Taylor Lautner Says He Blacked Out During His Surprise Eras Tour Appearance

Taylor Lautner re-entered the Taylor Swift universe this past summer after starring in the pop star’s music video “I Can See You,” a Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) vault track. The Twilight actor reflected on how the opportunity came to be, how his wife, Tay, reacted to the fateful call and how Swift pitched him the video on the Tuesday (Oct. 31) episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

“I was at home. It was like a morning around 9 a.m. I get a call from my manager and he goes, ‘You will never believe who I got a call from this morning.’ And I go, ‘I wouldn’t, so why don’t you tell me?’ And he goes, ‘Taylor Swift’s manager, and she wanted to see if she can get your new updated cell phone number and reach out,’” he recalled. “I was like, ‘Okay…did they say what about?’ He’s like, ‘Not really … do you want to talk to your wife about this and make sure this is okay?’ Meanwhile, wife is right in the kitchen there and she’s freaking out, and I go, ‘No, by the signs of it I think she’s gonna be just fine.’ She’s the biggest Swiftie ever, so automatic permission.”

Though Lautner revealed that he and Swift “had been out of touch for a while,” the pair picked up their friendship and shot the video, which also star actress Joey King, in Liverpool, England. The city, however, was not Swift’s first choice. “We were gonna do it in London, but she’s experienced at these things, she realized that there would probably be too much paparazzi and media because we wanted to keep it a secret for the big reveal,” he explained.

Months after the video was filmed, Swift embarked on her career spanning The Eras Tour, and made a proposition to Lautner to make a special cameo during her concert on the release night of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).

“She’s like, ‘No pressure, I got this crazy idea. I was thinking the night my album drops, just blind premiering it at my show in Kansas City [Miss.] and people are gonna freak, they’re gonna faint, it’s gonna be unbelievable,’” Lautner told Fallon. “‘Then after we show the video, you and the cast are gonna walk out and you’re actually gonna be there.’ I was like, ‘Sign me up.’ So we did!”

The Twilight actor shared that everything went according to plan, but after coming onstage at the “Anti-Hero” singer’s July 7 show at Arrowhead Stadium — which holds over 76,000 people — his nerves got the best of him, and caused him to literally flip out onstage: “I do this weird thing, and it doesn’t make sense so forgive me, when I freak out and I’m really nervous and I black out, I just go straight to backflip.”

Though Lautner’s entrance went smoothly, the seemingly random moment came as a result of panic thinking. “I stepped out of this door, and I saw this walkway, and it was like 60 yards down the field. And I’m like, ‘I have to walk down this whole thing? This is going to be so uncomfortable,’” he told Fallon. “And I was like, ‘Just backflip, and I’ll take up the space, and it’ll be over.’”

Watch Lautner’s full interview with Jimmy Fallon in the video above.