I always wonder how movie characters get into character. You know? Like how did Garrett Hedlund (who will be playing the part of Sam in Tron: Legacy which opens this weekend) immerse himself into the country music scene when he was filming Country Strong. Well, now I know. He told me yesterday that after doing some guitar training out in Los Angeles, he just wasn’t feeling the part of Beau Hutton. So he came to Nashville, and thanks to the Southern hospitality of Country Strong co-star Tim McGraw, Hedlund moved into a ranch on McGraw’s property near Nashville for about a month before filming started. “I got to wake up each morning and look out at Hank Sr.’s old place. It doesn’t get any better than that,” Hedlund told me. “I even sat out on the front porch there on New Year’s Eve, by myself, setting off fireworks.” That’s country, right

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Garrett Hedlund is one to watch for the next few years. He’s the lead in the long awaited sequel Tron Legacy, he stars alongside Gwyneth Paltrow in Country Strong, and he plays Dean Moriarty in Walter Selles’ adaptation of On the Road. Hedlund recently revealed that they just finished wrapping production on the film yesterday [December 11] and he spoke about the long, long journey it took to get there.

On the Road took six months to film lasting from July 11 to December 11, and it’s finally done. According to Hedlund, “It was such a journey” and he’s proud to have taken it.

“It was a guerrilla shoot with the most incredible family. Walter Selles directed it and he’s put so much work into this film over the last six or seven years. I’ve been attached since September of ‘07 trying to get this project made. Being on set during the first day like, ‘we’re fucking filming On the Road‘ to today’s the day after we just finished it. It was unfortunate to part with a family you’ve come to love so immensely on this journey.”

Hedlund’s schedule has been packed to the brim over the past year, but the last 24 hours have been the most hectic.

“Yesterday morning I was driving across the Bay Bridge in a Hudson, wrapped at 11, jumped on a plane to get back here [Los Angeles], cut my hair, and went straight to the Tron [Legacy] premiere.”

As you might expect with a title like On the Road, Hedlund spent a lot of the shoot traveling. They went to Montreal, Argentina, New Orleans, Arizona, Mexico, Calgary and they just wrapped in San Francisco.

On the Road is scheduled to hit theaters sometime in 2011.

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Garrett Hedlund is a “user” – and proud of it.

But it’s not substances the 26-year-old instant fanboy fave, who stars as programmer (aka “user”) Sam Flynn in “Tron: Legacy,” uses for a rush – it’s an intense dose of cutting edge CG graphics and modern day movie magic used by Disney to bring the big screen reboot back to life which give Garrett his buzz.

“To be able to wear one of the ‘Tron’ suits was such a privilege to expose something that was kind of the first of its kind,” Garrett – AccessHollywood.com’s newest Rising Star – recently told Access.

However, donning the iconic attire wasn’t as easy as just zipping up a tracksuit.

“To wear them, we had to get ourselves scanned into a computer. We had to do a cyber scan that scans your whole body for every curve to get it so precise, it looks like it’s a part of you,” the young actor revealed. “Me and Jeff [Bridges] would joke around sometimes before scenes, ‘I guess if the stunt goes wrong, they’ve got us scanned into the computer so they can still finish their film.’”

While landing the role of Sam in the beloved franchise was a role coveted by many young actors throughout Hollywood, it wasn’t a story the Minnesota-born actor necessarily grew up admiring.

“I never actually saw the first one until 2003, almost 20 years after it came out,” Garrett revealed to Access during Comic-Con 2010 in July. “And then five or six years later, you’re on the set filming the new installation to this legacy — it’s kind of mind blowing and very surreal at the same time.”

“Tron: Legacy” is undeniably Garrett’s biggest role to date, but it certainly isn’t his first. With roles in “Troy” (alongside Brad Pitt), “Friday Night Lights” (starring Billy Bob Thornton), “Four Brothers” (opposite Mark Wahlberg) and “Georgia Rule” (with Jane Fonda & Lindsay Lohan) – and soon to be seen in “Country Strong,” starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Garrett has been afforded the opportunity to work alongside some of Hollywood’s biggest names.

That was no different with “Tron: Legacy,” as he shared the screen with Oscar winner Jeff Bridges.

“Jeff is such a great, great person. He never ceases to inspire me. It’s just the way his mind is. He’s so wise and he’s such a great storyteller and I’m so driven by storytellers, I could spend everyday listening to him chat about life,” Garrett told Access. “I love Jeff – he’s the best father in the world.”

In fact, it’s a mutual adoration between the thesps.

“Garrett was just wonderful,” Jeff told Access. “He’s a musician, so we got to [play guitar] a little bit.

“And he kind of looks like me in a weird way,” Jeff laughed. “So we kind of kicked off a father and son thing I think – off camera and on camera.”

