Article/Interview by Withersin Magazine.

We decided on two quick questions for Mr. Hedlund before he needed to be rushed off. I asked him also to give me three words to describe his role in the movie, he paused for a good length of time, then finally started with “Non-sympathetic, no wait, that is already two words”. I told him we could say it is only one since it is a compound word, then he paused for a bit again…….. “Big”……..”Pissed-Off”… “Leader”; he looked relieved to be done until I asked my final question,

“What is your favorite vegetable?”
“Vegetable?”, he asked, looking confused. “Yes, vegetable”, I replied again. Another pause…… “I would have to go with a carrot.” he finally said. We then concluded the interview, thanked him for his time and got on our way.
Vegetables obviously have nothing to do with acting or his role in the movie, but I thought it made a unique personal question and why not, he probably won’t forget that he was asked it and hopefully that it was asked by Withersin Magazine.
It was an amazing opportunity to be invited to this preview and we would like to thank Fox Atomic and Danni Pearlberg for the opportunity; also a big thanks to Mr. Wan and Mr. Hedlund for attending the event and answering our questions.
Source

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Nick Hume (Kevin Bacon) is an Everyman with a stable, comfortable life. He goes to work every day at his middle-management job at an insurance company. He goes home every night to his beautiful wife, Helen (Kelly Preston), and his two teenage sons, Brendan (Stuart Lafferty) and Lucas (Jordan Garrett).
The Humes are a middle-class family who are the epitome of suburban bliss. And Nick is content. He pitches in with chores around the house. He relishes the intimacy he shares with Helen. She is his confidant and equal. And he is very involved in his boys’ lives. Brendan, the eldest son, is confident and headstrong. He is popular, he is an athlete and he is on his way to college to begin a promising life of his own. Lucas looks up to his brother, but is cognizant of the shadow Brendan casts. Lucas still hasn’t found himself, and he feels a little left out because of the adoration given to Brendan. All in all, the Humes are a typical all-American family – morally upright and humble.

And then one day, their perfect life comes to a screeching halt. One night when Nick is driving Brendan home from a hockey game, he stops for gas. While he is filling up the tank on the family car, Brendan goes inside to get a drink. Moments later, a gang of thugs enter the store in ski masks, armed with various weapons. But it is not your typical convenience store robbery: this is a rite of passage for Joe Darley (Matthew O’Leary), the younger brother of Billy Darley (Garrett Hedlund), the ruthless street leader of the gang. After terrorizing and killing the store clerk, they turn their attention to Brendan.

It is at that moment when Nick turns from the pump and looks inside the store, only to witness Joe deliver the fateful blow that ends all of the promise of Brendan’s future, and leaves him lying in a pool of blood as the gang begins to flee. But when Nick runs to help his son, he clashes with Joe and they fall to the ground. Joe is unmasked, and his own future marked.

Joe is arrested, but despite assurances from the lead investigator, Detective Wallis (Aisha Tyler), the system ultimately fails the Humes and Joe is put back on the street. Driven by a heightened sense of justice and keen grief, Nick takes matters into his own hands by seeking out his son’s killer. In his confrontation with Joe, Nick finds himself at the mercy of his emotions and ultimately kills him.
Unsure what to do, Nick runs back to the life that has always been his shelter: his wife, his surviving son and his job. Nick thinks that all is at an end – an imperfect resolution to a horrible tragedy, but fitting.

Except there is blood, now, on Nick’s hands and it will not come off … Billy Darley is on the prowl, and the stage is set for a violent exchange that only escalates with each pounding beat of their hearts. How far will Nick go to protect his family? How far will Billy go to protect his own?

Bang, Bang, You’re Dead …

In one heartbeat, in one terrifying blink of the eye, the unthinkable happens and a family is altered forever.“The story of this film is very Shakespearean,” says Director James Wan. “The theme of revenge is timeless. It’s one of our most primal emotions to want to seek vengeance when you’re done wrong. All I’m doing with DEATH SENTENCE is taking a classic story and giving it a contemporary setting.”

