Fine, I’ll come right out and admit it. I am a Twihard –– a hardcore Twilight fan. Get it? I know, I can practically see some of you rolling your eyes and shaking your heads disapprovingly, but hey, I’m baring my vampire literature-loving soul over here. The whole Twilight business, the film series especially, helped to shoot a number of both lesser known and virtually unknown actors into stellar stardom. There was Robert Pattinson, who played the tortured and brooding vampire Edward Cullen, and Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan, the human-eventually-turned-vampire-herself caught in a supernatural love triangle.
Then there was Jacob Black, the fun-loving and free-spirited werewolf who was brought to life by Taylor Lautner, who in every way resembled the very character he played. Wait: a simple, laid-back, and all-around fun guy who is, not to mention, also a total dreamboat? Pretty easy to figure out why Bench, the leading Philippine clothing brand that’s all about combined function and style, set their sights on him to be the next Global Benchsetter and join the ranks of other A-list celebrities such as Lee-Min Ho, Adam Levine, Lucy Hale, and Liam Hemsworth. Of course, having Taylor’s brawny and ogle-worthy body, draped from head to toe in Bench clothing of course, plastered on billboards all around Manila, as well as a stunningly shot commercial filmed in L.A. simply wasn’t enough. Bench made many a girl’s fantasies come true, including yours truly, by flying over this hunky star for his first-ever visit to the Philippines to not only promote the label, but to let him meet and connect with his thousands of avid and loyal Filipino fans. Having just wrapped his most recent film, Tracers, an action thrill ride about a New York city bike messenger that gets into some bad business with the mafia and is introduced to the world of parkour, Taylor looked surprisingly fresh and energetic despite having arrived at four in the morning on the same day I got to sit down and talk with him about his newest campaign for Bench, as well as to get to know this Hollywood hottie a little better.