Despite what is sure to be superstar success – and subsequent fan recognition, Garrett (who grew up on a cattle farm near the small town of Strandquist, Minn., and later moved to Arizona, where he signed with a talent agency as a teen before moving to Los Angeles immediately after graduating high school) said he’s still trying to get used to the idea of being a Hollywood leading man.

“I never was involved in a film that I had to be there every day, all day, you know. I was always a supporting role trying to write his role bigger,” he admitted. “I was never the one that had to sort of be there all day, every day — finding the energy to get through it and do the best you can.”

“Are you ready for your life to change?” Access asked the up-and-comer.

“That’s kind of a heavy question,” he smiled. “One day at a time.”

Source: Access Hollywood

“Tron” was an eye-popping technological extravaganza when it first hurtled into theaters in 1982 with its speeding light cycles and gaming imagery. The film eventually proved to be so influential — spawning video games and a whole “Tron”-obsessed subculture in its wake — that Disney circled back to the project for the 2010 sequel “Tron Legacy.”

For Garrett Hedlund, who plays Sam Flynn, the son of software engineer Kevin (portrayed in both movies by Jeff Bridges), the latest take on the project is still an impressive spectacle that ramps up the potently mind-scrambling imagery. Hedlund revealed his thoughts to MTV News about the seeing the final product for the first time on the blue carpet at the elaborate “Tron Legacy” premiere Saturday.

“I saw it couple weeks ago when I was in Montreal, but only with a couple pals and on a smaller Technicolor screen. But even then it was an incredible experience. It’s such a high-tech adventure,” Hedlund said. “It’s undoubtedly like anything I’ve ever seen before, and I think the loss for words on it is the best part of it and I can’t wait to see it again.”

Even though Hedlund has a role in bringing the digital wizardry of the franchise to a new generation — in addition to getting a high-profile, career-boosting gig from the project — he said he was most excited to see “Tron” filmmaker Steven Lisberger revel in the enduring influence of his groundbreaking movie nearly three decades later.

“That’s where I’m so happy for Steven Lisberger. Something he created around 28 years ago and this wild maniacal story has come to fruition 28 years later in such an unbelievable way,” he said. “To see him walking with his family and enjoying this with all of us and being there when we’re filming with all of us and sort of being the godfather on set, I’m more proud of him in this very moment.”

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In 1982, a director named Steven Lisberger tickled a generation’s imagination with a movie called TRON. Looking back, the predictive power of the movie is astounding. Who could have imagined that 30 years later, we would be living in our own Troniverse, a reality fraught with light speed communiqués, digital farm maintenance, and Facebook integration? We will immediately posit this question to 600 friends with a status update.

We got a few minutes to chat with Garrett Hedlund, who plays Sam Flynn, aka Son of Jeff Bridges in the new TRON sequel. After being sucked into “The Grid” by the same laser that digitized his dad in TRON v. 1.0, Sam finds himself on a mission to rescue his pop, who has been imprisoned in the computer world for twenty years.

What was your initial reaction upon finally seeing the sequel?
Speechless. So thrilled and proud and just excited for everyone to see what [director] Joe Kasinski did, and Digital Domain, and Darren [Gilford] the production designer, all these guys worked so hard, and I’m so proud of every one of them.

How do you create a real character in a digital world?
It starts off in the real world. Sam was so affected by the disappearance of his father, and you got the abandonment issues there. You come from real life on that. It’s key for Sam’s qualities to be real in a technological world, and the story has to be there as well. This being a movie of a son searching for his father, that’s the jugular of this whole thing. Now you’re in this world of the unknown, trying to overcome obstacles and get out.

You do feel the strength of that father/son relationship. What did you and Jeff Bridges do to fall into that dynamic?
We arrived in Vancouver a couple weeks before we started shooting, and we all sat around a round table—me and Jeff and Joe and Olivia [Wilde] and Sean Bailey and Justin Springer and the writers, and we’d go through the script and improvise and rehearse some scenes, see if there was anything we could add or not. And there, we would talk to one another, talk about life, literature, music and spirituality. And Jeff is so inspired by all of these things and so wise on all of them as well. He’s such a unique person. Such a brilliant actor, every day, he was. He never ceased to inspire me.

What was it like working with Joe Kasinski, a first time director?
Joe was incredible. I’m excited for everyone to see what he did with this. It may be his first feature, but he knows his way around the set. Joe Kasinski doesn’t seem like no first time director. In my opinion, he’s the next great visionary of our time.

You trained in capoeria and parkour. What’s it like doing that stuff in a spandex onesie?
It’s different! It’s different than training in basketball shorts and a t-shirt. The training was really special. It was at this facility called 87eleven. I was working for this guy David Leitch, who had coincidentally worked on Troy with me, choreographing the fights. To go through the journey with him, the capoeira and parkour, doing the weight training with [trainer] Logan Hood and the motorcycle—it was fantastic. I’m glad it was them, that group over there is very talented.