Executive Producer Andrew Sugerman agrees, “It is a kind of classical Greek tragedy. It’s a story about a man wrestling with his own inner demons and, because of the attachments he has to his family, he is pulled into a pattern of constant retribution that pulls his life apart. And he ultimately finds the meaninglessness of violence.” The idea of retaliation against one’s enemies may seem like a natural course of justice. In fact, the proverb “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” (Exodus 21:23-27) has long been codified as a law of retaliation. But when it is deployed, revenge is an action that does more harm than the wrong it is intent on correcting. “In the heat of passion, Nick Hume goes after these guys that killed his son, and he ends up opening Pandora’s Box,” Wan explains.
“It’s also about what happens to somebody when a perfectly normal life is disrupted by a senseless act that they have absolutely no control over,” adds Sugerman.
Producer Ashok Amritraj agrees, “It is a very timely movie about family and a normal life that gets torn apart. It is telling of our times because the gang violence aspect is so relevant – innocent people are caught in the middle, and you see a guy taking power into his own hands. He goes from an ordinary man, a family man, to a guy who’s on a mission.”

“It’s different than your straight up good-guy-gets-the-bad-guys flick,” says Kevin Bacon. There’s a horrible price that my character has to pay because he makes this choice to take the law into his own hands in order to protect and defend his family. There’s this strange moment when he thinks that maybe it has concluded, that it has been an eye for an eye and that he is now cleansed – that they’re going to be able to go on with their lives. But the fact is, you can’t wash that blood off your hands. That blood is there it comes back to haunt him.”

It’s all fun and games, until somebody gets hurt … As it turns out, Hume is messing with the wrong people. “My character’s name is Billy Darley,” Garrett Hedlund explains, “and he’s the leader of a group of guys that grew up on the same street together. They’re in this lifestyle that chose them instead of them choosing it. Billy’s father is a guy named Bones [played by John Goodman] who is a hard as nails kind of gunslinger. I work for him, and my guys work for me.” “He’s a criminal mastermind,” Goodman says about Bones. “He’s got his two kids working for him selling speed and coke on his corners. And Bones sells guns. He’s just a real bad guy. He’s like Fagin in Oliver Twist.”

“DEATH SENTENCE has a strong jugular because everything is about family,” remarks Hedlund. “It’s a story about two guys, where you see what happens when somebody gets too close to their family and takes one of them away.” In that regard, the two opposing relationships in the film, Nick Hume and Billy Darley, are in fact both after the same thing: to avenge their families.

Hedlund goes on to explain what makes DEATH SENTENCE different, “The guy that’s just your everyday sort of businessman reacts in a complete, maniac sort of fashion – more like you would think the guy on the whole other side of the pole would react.” Like rams defending their turf, Hume and Darley butt heads in violent fashion. The more Hume pushes Billy Darley, the angrier Darley becomes … in large part fueled by jealousy over what Hume represents: the kind of family Billy craves and will never have. Goodman explains Bones’ frustration, too. “He hates everything. He hates his kids; he hates the world. And there’s also this class thing. Bones is the king of his own little world, but his own little world is a pile of crap. He’s the King of Nothing.” But as heady as the themes of vengeance, jealousy and defense may be, the ride we take with James Wan and his troupe is an exhilarating one. “Stylistically, there’s an element to the gang that feels like a western,” Bacon states. “The last chapter of the film has an OK Corral kind of vibe. The difference, though, is that for the first part of the film Nick Hume is not a traditionally heroic character. He doesn’t start out as a bad ass, he transforms into that throughout the course of the film.” And if there is a gunslinger and a posse of bandits, there’s got to be a sheriff in charge of the town. In this film, that would be Detective Wallis, played by Aisha Tyler. Wallis is the tough-on-crime, no nonsense law enforcement officer initially assigned to investigate Brendan Hume’s murder and bring Joe Darley to justice. She believes in the system, but also recognizes its limitations.

