Taylor Lautner thought he was safe.
The 19-year-old actor - best known to millions of moviegoers as heartsick werewolf Jacob Black from the Twilight movies - had driven from the home he shares with his parents in Valencia, a tranquil planned community about 50km north of Hollywood, to a downtown Los Angeles hotel.
He had arrived for an interview to discuss his new action film, Abduction. The movie, the first directed by John Singleton (Boyz N the Hood) in six years, is a sort of Bourne Identity for the teen set. Lautner stars as a high school pupil forced to go on the run after he discovers his parents have been concealing a weighty secret about his background.
The meeting location had been selected for its privacy, but almost as soon as Lautner ordered an iced tea, he spotted an intruder and tensed noticeably.
"I believe I just saw a paparazzi right there," he said, furrowing his brow. "It definitely was, because I recognised his face. Like, I've seen him before."
Although said photographer never materialised again, Lautner was perhaps channelling some of the healthy paranoia Abduction's Nathan cultivates over the course of his adventures or possibly just revealing his own internal struggles with the nearly incomprehensible level of fame he's achieved at such a young age.
Lautner has been on high alert, so to speak, for the past three years, since the release of the first Twilight film propelled him and co-stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson into the centre of a pop-culture firestorm.
As a result, Lautner - along with his famously chiselled abdominal muscles - has become a staple on the bedroom wall of teenage girls.
His days as the werewolf are waning, though, with the first of the saga's two-part finale, Breaking Dawn, opening later this year and the second instalment next year.
Now Lautner is looking to life post-Twilight. He wants to be an action star, like Tom Cruise or Bourne's Matt Damon. It's a career path that, should he manage it, would keep him in the spotlight for years. And the success or failure of Abduction will be the first indication of whether he can achieve his goal.
As Singleton put it: "The whole goal of the movie was all about showing that Taylor can actually carry a picture - that he's truly a star."
As a child, Lautner idolised sports stars, studying karate and travelling the country to compete in martial arts competitions. (He had won three junior world championships by age 11.) It was his karate instructor - a onetime actor who appeared in the Power Rangers television series - who encouraged him to pursue a career in Hollywood.
"I was like, 'Wow, acting. That's a strange idea'," he recalls, looking overly polished for a casual interview in perfectly distressed boots, tight jeans and a T-shirt that seems designed to show off his biceps.
"My parents were like, 'OK, well, if you want to do this, we can't do it from Michigan. We have to live in Los Angeles.'
"I didn't even think that was an option at the time. I still don't know what they saw or why they did it, but today I can't thank them enough for that risk they took."
Lautner's father, Daniel, a former airline pilot, is heavily involved in his son's career. He served as a producer on Abduction - the actor said his dad helps "keep things on track when I'm not available for phone calls. He was just definitely a help for me, because when I'm filming, I want to be able to focus on the character as much as possible".
Lautner first heard about Abduction before the second Twilight film, New Moon, was released in 2009. It was about that time he also signed on for roles in Max Steel and Stretch Armstrong, movie properties based on popular toys - but later dropped out of the former, citing scheduling issues. (He's still attached to Armstrong, though the Universal project is undergoing script changes.)
Abduction, he said, piqued his interest because he thought the role would be demanding.
"I don't know why, but I'm always looking to challenge myself as much as possible," he said with an earnest grin.
"Plus, I had always been an action fan and been a fan of actors like [Matt] Damon and Harrison Ford. What I love about their action movies is that they're not just action movies. They're playing a character that goes through an incredible journey."
To prepare physically for the film, shot in Pittsburgh over 51 days last year, Lautner learned how to ride a motorcycle and engaged in arduous boxing and wrestling training.
He appears in nearly every frame of the picture, and the largely physical role allows him to showcase his propensity for stunt work. It is without question his bid to abandon his status as a teen heartthrob, a prospect that's proved tricky for his Twilight colleagues.
Kristen Stewart will star in an adaptation of Snow White due out next year, but she's mostly opted to act in independent films that have been little seen by the fans of the franchise.
Robert Pattinson has followed a similar trajectory. His biggest non-Twilight success came with Water for Elephants, a romantic period drama in which he starred opposite Reese Witherspoon.
But Singleton believes that the powers that be are invested in the young man's success.
"The industry wants new blood," he said. "They want someone else they can build movies around. So basically, Hollywood is kind of rooting for Taylor."