Tell me about your experience watching the original 1982 TRON.
I saw it for the first time when I was 18. I got a kick out of the young, energetic Jeff. Having filmed with the present Jeff, I wish I could hang out with the both of them at the same time. I feel like we could have a great deal of laughs.

It’s great what [TRON director] Steven Lisberger created. Who can really predict where we’ll really be in terms of 10, 20, 30 years of technology? It’s crazy.

What’s it like to hold an action figure of yourself?
It’s cool! Yeah. A pal of mine from high school had a baby. My mom gave him a Sam Flynn action figure, and I thought that was really special, that was really neat. Other than that, it’s just a tool for my brother to make fun of me.

Are you filming On the Road right now?
Yeah.

Is it more pressure for you to do a big budget tentpole film like TRON or to tackle a more classic character like Dean Moriarty?
I don’t know. In terms of every film I do, I always try and work harder than I have before, and on this one, it’s been a lot of work. Everyone’s been really delivering, man. It’s such a great experience. Walter Salles is so incredible. I’m very blessed to be a part of it.

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The latest good news for The City’s film industry is the decision by director Walter Salles to shoot scenes this week in San Francisco for his latest film “On the Road,” based on the novel written by Jack Kerouac.

At least one actor in the film was out enjoying San Francisco on Tuesday night. Kirsten Dunst was spotted at the recently remodeled Nob Hill neighborhood bar Zeki’s, located at California and Leavenworth streets where it looks out onto the Cable Car lines. Dunst is playing Camille.

The production is shooting this week at 23rd and Carolina streets, the Bay Bridge, and Filbert and Leavenworth streets. Filming wraps up Friday.

Even though Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” is rich with San Francisco scenes, most of the film was actually shot in Canada, where many productions opt to film to the detriment of San Francisco’s film industry. In recent years, The City has attempted to try and revive the industry with incentives.

But just the few days of shooting is seen as a positive. And a driving-away scene being shot this week in San Francisco is said to likely end up as the final scene in the film, which is set for release in 2011.

“It’s wonderful. We’re really happy to have them here. Every little bit helps,” said Susannah Robbins, executive director of the Film Office.

Other recent highlights for the San Francisco film industry include Gus Van Sant’s “Milk” starring Sean Penn.

Daman Magazine has on their website, a web exclusive that is not featured in their magazine. A quick Q&A:

DA MAN: When you first got to Hollywood, did you take it in stride or did it kind of blow you away?
Garrett Hedlund: I had been flying back and forth from Arizona for auditions for two years, so it was something I had been a little used to.
DA: What sort of experiences do you think prepared you to handle the Hollywood whirlwind?
GH: Growing up on a farm. It gave me all the tools I need for real life.
DA: You have sort of flown under the radar the last couple years, were you working or taking some time off?
GH: I had some time off as I was attached to On the Road and I swore to the director that I wouldn’t do another film until we did it.
DA: Did you get stressed by the demands of celebrity; from Troy as a teenager, then basically two major feature films per year for next few years, concluding with Georgia Rule and Death Sentence in 2007? After those did you just say to yourself, ‘I gotta slow this down’?
GH: I’m happy with the pace of my career.
DA: What has been your proudest moment so far in your movie career?
GH: My role in On the Road that I am currently filming. It has been my dream role.
DA: What has been something you wished you had not done?
GH: No. You wouldn’t be where you are without the past. I would never change anything that got me to where I am today.
DA: What do you hope to achieve in your acting career? Any goals, such as an Oscar?
GH: I don’t really have a master plan. I cant foresee it. I just hope to continue working on films and in roles that I can completely dive into and believe the character.
DA: What does it take to make it to the top and stay there in Hollywood ?
GH: Understanding yourself and knowing what you have to offer.
DA: What do you like to do to relax when you have leisure time?
GH: I enjoy staying home and relaxing on my couch reading or going back to the farm.

For the full magazine feature with several more images, pick up the December 2010/January 2011 issue of DA MAN magazine

GARRETT Hedlund admits his action figure is “really freaky”.

The Tron: Legacy star says he had been managing to cope with his rise to blockbuster fame before he was presented with a scale model of himself.

“I didn’t even think about the action figures or anything,” says Garrett.

“I have one that they gave me, it’s at home back in L.A, and it’s really freaky.

“I don’t feel it makes me a better person or a worse person. It’s cool, but it does blow your mind a little.”

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“Tron: Legacy” may have been a critical disappointment and its hunky star, Garret Hedlund, may have lacked the fire of “Star Trek’s” Chris Pine. Nevertheless, Hollywood has high hopes for the 26-year-old who played “Tron’s” Sam Flynn. In January alone Hedlund will star opposite Gwyneth Paltrow in “Country Strong,” where his presence conjures up memories of Brad Pitt from his “Thelma & Louise” days. The actor raised on a beef cattle farm in Minnesota will also costar in “On the Road” with Viggo Mortensen later in 2011. Until then Hedlund shows moviegoers his stuff on the January cover of W magazine.

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