watching it is kind of off. But I do wish I could do at least 10% of those type of moves.
  • lautner_is_my_idol
    yes his martial arts skill is something else i cant wait to see lautner in an action movie now- i believe paramaount were extremely wise in taking on lautner for max steel- people will be watching just to see what other moves taylor can do and i guess this has silenced the people who doubted that taylor could be an action star
  • albertv
    I saw his 2003 competitions on ESPN a few months ago and Mike Chat definitely did an impressive job of training him. If I remember right, Taylor had won 2nd place in empty hand forms with a fellow XMA-er winning 1st and he won 1st in weapons with that awesome staff form he did in the monologue.
  • Sam
    He's 17 not 19 which only makes his performance more impressive. You may be confused because he's dating an older woman <grin> as Taylor Swift just turned 20. He was funny on SNL, moving in New Moon and is already being touted as the next action hero in the new franchise Max Steel where he will doubtless put that almost unreal carved body and athletic flips to good use.
  • Rhythm-X
    I'd love to see all those female TWILIGHT fans turn into martial arts movie fans!

    I don't know about all that now. I do think that it's true that the distributors, as part of their larger scheme of Totally Not Getting It, have willfully neglected to notice that it was its ability to draw a female audience that made CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON the gold standard for how to handle a US release of an imported martial arts film. But distributors didn't see it that way - they just saw a movie with people flying around beating swords together that made a lot of money. They got the market that embraced CTHD confused in their feeble minds with the DTV action market... and the releases and marketing (and failure) that followed are the proof in the rancid pudding.
  • Good catch. Yes, I have a hard time believing he's still that young. He really does have a bright future ahead if he plays his cards right. Stunts like this could also provide a big boost to the genre. I'd love to see all those female TWILIGHT fans turn into martial arts movie fans!
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