For that reason, when the routine Hume case takes an unexpected turn, Wallis finds herself torn between her duty to prevent the violence, protect both parties from harm and her desire to see justice meted out. Ultimately, she always returns to the center, condemning both criminal and victim, because at the end of the day no one is innocent in DEATH SENTENCE. Bacon explains Tyler’s character, “She’s playing a cop who is very sympathetic to what’s happened to my character. But when she begins to realize that I’m actually responsible for some of the continuing violence that goes on, she basically says, ‘Listen, I should just put you in jail. Regardless of what happened to your family, you’re making things worse.’ So there’s this fine line that she has to walk between being sympathetic, but also wanting to lash out at me for taking the law into my own hands.” “She’s Nick’s only connection to reality,” Tyler says. “She’s his last grounding force, his last friend. She’s also the voice of reason, the Greek chorus, the one neutral in the storm of violence. She is the character whose very presence proclaims, ‘Everybody loses in a war. There’s no winner.’ But she’s an outsider looking in.” “It’s a class war,” Goodman states matter-of-factly. “There are no winners.” “But at the same time, Detective Wallis isn’t jaded … in the face of everything that is going on. She has a very sophisticated understanding of the relationship between the underclass and the suburbs. She knows that the kids in the gang weren’t always the people they are now,” Tyler adds. Kelly Preston agrees, “She’s sympathetic because she understands.”

The inspiration… The original Death Sentence novel by Brian Garfield (sequel to his novel Death Wish) is the genesis for DEATH SENTENCE the movie, but in order to update the story of the protagonist’s continuing saga, screenwriter Ian Mackenzie Jeffers adapted the core of the story to our contemporary world where guns are readily available, drug dealing has become highly organized, the internet and cell phones provide instant communication, an as a society we have become desensitized to brutality through adrenaline-pumping action films, TV shows, music videos and video games. I’m a big fan of the classic revenge films of the 70’s and early 80’s,” James Wan admits. “I’ve always kept an eye out for a movie in the vein of Rolling Thunder, Death Wish, and even Mad Max. So when this project came across my desk, I went for it.” The distinctive look of the film is also an homage to the gritty, character-driven crime films of the 70’s. Julie Berghoff has worked as Production Designer with Wan on both of his previous directorial efforts, Saw and Dead Silence. “We love grit,” Berghoff confesses. Both James and I have a theatrical approach to design, pushing it into a hyper-reality. It’s our intention to transport the audience to the same dark and unsettling world that the characters are experiencing through the production design. We wanted the gang to be tough but have a mysterious edge. Everything is interconnected. Like the tribal art used throughout on the actors, the sets, the cars and the wardrobe. It’s very beautiful, curling itself around the limbs of characters and the bodies of the cars, like vines around everything, squeezing the life out.”
Cinematographer John Leonetti also contributed significantly to the look and style of the film. “We’ve managed to mix the 70’s into today’s technology with lighting and camera movement. When I look at the cut footage, I think of The French Connection, although DEATH SENTENCE has its own ‘vibration’ that keeps you on the edge of your seat,” Leonetti explains.

