Taylor Lautner trying to become the next Tom Cruise

For a teen wolf known for this abs, Taylor Lautner has some big ambitions. He’s working to make the transition from tween heart throb in the ‘Twilight’ series to a more serious actor. To achieve that, he’s looking at someone else who made the jump from teen pin-up to serious actor: Tom Cruise.

In 2011, Lautner will appear in his first major lead role with “Abduction,” a film that, though a commercial thriller, gave the teen stud a chance to work with an auteur director, John Singleton of “Boyz N the Hood” fame.

Lautner already had admired Cruise, and Singleton coached him on how to follow in the A-lister’s path (professionally).

“I told him to watch the transition from ‘Top Gun’ to ‘Rain Man’ to ‘Born on the Fourth of July,'” director John Singleton told The Los Angeles Times. “To think about what he did as a young man and what he did later on. And then think about what you want to do.”

Couch jumping incidents asides,  Cruise has quite the prolific career.  Cruise made the transition himself, as a young action idol in ‘Top Gun’ to more touching roles in the late eighties. Since, he’s gone back and forth between drama and action, spanning films such as ‘Jerry Maguire’ and ‘Mission: Impossible.’

For his part, Singleton is confident that Lautner can make the switch:

“I think when people see this film [Abduction] they’ll see a more mature Taylor,” Singleton said. “He’s doing this [thing] he’s never done before. He’s funny and charismatic. He has room to breathe that he’s never had before.”

He’s 18.