(Reporting and video by Marc Price)

Since when did girls start liking guys that stay up all hours at night — drinking? Blood, no less. Since when? Since always. And if a vamp knows how to bite more than her neck, all the better.

Vampire flicks have come a long way since Bella Lugosi, and while we’re a little young to have seen Lugosi in theaters, we do remember Jim Carrey and Lauren Hutton in “Once Bitten” (Today, that would be titled “Cougar Vampire”). We remember “An American Werewolf in London” and “Teen Wolf” — we’re allowed to mention werewolves given “New Moon” and its pack. And we can say, the beasts are doing far better today romancing the gals.

On the the subject of vamps, we note Johnny Depp was named People magazine’s sexiest man of the year (you can read about that here) last week. Johnny Depp? Everybody knows Robert Pattinson is the sexiest man — or is it Taylor Lautner? C’mon you “Twi-hards” (that’s a few of you pictured at the premiere at left), which is it: vampire Edward Cullen or werewolf Jacob Black? Pattinson or Lautner?

The movie smashed weekend box office records with a domestic haul of nearly $141 million (read that here), and we were out there again. We asked women: would they let Robert Pattinson drink their blood? The answer is below.

They’re “really good friends” with major chemistry and “a multitude of feelings for each other”… BUT “Twilight” stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart say they are getting really, really fed up with persistent media  reports claiming they are in love, or secretly dating.

“It doesn’t make any difference  what you say (to the tabloids). I’ve literally been across the country (from Kristen) and it’s like, ‘Oh, they were on secret dates!’ It’s like, ‘Where? I can’t get out of my hotel room!’” Pattinson tells Vanity Fair in its December issue.

Stewart sounds even more impatient: “It’s so retarded,” she tells the magazine. “We’re characters in this comic book.”

That might prove the end of the tabloid match-making of the past year.

But “Twilight” director Catherine Hardwicke revealed that the couple did share major chemistry while filming the first movie in the vampire book series — a fact that was obvious to the movie’s millions of fans, and which has given some credence to all those off-screen romance rumors.

“What Rob and Kristen had is a multitude of feelings for each other. Complex feelings for each other. It was what we needed. Complex, intense fascination,” Hardwicke tells Vanity Fair.

As Hardwicke wasn’t on board for the much-anticipated “New Moon” sequel, guess we’ll have to wait and see whether all those multitudes of complex, intense, fascination feelings between the pair have progressed in the second movie.

Meanwhile, Pattinson protests yet again that he is not exactly comfortable in his role as a global heartthrob.

“I’m trying not to drown. I guess I’m not the type of guy cut out to do a franchise. I’m not much of a crowd person,” he tells Vanity Fair.

Well, if Rob is not the franchise type, someone else may be… Looks like co-star Taylor Lautner is fast catching up in the swoon stakes, according to a poll of tweens and teens last week that ranked the buff young actor a clear favorite over the moody Pattinson.

Some celebrity hookups are hardly worth the ink used to write them up in the tabloids, especially when they involve two stars who clearly shouldn’t be together, or they end quicker than a sumo wrestling match.

But then there’s Taylor and Taylor. Singer Taylor Swift, the top selling female artist of 2008, and actor Taylor Lautner, the “Twilight” teen idol, have been seen out together, first at a hockey game on Sunday and later this week in Beverly Hills, for what the media has described as a dinner date.

The two Taylors have small roles in the movie “Valentine’s Day,” which is due to come out on Feb. 12. So there’s always the possibility that the whole thing is a publicity stunt. Or not.

Taylor Swift herself spoke about the other Taylor to chat show host Ellen DeGeneres in an interview set to air on Thursday. She said that the two share scenes in “Valentine’s Day” and that they kiss in the movie.

“So is he a good kisser?” DeGeneres said.

“What?” Swift said.

“So coy,” DeGeneres responded.

So how do the two Taylors match up?

In one corner, the 17 year-old Lautner was named by celebrity show “Access Hollywood” as having the best abdominal muscles in Hollywood. And he is giving “Twilight” co-star Robert Pattinson a run for his money in the teen swoon category ahead of his larger role in the sequel “New Moon” due out on Nov. 20.

In the other corner, the 19 year-old Swift was ranked last year in Maxim magazine’s hot 100 female stars list. She sells out concert dates in minutes, and of course she won the 2009 MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video in that incident that will be remembered as the great Kanye West flameout of 2009.

Of course, as quick as you become hot in Hollywood, you may just as soon find yourself the subject of an embarrassing incident. In the case of Swift, that has come in the form of a photo on celebrity website TMZ.com showing Swift posing for a photograph at a Los Angeles party on Saturday with a fan wearing a shirt with a Nazi swastika painted on it. Swift’s spokeswoman, Paula Erickson, told Reuters that the photo is misleading, because Swift was in a loud and dark party with strobe lights, and that Swift could not see the swastika on the man’s shirt. “She never even looked at what he was wearing, he was one person that came up to her in a whole line of people,” Erickson said. “She took lots of pictures with lots of people very quickly.” On TMZ’s own informal poll, 75 percent of respondents said by mid-day Thursday that they thought Swift was innocent in the whole thing.

As for Taylor and Taylor, Erickson said she had no comment on whether they are dating. Maybe we’ll know by Valentine’s Day whether “TayTay” (??) will rival Brangelina and TomKat.