Don’t pass the buck, pass the camera…

“James told me he wanted to have one of the greatest foot chases ever put to film,” actor Leigh Whannell says smiling. “And I think he’s done it.” One of the most dramatic sequences in DEATH SENTENCE occurs when Nick Hume is chased down on the city streets in broad daylight by the Darley gang. It was a complicated sequence to shoot that took a lot of planning and a lot more faith … Wan wanted to do something that hadn’t been done before. He wanted to shoot the three-minute plus climax of the foot chase, which takes place in a fivestory parking structure, in a single take. “The whole chase leading up to the garage is fast and frenetic,” Wan explains. “But when you get to the parking structure, it becomes a kind of choreography. “You follow Nick Hume running in the garage, setting off car alarms to throw the bad guys off his trail. He moves up through the levels and the camera follows him all the way, then it travels over the edge of the structure and drops all the way down to see the bad guys, then it flies back all the way up to the top. We utilized every crew member we could to shoot that shot. It’s a relay cam … one camera guy passes the camera to another for part of the sequence who then passes it to another and so on until the shot culminates with Hume having run out of room to run.” Leonetti illustrates the complexities of the shot. “From the beginning of prep, James said how he had this shot in his head. When he showed me the garage and explained his hopes, I thought it was very cool and my instincts told me we could pull it off.“Lighting was a particular challenge, since the shot takes place during the day. We went from a T2.8 to a T.22 all in one shot and at the mercy of natural light … the coordination of all departments to accomplish this passing of a 35mm camera with a 400’ load was a challenge. I believe this shot is unique in the history of filmmaking.” “We utilized six different camera operators, two cranes and some very unusual techniques,” adds Andrew Sugerman, who had to approve and coordinate the additional crew and equipment. “We had to actually design a handheld camera system that was light enough to be used for this and could be passed from one camera operator to another without noticeable change. “The camera gets passed between railings. It gets passed to a crane and goes up the outside of the garage to anther level, gets picked up by another camera operator, goes down another crane, gets put onto a special dolly built by our grip department that allow them to go at very fast speeds. It was very difficult to shoot and keep all of the crew out of the shot. “We also had to import a video assist system from Los Angeles with twenty different transmitters in order to keep the image constantly available throughout the entire shot so James could cue everybody. “And it all had to be done in one take with no cuts. We had to do it until we got one exactly right.” “It was incredibly elaborate,” Bacon corroborates. As the primary focus of the shot, it was a physically demanding task. “My character, Nick Hume, was supposed to be completely exhausted at this point and out of breath,” he continues. “And believe me, after we did this shot over and over again all day, I was exhausted. It’s what I call NAR: No Acting Required! I was just panting and breathing and ready to throw up on my shoes. But it was great because all that excitement and all that fear and all that intensity comes when James says ‘Action’ and I knew I had to be precise. “It’s going to be a bitchin’ shot!”

Fasten your seatbelts …
“I enjoy really good action films,” Kelly Preston divulges, “especially when they’re smart, with a great story and great characters. DEATH SENTENCE is not your usual fare.”
However audiences react to the moral ambiguities in DEATH SENTENCE, they are in for a great ride. From the moment the action begins, it never ends and people will find themselves as breathless as Kevin Bacon, as devoted as Kelly Preston, as divided as Aisha Tyler, as righteous as Garrett Hedlund and as thoroughly wrung-out, wiped-out, blown-out and entertained as James Wan intended when he put down the Jeffers script and picked up his scope to bring this poignant story to life of two men struggling to protect their own.

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While Kevin Bacon was absent from the Death Sentence breakfast, we did manage to corral Garrett Hedlund over eggs and … bacon. He talked to us about starring in the movie, his relationships with co-stars Kevin Bacon and John Goodman, how he grew up with guns, and shooting very long action sequences with a lit cigarette in his mouth.
Garrett Hedlund isn’t a household name just yet, but you’ve probably seen him on the big screen at Patrocles in Troy. He played the brash, young cousin of Achilles (Brad Pitt), and is somewhat of a chameleon. He’s also been in Friday Night Lights, Eragon, and Four Brothers. With a shaved head and tribal neck tattoos in Death Sentence, he’s looking to extend that streak. Click on his picture for the audio interview and read the highlights below.

He plays Billy Darly, the son of Bones Darly (John Goodman) and is the older brother of Joe Darly (Matt O’Leary).
He leads a gang of thugs who run a meth lab in an abandoned insane asylum. Sounds like a nice place.
There is a great scene between John Goodman and Kevin Bacon in the movie, where John realizes that Kevin Bacon is after his son … who in turn had killed Kevin’s son.
He’s worked with everyone from Brad Pitt, to Terrence Howard, to Billy Bob Thornton, but his dad was most impressed when he told him he was working with John Goodman. “He finally feels proud of me.”
“I don’t care for working with actors that just come in and read the lines and pretend that the character is them, instead of them the character. A lot of people think that they’re the one to bank off of, as their personality as a celebrity. They feel that people just want to see them. Where I like trying to do something different with each role.”
They did extensive research for the role by gathering as a “gang” at strip clubs and bars, and calling each other by their gang names.
“I had my rifle permit when I was eleven, kids couldn’t wait to deer hunt … even girls. I grew up with an environment of guns. I’ve always used them, and always learned how to be safe with them. If I did something like pointing the gun at the sun or did anything stupid with it, I’d get slapped in the back of the head.”

