Taylor Lautner (dramatic pause) IS BACK!!! Seriously, the once-superstar actor and Twilight heartthrob has basically shunned the spotlight ever since. Occasionally, he’ll pop up in something random but it’s been five years since his last film, the little-seen drama Run the Tide, with his last major effort the atrocious Adam Sandler “comedy” Ridiculous 6. And whether anybody else liked that one or not, Lautner is coming back to work with Sandler again on another Netflix comedy.
Deadline reports Lautner will join Kevin James in Home Team, which is loosely-based on the experiences of New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton during his suspension from the 2012 NFL season for a bounty-hunting program he had started. James will play Payton.
Adam Sandler is producing, while the cast includes Rob Schneider, Jackie Sandler, Gary Valentine, Tait Blum, Maxwell Simkins, Jacob Perez, Bryant Tardy, Manny Magnus, Liam Kyle, Christopher Farrar, Merek Mastrov, Isaiah Mustafa, Christopher Titone, Ashley D. Kelley, Lavell Crawford, Allen Covert, Anthony L. Fernandez, and Jared Sandler. The film is co-directed by Charles Kinnane and Daniel Kinnane.
I’ve always been interested in the way Lautner so completely pulled himself out of the public eye, while his Twilight co-stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson have managed to find a balance. Perhaps this is the start of him easing back into the acting groove, although this is probably not the kind of movie that flexes a lot of creative muscles. Maybe if somebody offers him Tracers 2?