Hollywood is all about popularity, just like that other institution — high school. So, in the spirit of all things popular, movie ticket website Fandango.com has released its “Celebrity Yearbook Awards,” based on votes from fans about which stars they think are the most likely to succeed, and which ones already made their mark one way or another.

“Twilight” star Robert Pattinson and “Grey Gardens” actress Drew Barrymore were named “most popular” in the survey of about 1,000 movie fans.

Another actor from “Twilight,” rising star Taylor Lautner, was named “most likely to succeed,” along with Ellen Page from the 2007 film “Juno.”

But Page’s “Juno” co-star Michael Cera fared much worse, being named “most awkward.” As it happens, not all the “Twilight” stars came out on top, because the movie’s female lead, Kristen Stewart, was also named “most awkward.”

After being largely absent from film screens for the last couple years, Sandra Bullock made good this summer in romantic comedy “The Proposal,” which has made $235 million at worldwide box offices. Poll respondents  named her “best personality,” along with perennial Hollywood leading man George Clooney.

And of course, that key high school concern, namely how you look, was highlighted in the “worst hair” category of the poll, with Nicolas Cage and Renee Zellweger winning the honors.

If nothing else, the poll proves it’s good to be out of high school.

(Writing and reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis)

It may have taken a casting controversy to do it, but actor Taylor Lautner has proven he is a “Twilight” fan favorite. Those fans of the vampire romance books and movie can celebrate now, because the studio behind the film says Lautner will reprise his role as Jacob Black in the sequel “New Moon,” with earlier concerns about him being too small for the role brushed aside.
    
Stephenie Meyer, the author behind the “Twilight” book series, said in a statement on her Web site on Wednesday that she was part of the decision to recast Lautner, along with the studio Summit Entertainment. 
    
“I’m truly thrilled that Taylor was the one who proved to the director, to Summit, and to me that he is the best possible Jacob we could have,” Meyer said.
    
Jacob Black is a shape-shifter who turns into a wolf. When it became clear in December that he was not a lock for the part, “Twilight” readers cried foul on the myriad of fan Web sites that appeal to the book series’ readers, who are mostly young women and teens.
    
The problem with recasting the 16-year-old Lautner for “New Moon” was a physical one, because in the book series Jacob Black bulks up and grows about a foot taller between the first and second book. But Lautner has said he is working out for the role, and maybe he can count on a teenage growth spurt.
    
With Summit announcing late Wednesday that Lautner would be back to play Black, fans reacted quickly. On the fan Web site BellaAndEdward.com, one fan wrote, “I’ve been saying this whole time that it’s not about who is physically best for the role, it’s about who is emotionally best for the role.” On another fan site called HisGoldenEyes.com, fans said they were hyperventilating, crying and even shaking with joy at the casting choice. One fan named Tiffany wrote, “My life is complete now!” But despite the overwhelming positive reaction to the news, not everyone was happy. One fan named Khacie wrote, “What are you people thinking?! Taylor Lautner is NOT Jacob Black!”  
    
“New Moon” comes out on Nov. 20. “Twilight” has made more than $177 million in the U.S. and Canada since it came out on Nov. 21, a whopping take for a film that cost about $37 million to make.

(Writing and reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis)

The blood is not yet dry on “Twilight,” the vampire romance movie based on author Stephenie Meyer’s book, but already fans are dissecting every announcement studio Summit Entertainment has made regarding the upcoming sequel.
    
The follow-up film “New Moon” will come out on Nov. 20, 2009, just a year after the first movie, prompting one commentator on the fan site Twilighters.org to write in full Web lingo, “Kool. We don’t have 2 wait too long.”
    
But it has not been all about breathless anticipation for the young and mostly female fans of “Twilight.” The latest controversy involves the casting of Jacob Black, a shape-shifter who turns into a wolf. In a statement about “New Moon,” Summit Entertainment named Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson as the actors who will reprise their romantic lead roles, but the studio did not name the actor for Black, who in the first movie was played by Taylor Lautner.
    
“Sorry, dude but you don’t beat out Taylor. I swear, if they change Taylor, Summit Entertainment will have a riot of teen girls and their parents on their hands,” one fan wrote on Monday at the fan site HisGodlenEyes.com.

AND HERE’S THE UPDATE: Lautner, 16, told cable channel MTV on Wednesday that he is packing on pounds so his physique can match the description Meyer gave his Jacob Black in “New Moon,” the book the sequel is based on.  ”I have been working out,” Lautner told MTV. “I’ve been working out since the day we finished filming ‘Twilight.’ I just weighed myself today — I’ve put on 19 pounds.” Lautner added that he is guaranteeing the director of “New Moon” he will add 10 more pounds by the time filming starts.
    
The “Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” star Ben Barnes, 27, has been talked about as a possible actor in the sequel for another role, that of a vampire named Aro, and that has also generated buzz.
    
“If they keep casting really hot guys in these movies I will be hyperventilating all through the movie!,” one fan wrote on Monday at fan site Twilighters.org.
    
“Twilight” has already made more than $186 million worldwide since its Nov. 21 opening. That sets a high bar for the sequel, as “American Pie” filmmaker Chris Weitz takes over as director from Catherine Hardwicke. Commenting on the fan site EdwardandBella.net, an Internet user with the screen name Sweet Sofia wrote about the choice of Weitz, “I dunno. A Guy? We will wait and see.”