Twilight’ heartthrob Kellan Lutz has his role down to a science

Wearing all black from tip to toe, “Twilight” actor Kellan Lutz sat in a meeting room at the Ritz-Carlton in Boston dressed more like Johnny Cash than the vampire Emmett Cullen, whom he plays in the beyond-popular movie series. Just as Lutz’s character helps Bella in the movies, the 24-year-old actor was quick to lend a hand when a technically inept reporter couldn’t work her tape recorder. A push of a button, a flip of a switch and – voila – it works.

“It’s running now,” Lutz says, before revealing that he was a chemical engineering major, on scholarship, at Chapman University in California. He left school to pursue acting.

Lutz is on a tour promoting the second entry in the series, “New Moon,” which will be released Nov. 20. He was in Boston on Thursday and also stopped by to greet 500 bloodsucking fans at the Natick Collection.

Most “Twilight” fans, known collectively as “Twi-hards,” or “Twi-moms” (obsessed mothers) are “99.9 percent female,” Lutz said.

That might be changing, though, once “New Moon” comes out.

“The trailer for ‘New Moon’ speaks more to the guys. It’s more action-packed than ‘Twilight,’” Lutz said, adding that the action is even more cranked up for “Eclipse,” the third entry in the franchise, which is slated for a June 30, 2010, release.

“I did so much fight training and so many stunts for ‘Eclipse,’” Lutz said. “I try to do my own stunts. I nag and I nag. I wear my scars and bruises as tattoos. It’s so much fun knowing that that’s you doing it. ‘Eclipse’ is going to be such a guy-friendly movie.”

But that’s not the only reason Lutz said he thinks guys should jump on board the vampire phenomenon.

“You can score brownie points. Take your girlfriend and she’ll be all over you, saying ‘oh, you’re my Edward,’” Lutz said laughing.

Of course, he reassures that there will be plenty in the film that appeals to teens and the older audience that find the story irresistible. It is, after all, a forbidden love story between a vampire heartthrob, Edward, (Robert Pattinson) and a shy schoolgirl, Bella (Kristen Stewart). In “New Moon,” Edward forces himself to break up with Bella to protect her. He flees to Italy, and Bella seeks comfort in the arms of her friend Jacob (Taylor Lautner).

“It’s a story of a girl losing her first love, and it’s really sad,” Lutz said, adding that a love triangle develops between the three characters.

Of more concern to the franchise’s legion of fans is the departure of “Twilight” director Catherine Hardwicke (“Thirteen,” “Lords of Dogtown”), who possesses a much harder edge than her replacement, Chris Weitz, best known for helming “American Pie.”

Lutz said that while “Twilight” had a more love story indie feel to it, “New Moon” has a bigger budget and more computer generated imagery.

“It’s more of an action-packed movie than a love story. Weitz had everything down pat. If you had questions, he had answers,” Lutz said

He added that the plot stays true to the books, which he’s read. The movies are based on Stephenie Meyer’s teen-vampire romance novels.

“I love the books, but I didn’t read them until I had the role. I didn’t know it was a book series or that it was such a phenomenon. I just thought I was doing a cool vampire movie,” Lutz said.

When he first started acting Lutz said he wanted to make his mom proud. Falling in the middle of six brothers and a sister, Lutz said the family had a tough time after his parents split. They lived in churches, or other people took them in. That inspired Lutz to work hard in school. Plus, he wanted to make his mom proud.

“Living in L.A., everyone acts, so I just fell into it. My mom was so mad because I threw all my scholarships away. My mom didn’t know what acting was and she was fearful for me. She told me I needed a backup plan, and from that day on, I decided I didn’t need a backup plan because I wasn’t going to fail. If you have a backup plan, that leaves room for failure. From that day forward it was just proving to myself that I could do it.

Besides the “Twilight” franchise, Lutz has been in the television shows “90210” and “Generation Kill.” Other films include “Accepted” and the soon-to-be released “A Nightmare on Elm Street.”

And the million-dollar question. Will the fourth and final book “Breaking Dawn” be filmed?

“They haven’t said anything. They haven’t even said if ‘New Moon’ and ‘Eclipse’ do well, we might do ‘Breaking Dawn,’” Lutz said. “It’s one of those things that this will suck if they do not green light ‘Breaking Dawn’ because we want to finish the series. I think the fans want us to. We’ve done three movies as the same cast, and I think fans will riot if we don’t.”

Reach Dana Barbuto at dbarbuto@ledger.com.