Taylor Lautner’s Abs to Star in ‘Max Steel’

Bulking up between Twilight and New Moon was a career-making move for Taylor Lautner.  Not only did the added 30 pounds of muscle rescue his role in the vampire phenomenon, but the 17-year-old actor has signed to become a major action star.

Paramount Pictures has selected Lautner to star in Max Steel, a movie and character based on the Mattel toy launched in 1999.  Variety reports the story is about an extreme sports junkie recruited by a secret agency after an accident infects his body with nanobots, making him superhuman.

Oh look, nanotechnology.  That’s new in screenwriting.  No one’s ever relied on that plot detail before.  Wait a minute…  Extreme sports.  Secret agency.  Unlikely hero.  Max Steel is xXx, the Vin Diesel disaster of 2002!  What is Paramount trying to pull here?

Nikki Finke confirms Lautner is starring, saying it will be a “four-quadrant popcorn movie” in the spirit of Iron Man.  Mattel is looking to expand their presence in film, like their competitors Hasbro did with Transformers and G.I. Joe.  Aside from Max Steel, they’re bringing Barbie to the big screen, He-Man is being kicked around in development, Major Matt Mason has Tom Hanks loosely attached, and Hot Wheels is slowly rolling somewhere.

With Lautner’s 6-pack abs signed to star, the studio turns its attention to finding a director for this.  In the meantime, the teenage actor will be wandering shirtless in the rain.