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Actors often talk about wanting to mix it up, to play different types of roles.
So far, so good for Garrett Hedlund, who was born in Minnesota but moved to Scottsdale in the ninth grade. After playing decent sorts in such films as Friday Night Lights and Georgia Rule (opposite Lindsay Lohan), he portrays Billy Darley, a full-on bad guy, in Death Sentence, a brutal revenge fantasy starring Kevin Bacon.
Hedlund called from Los Angeles last week to talk about playing such a brutal character, Lohan’s on-set behavior and more.

Question: Now you’ve been in a movie with Kevin Bacon. You’re part of the six degrees of separation.

Answer: Everybody throws that around. It’s come to the point where I don’t even know what degree I am anymore.

Q: How do you prepare for a role like Darley? I assume you’re not anything like that in real life.

A: I really just kind of use my imagination. It’s definitely different. It’s not as hard as you think when you’re staying in South Carolina and all you have is that fried food and everything. … I came in with the idea of the scars and the long trench duster, and (director) James (Wan) wanted the tattoos and we both agreed on shaving the head down, and I still wanted to gain some weight. It all kind of came together step-by-step in pre-production.

Q: I don’t suppose spending some of your youth here had any part in playing this role?

A: (Laughter.) No, I don’t think so. … I loved Arizona when I was there. I lived in Minnesota and I’d go down and visit and I couldn’t wait to make the move. When I lived there I was driving around a ’91 yellow Geo Storm hatchback with no air-conditioning. So I wasn’t the happiest person on the block. Maybe I did (transfer) some of that aggression into this character, that non-AC summer.

Q: It’s a good cast in Death Sentence. Friday Night Lights as well. Is it fun working with a really good group of actors?

A: Oh, there’s no question. There’s just this level of excitement I have within myself before starting on a project with great actors. I’m so motivated to jump on the project. I can’t wait to get out there and start working with some of these guys and start learning from them. I’ve had some very fortunate opportunities out here to work with a lot of great actors, if not sharing scenes, to be on set with a lot of great actors and just sort of sit back and learn from them.

Q: Was this guy tough to shake off at the end of the day?

A: Kind of physically, yeah. … You just go to that side where nothing really matters. And then once you’ve finished the film when you still have that attitude on you you’ve really got to stop and say look, I have something to lose here from now on. It’s not the movie anymore. And physically I like to do something different. When you’re at a different state physically you’re always at a different state mentally, and I’ve been all over the boards within the past three years. I might have to go to a little psychiatry camp soon (laughter).

Q: I have to ask the question that everybody has to ask — what was it like working with Lindsay Lohan?

A: She’s a great girl, man. I wish her well in everything that’s going on now. As far as Georgia Rule goes, that was already a year ago … but it was all great.

Q: What’s next?

A: Don’t know that yet.

Q: If you have your preference, coming off something this dark would you prefer something a little lighter, or does it really just depend on the script?

A: It really does depend. For me I really never know. It’s always something when it pops off the page. But I would love to go in a whole different direction of anything else I’ve touched the base of.

Q: You were in the movie version of Friday Night Lights. Do you ever watch the TV show?

A: Yeah, yeah. I love the show. I had been talking to Peter Berg (who directed the movie and produces the TV show) about getting down and doing a cameo. … We’ll see if it happens. Either or, I love the show, and I’m so happy for Peter Berg. 

 ”I’ve been all over the boards within the past three years. I might have to go to a little psychiatry camp soon,” Hedlund jokes.

Arizona Republic, The (Phoenix, AZ)
August 30, 2007
Edition: Final Chaser
Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic
Section: Calendar
Page: 8
Record Number: pho174305643

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From his scenic pied-a-terre in Los Angeles, actor Garrett Hedlund is on the phone, lecturing an audience of one on the art of a good death scene.

There is, of course, the moribund shiver. Or that other time-honored favorite, the “it’s so dark and cold” lament followed by a moan or perhaps a light sob. Lately, the muscle spasm has come into vogue.

