Will the Twilight Kids Have "Real" Acting Careers?

Robert Pattinson is the new Keanu Reeves. Taylor Lautner is the new Matt Damon. Kristen Stewart is the new Anna Paquin. For real

Do you think the New Moon kids are actually going to have careers after all the Twilight drama dies down? Or be taken seriously?
—Queen of Shoes, via Twitter

Well, because E! Online readers just love reading about how actors are jealous of other actors, or sleeping with other actors, or making little baby actors with other actors, let's do this right.

Let's put this in terms of other actors. Like who among the Twilight stars is really the next Matt Damon, who's the next Drew Barrymore and who's the next Keanu Reeves?

Behold a possible future for each New Mooner...

Kristen Stewart: The Next Anna Paquin? Of all the New Moon actors, Hollywood power brokers tell me K.Stew has the best chance of a long, varied and respected acting career.

Very few, if any, actresses have broken this big in a romantic lead actress role the way Stewart has, so pinning down her future proved challenging for the people I spoke with.

Still, "I would put her in with the Anna Paquins before I would put her in with, say, Natalie Portman," Gillespie tells me. "It's the same vibe, same personality, same quirkiness, the aversion to media. I just think she's very smart."

And like Paquin, who got an Oscar for her first big role (as a child, in The Piano), Stewart has mixed up her roles, blending indie comedies like Adventureland with suspense stuff, like The Panic Room. And unlike—ahem—others in the New Moon cast, Stewart "is an actor's actor," talent agent Susie Mains tells me. "She's interested in the work," much like Paquin.

Nikki Reed: The Next Drew Barrymore? Work with me, here. Reed first broke out with Thirteen, an indie movie she cowrote, which was loosely based on her own life. She also executive produced The Last Day of Summer. Rehab and dramatic autobiographies aside, that kind of initiative puts Reed in a good position to chart her own future, much like Barrymore and her Flower Films production company, my sources say.

"Taking the Twilight supporting role was a brilliant decision," casting director Bonnie Gillespie of Cricket Feet Inc. says. "This way, she's not so completely branded like the Twilight leads are, and it also gives her a way broader fan base."

Taylor Lautner: The Next Matt Damon? All the arguments you need for that are really in my latest podcast, in which I reveal that Lautner actually is Damon, but my sources are on my side, too.

"I think he could move into more leading man stuff," says Mains, who has worked with Tobey Maguire. Lautner, as we all know too well, is only 17, so it'll take a few more years, and a few more roles, before we can proclaim this prediction with smug certainty.

Kellan Lutz: The Real Next Matt Damon? Gillespie actually knows Lutz, and says he's got major potential. In fact he has so much potential he could fall somewhere in between the Jason Bourne-style action star Damon and the effortlessly fun George Clooney. (Yes. Really. The same Lutz that says he's obsessed with animals and candy.)

"I love his sense of humor, and he's really very smart," Gillespie says. "He could be a huge action hero, and he would also be the prankster on the set and not take his fame too seriously."

Robert Pattinson: The Next Keanu Reeves? He's got the broody thing, the hunky thing, and, from the perspective of Hollywood power people, we're still really not sure whether they guy can act.

Like Pattinson, Reeves changed up his roles early on, "doing more challenging stuff between the Bill and Teds, like My Own Private Idaho."

That means Pattinson is Keanu Reeves in the making, right? Could be, my sources say. But, you know, in a good way.

"There are many people who would kill for that kind of career," Gillespie says. "Superfun, superintense...but not necessarily known for his chops. Fun to watch, but someone who will probably excel in less-challenging material."

As for my own future, I suspect I am The Next Target of the Twi-Hards' Ire. I'm off to barricade myself against the vampire horde.