Kellan Lutz On ‘Meskada,’ ‘Twilight,’ Emmet Cullen, Underwear Modeling

Meeting the townspeople. I grew up in the Midwest, and I’ve encountered situations that occur in this movie. A small town – if your main economic resources get hit and go on a decline, the whole town gets hit. People have to outsource for work and drive hundreds of miles for jobs, and that happened in Iowa with the farming. The prices for corn and wheat were dropped, and you had to outbid and lower your bid to keep farming and farm more land. It really affects the community. But the community sticks together. They really have a lot of hope, and that’s what I saw in these towns. And when you meet the townspeople and things like this have happened, you really feel for them. They’re just like anyone else, but they really have a lot of hope. It’s really cool to be around them and hear their stories. You really learn a lot.

Yeah, I mean we worked with the director a lot. He’s different from Emmett Cullen, who has everything. Superpower strength. Eddie is a kid. He’s scared, and he really looks up to Shane, who’s played by Jonathan Tucker, who’s an amazing guy, amazing actor. I’m a pretty confident guy; I grew up pretty worldly, quickly, have a good head on my shoulders, so to really play the vulnerable character who doesn’t have everything together, who has to rely on a big brother type of person that Shane plays is really different. So really going into shooting, and having the knowledge that I’ve encountered and seen first hand, with the decline in farming, I really had an understanding of what these people, the town of Meskada, have gone through, and it’s really great.

He’s a really brilliant actor. I really liked working with him. I’m a big fan of his, so to work with him, and Rachel [Nichols] and Grace [Gummer] — it was Grace’s first movie; she gave it her all and she did a great job — and Jonathan Tucker who I’ve been a great fan of. Nick Stahl, when you watch him there’s a lot of scenes where he just bashes up the bar. He just shows so much heart and so much emotion. He did a lot of work for the role – just as much as all of us, but you feel him feeling what it would be like to be part of a small town. Trying to be a leader, and trying to figure out what’s going on with this murder, and really just siding with the emotions of that town. They come together, and they protect their own, and work out the bad or good of the situation.

Ha! I hate being the kid who gets his butt kicked. I haven’t lost too many real-life fights in my life. I’ve been boxing for a while now. And even street fights, I’ve won quite a few of those.

I haven’t had many. I had a few growing up that were more severe – when I didn’t have eyes on me, but it’s definitely different. Like I’m a bigger guy, so to actually lose a fight –- I’m well trained, my reflexes tell me to block a punch, and to act my way out of that, and not react as I would.

We are. I’m back home in L.A. because of the holidays, but I had my first day [of shooting] just a couple of weeks ago.

I love it. I’ve been so blessed. Even falling into acting and having this be my new career. I’m just so thankful. To be a face of an iconic brand – you know, I started out modeling and I loved Calvin Klein.

Ha! I remember the first time I saw the poster I was a little shy and embarrassed, but it quickly turned into a proud moment. And I’m so proud of what Calvin did. I hope to work with them again in the future. It was just such an amazing experience, and I know it was received well too.

Breaking Dawn is taking a big chunk of time now. It’s a seven-month movie, but there’s a lot of down time. I’m just a cog in the big machine whereas doing a movie like Meskada, or The Killing Game or Love, Wedding, Marriage' — that comes out next year as well — you’re always on set. You’re always working, and I enjoy that as well, but I have my hand in a lot of cookie jars right now as far as movies. Got a lot of things going, and they’re all good stuff, so I work on those things slowly when I do have down time from shooting. 2011 is going to be a great year, and I’m very thankful for that.

Man, if I knew any stories, ha! These movies, it’s weird because we do block shooting, so all my scenes are mainly with the Cullens, and this’ll be the fourth and fifth movie that I’ve done with these actors, so we know each other inside and out. But you don’t really get a chance to work with the werewolves because those shoots have different scenes that you’re not in, so you don’t have to go to set that day, and that’s the only time you really get to hang out with the cast members. Maybe cast dinners. So a lot of the time you don’t even get to work with a lot of the actors that are in the movie, and it’s kind of a tease. Like people will ask, “How was it like working with Dakota Fanning or Michael Sheen?” and I’m like, “I had one day.” These movies keep on adding new characters, like Lee Pace had a cast dinner, and I’ve been a fan of his, and we barely have any scenes together, so everyone’s kind of in and out. I try and get back to L.A. as much as I can, but Baton Rouge is where we’re shooting right now, and I love that town — great to go to work and go out and play afterward.