All fine death-scene methods, but Hedlund is partial to the gurgle — the wet, bloody gurgle he perfected in a Mexico hotel room shortly before expiring in Brad Pitt’s arms as the doomed protege Patroclus in Wolfgang Petersen’s Homeric war epic “Troy.” Yes, it was Helen’s beauty that launched a thousand ships, but it was the gurgle that turned the tide of battle.

“I’ve had a few now,” says the one-time Scottsdale resident says of his on-screen expirations. “But that one was special. I stayed up all night, lying on the floor, getting it just right.”

As it happens, death is the dominant theme in Hedlund’s latest big-screen effort, the aggrieved-dad revenge thriller “Death Sentence.” Hedlund — frequently cast as a flaxen-haired golden boy (“Friday Night Lights,” “Georgia Rule”) — is virtually unrecognizable as Billy Darley, a tattooed drug kingpin who launches a vendetta against a mild-mannered insurance executive (Kevin Bacon).

With his bald head and junkyard snarl, Billy cuts a deeply menacing figure, but it wasn’t the character’s villainy, per se, that drew Hedlund to the project. It was human nuance — in this case, a dead brother and a loveless father (John Goodman) — lurking under Billy’s villainous, inhuman veneer that made the role most appealing.

“It was the emotional structure of the character,” says Hedlund, 23. “He was born into the life, the gangs and thugs. Like all of us, he has a fuse, and it was lit. That side is in everybody. It’s in me. Maybe not right now. Maybe not in L.A. or Arizona. But it’s there.”

Lit fuse or no, Hedlund is blowing up. Just five years ago, he was an ordinary — albeit extraordinarily ambitious — East Valley teenager. Born and raised in Minnesota, Hedlund moved to Arizona after his freshman year to live with his mother. Immediately, he began to invent himself as a creative spirit and purveyor of the pop arts.

Crisscrossing the Valley in his yellow Geo Storm hatchback with no air conditioning, the Horizon High sophomore would frequent all-ages punk rock shows at the Nile and Nina’s Hideaway, hoping to score work as an event photographer.

He also took drama classes. And found them to his liking, though to this day he’s not exactly sure why.

“It might have been breaking up with a girl, it might have been being the new kid, hard to say,” he says. “But I think going to my first drama class broke me out of being 100 percent sarcastic all the time. It was how I finally learned to be honest.”

After winning a modeling contest (which his mother surreptitiously entered him in), Hedlund aggressively pursued agency representation and started auditioning in Los Angeles. He cleaned out his bank account paying for cheap Southwest round-trip tickets. He camped out at Kinko’s, mailing head shots.

He was only in 10th grade.

Scottsdale acting coach Jean Fowler, whose past clients include Jenny Garth (“Beverly Hills 90210”) and Amy Davidson (“8 Simple Rules”) was immediately taken by Hedlund’s charisma and focus.

“When he came in, he was a very talented kid. You could see it from the get-go,” says Fowler. “He was so disciplined and driven. So willing to do whatever it took.”

Armed with an audition tape — humorously, of a monologue from the 1998 teen party flick “Can’t Hardly Wait” — Hedlund got his agent, and the jobs quickly followed. First, the high-profile debut as Patroclus in “Troy” (2004). Then, acting opposite Billy Bob Thornton as angst-ridden star quarterback in “Friday Night Lights” (2005). Another death scene followed in “Four Brothers” (2005), followed by a heroic supporting turn in “Eragon” (2006) and the unenviable distinction of playing Lindsay Lohan’s boy toy in “Georgia Rule” earlier this year.

With his resume suitably padded, Hedlund lobbied hard for “Death Sentence,” the follow-up feature from “Saw” director James Wan. His resolve doubled when Wan added a “poetic ending” missing from previous screenplay drafts. The result: Hedlund’s most unusual, and best, performance. In a sense, it’s his “Monster” — the kind of ugly, meaty role that exposes the substance behind the pretty face.

Though he’s worked regularly for the last three years, Hedlund evinces little patience. Hungrily waiting for his next job, he seems very conscious of his professional legacy.
“We’re figuring on some things,” he says. “I wish they could speed up.”

