Twilight's Taylor Lautner Reacts To 'Where The Hell Have You Been, Loca?' Memes
In the years since the Twilight film franchise's release, it has spawned its fair share of instantly classic, eminently "meme-able" moments. From the infamous baseball scene set to "Supermassive Black Hole" in 2008's "Twilight" to the original bizarre doll from "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2," any fan worth their salt knows which moments joined the pop culture lexicon. So what about that infamous line uttered by Taylor Lautner's teenager-turned-werewolf Jacob Black, where he effusively greets Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) in an unusual manner?
While answering questions at Comic-Con in Liverpool in 2023 (via Monopoly Events), Lautner was asked about how his now-iconic salutation to Bella. As Jacob rushes towards her in "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," he exclaims, "Where the hell have you been, Loca?!" before sweeping his friend into a hug. Lautner finds the line's popularity (it's huge on TikTok) baffling.
"See, that whole thing I was kind of confused by," he admitted. "Because — I'm gonna sound like an old person here, and I'm getting up there — I'm not on TikTok. I've not kept up with the times per se. And whenever this was, like a year or two ago, I would just start walking the streets, and people would come up to me and say, 'Can you say, 'Where the hell have you been, Loca?' And I'm like, 'What?!'"
Taylor Lautner is embracing the legacy of Where the hell have you been, loca?
"Honestly, I forgot that that was even a line in the movie," Taylor Lautner said, laughing. "It's not an important line, and it just blew up and became this thing, and I have no idea why, but people love it!"
He's right. "Where the hell have you been, loca?!" is a throwaway line meant to kick off a plotline where Bella, in her true love Edward Cullen's (Robert Pattinson) absence, grows closer to Jacob. When the two start tending to an old motorcycle, it's clear that Jacob develops feelings for Bella, but she's still pining for Edward. When she eventually reunites with her vampire boyfriend, a love triangle kicks off, making Lautner's character one of the franchise's main players (and earning ire from Twilight fans who proclaimed themselves, at the time, to be "Team Edward" instead of "Team Jacob").
These days, Lautner is just embracing the joke. "And now, I like, I get it. I mean, I don't really get it. But I get it. So yeah, that's a fun one," he said.
What is former Twilight heartthrob Taylor Lautner doing these days?
So where the hell has Taylor Lautner been since Twilight, Loca? Well, the actor is still most famous for playing Jacob Black, but he's also popped up in action thrillers like 2011's "Abduction," the BBC original series "Cuckoo" from 2014-2018, and a brief turn on Ryan Murphy's series, "Scream Queens." Mostly, though, he's made headlines for being one of Taylor Swift's friendliest ex-boyfriends.
Lautner and the pop superstar briefly dated in 2009, and they've remained cordial. Lautner even appeared in Swift's 2023 music video for "I Can See You," a previously unreleased vault track from "Speak Now (Taylor's Version)." He also showed up at a stop on Swift's world-spanning Eras Tour for the video's release, backflipping down the stage to help Swift and his co-stars Presley Cash and Joey King introduce the world premiere.
All of this is to say that Lautner has been back in the spotlight as of late, which allows him to discuss all things Twilight once again. Luckily for fans, that includes getting his take on calling Bella Swan "Loca."