It’s official: Taylor Lautner is going to be a HUGE action star! Word on the street is that Taylor will be playing the lead in Max Steel, an upcoming film adaptation of the Mattel toys.

Paramount has confirmed to me exclusively that it’s hired 8-pack-abs Taylor Lautner for the lead in Max Steel, instantly creating perhaps the next young big action star. (The Twilight Saga phenom is only 17 years old, and the Summit Entertainment folks predicted to me a year ago that he’d end up in demand for this kind of role after he bulked up for New Moon.) This is the Joe Roth-produced project based on the hugely successful Mattel property that’s an international bestseller. The movie will receive a major push planned as Mattel raises its stateside presence with the Paramount release. I’m told Max Steel will be a four-quadrant popcorn movie in the spirit of Iron Man about a 19-year-old extreme sports junkie recruited by a secret agency after an accident infects his body, leaving him with superhuman powers.

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IMO, it is very smart of Paramount to cash in on Taylor’s popularity right now with an audience that an action film might not normally attract.

[Thanks Edward3]