Photo by: Timothy White

Vampires may be cold but this wolf pack is hot! And getting hotter: Four new actors have been pumping up to play the band of brotherly shape-shifters in The Twilight Saga: New Moon.

The group – Chaske Spencer, 34, Alex Meraz, 24, Kiowa Gordon, 19, and Bronson Pelletier, 23 – join Taylor Lautner, 17, as he returns as Jacob Black for the sequel, due out Nov. 20.

Because the characters belong to the Quileute tribe, based in La Push, Wash., the film’s director, Chris Weitz, has insisted on authenticity. “They had to have papers that proved their heritage,” Weitz, who hired actors with Native American or First Nation ancestry, tells USA Today. “And they had to be in good physical shape.”

Not to mention possessing the ability to work half-naked in the chilly Vancouver, B.C., area, where the film has been shooting for several weeks. “They have all been good-natured,” says Weitz. “They show up on location in drenching, cold rain, and I say, ‘Okay, off with the robes.’ ”

Disrobing for a romp through the woods as Sam Uley, the pack’s alpha male, is New York-based Spencer. His Native American heritage is Lakota Sioux. Meraz, from Mesa, Ariz., plays Paul – the most volatile wolf-shifter – and boasts a Purepecha heritage.

Gordon is making his movie debut as Embry Call, Jacob’s best friend. He is from Peach Springs, Ariz., and has a Hualapai background. Rounding out the group as Jared is Pelletier of British Columbia. He’s done Canadian TV work and his family lines are Cree-Metis.

So they have buff physiques, but what about becoming wolves for the film? The transformations are computer-generated – the beasts are the size of horses and race around on all fours – but one part of each wolf will be familiar.

“They all have the actor’s eyes,” Weitz says.

via People

The casting reportedly was in question because the character of Jacob Black is a foot taller and is supposed to look 25 in the sequel. In order to guarantee his return, Lautner decided to bulk up.

In a post on her Web site, Twilight author Stephenie Meyer confirms the news in a statement from director Chris Weitz.

“I’m very happy to announce that Taylor Lautner will be playing Jacob Black in New Moon and that he’s doing so with the enthusiastic support of Summit Entertainment, the producers, and Stephenie Meyer,” Weitz said.

Added Meyer, “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. And I’m very much looking forward to seeing what he’s going to bring to Jacob’s character this year.”

I’m sure it is a relief to all of the fans around the world that tried so hard to make this happen. Congrats to you guys!! We can all sleep better at night! Lol

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Indeed, at press time the second movie appeared to have little more than a rough first-draft working script. As Summit’s production president Erik Feig told EW during Twilight’s record-busting first weekend, “There is that first…script. All the finesse that turns a screenplay into a movie hasn’t happened yet.” Two weeks later, Summit is saying it’s happy with screenwriter ­Melissa Rosenberg’s progress.

Another of Hardwicke’s primary concerns was that hunky vampire Edward remains MIA throughout New Moon’s middle portion. In her own opening-weekend interview, she told EW, “You have to get the chemistry as strong between Jacob and Bella as it was between Bella and Edward. You also have to do some thing with that arc: She’s in love with somebody, he disappears, she falls in love with someone else, and the first guy comes back. Movies like Pearl Harbor have tried it. It absolutely didn’t work.”

With or without Hardwicke, Summit faces other snags. Two sources tell EW the studio doesn’t want to rehire baby-faced Taylor Lautner (pictured) as Jacob, though Lautner’s agent has apparently reached out to the imaging company behind The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in an attempt to demonstrate to Summit how a digitally bulked-up Lautner could work. (Summit says it won’t make a decision until a new filmmaker is on board.) There’s also the matter of finding a cast of Native American actors to play Jacob’s werewolf clan — a difficult challenge Hardwicke was also faced with before settling on Lautner, who isn’t completely Native American. And with a slightly increased budget of $50 million — much of which is assumed will go to leads asking for heftier paydays, location shoots in Italy, and ramped-up F/X — Summit will have to scrimp somewhere.

So what director would want to take on such a big headache? Well, at press time, an offer was out to Chris Weitz (The Golden Compass), who put Summit on the map years ago when its foreign sales operation made tons of cash off of his first film, American Pie. (One source says Weitz has already had conversations with below-the-line crew for New Moon.) “We are in a recession,” reminds one Hollywood insider. “It’s a hit franchise. Whoever steps into it is guaranteed a $100 million gross. Everyone wants this movie.” Adds an exec at another studio, “You’d have to have a very high standard for art, hate the movie business, and hate money to walk off this sequel.”

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Catherine Hardwicke helmed the massively successful “Twilight,” making stars out of Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, along with having the biggest opening weekend ever for a female film director, but she will not return for the vampire sequel, “New Moon.”

Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily first broke the news that Hardwicke would not return and on Sunday the director released a statement toVariety. “I am sorry that due to timing I will not have the opportunity to direct ‘New Moon,’” Hardwicke said in a statement released to the entertainment trade mag. “Directing ‘Twilight’ has been one of the great experiences of my life, and I am grateful to the fans for their passionate support of the film. I wish everyone at Summit the best with the sequel — it is a great story.”

It appears that Summit didn’t give her her offer for the sequel in accordance with her timeline and she opted out. It seems that Hardwicke and the studio had some friction and told Deadline Hollywood Daily that she was “difficult” and “irrational”.