So much time. So many death scenes left to do.

August 30, 2007 By Craig Outhier, Get Out

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At 23, Garrett Hedlund has already appeared prominently in a big budget historical blockbuster (“Troy”), an action thriller (“Four Brothers”), a weighty sports drama (“Friday Night Lights”), a special-effects fantasy (“Eragon”) and a comedy-drama (“Georgia Rule”) in which Lindsay Lohan’s character gives Hedlund’s character his sexual initiation in a rowboat.
Now he stars opposite Kevin Bacon and John Goodman in “Death Sentence,” playing his first heavy, a gangleader terrorizing a mild-mannered businessman.

Q. In this movie you’re not the sidekick, you’re the big, bad villain. Did you feel any increased sense of pressure or responsibility stepping up like that?

A. No, not at all. I felt much more motivated and inspired. I’ve worked with a lot of great actors and I’ve been able to just sit back and learn from them. Working with them always inspires you to do a great job as well. I was so amped, too, because the character’s such a complete opposite from everything else I’ve played.

Q. Is part of the appeal of a role like this so that nobody can say you’re coasting on your good looks?

A. That wasn’t the appeal for me. I like the darker films, this kind of content. It was about looking at how to diversify, how to structure things for hopefully a long career. That’s what I was looking for. Just different colors.

Q. How long did you have to sit in the makeup chair every day to get that ugly?

A. You had to get into set an hour before everybody else every day to have the tattoos put on. The more interesting part was how long it took to grow out of that bit. You come back to Los Angeles and you look so physically intimidating. My manager wouldn’t let me hang around her kids. You have to grow back out of that and remember who you were before doing that film. Because you’ve just turned into this thug. Everybody’s a bit more standoffish.

Q. Was it a kick to shoot guns and lose appendages in a screen shootout ?

A. The guns, that’s just great old Minnesota deer hunting there. The appendages – you just never know how much you need those fingers until they’re gone. It’s a little gruesome. I guess that won’t be my mom’s favorite onscreen moment of mine. I think Dad and brother might give me a pat on the back. Mom and sister might be a little jaw-dropping. *

 By COLIN COVERT Minneapolis Star Tribune

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Actor digs deep for role in Death Sentence

Garrett Hedlund has played a football star in Friday Night Lights and a Mormon with a crush on Lindsay Lohan in Georgia Rules, but nothing will prepare fans for his work as gang leader Billy Darley in Death Sentence.
BostonNOW: Watching you in Death Sentence, I kept wondering what it took to get that kind of a performance.
Garrett Hedlund: A director who trusted me. Working with James Wan made it so much easier. Before this movie, I worked with Gary Marshall in a PG-13 film (Georgia Rules), where I played a Mormon, so it was fun to dig deep and find the darkness for Billy.

BN: you look like you went through a lot of physical changes for the part, too. You look a lot bigger on screen.
GH: I gained about 30 pounds for the role. I spent a lot of time in the gym, which I really didn’t like, so as we got closer to the film, I would use that anger I had about working out as part of the character. I wouldn’t go to the gym, but I’d tear up the set.

BN: Along with bulking up, you added a lot of scars and tattoos for the role, too. Your co-star, Kelly Preston, said you used to go to the local Wal-Mart in full makeup and scare people.
GH: Yeah. It was a weird experience because in real life I really don’t intimidate many people, but when I was made up like Billy Darley, people noticed, people were afraid. It’s a power trip that he enjoyed.

BN: And without giving anything away, what are your thoughts on the final scene if the film?
GH: I’m so proud of it. Working with Kevin Bacon was an amazing experience throughout the film, but working with him and James to make that last scene work was one of the best experiences I’ve had as an actor.

Published on Fri, Aug 31, 2007

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Garrett Hedlund makes a change from to his first bad guy role. His career starting role as Patroclus in 2004 “Troy” seems long passed and the actor’s career is blossoming with “Death Sentence” being the second of his releases this year; the first being “Georgia Rule” with Jane Fonda, Lindsay Lohan and Felicity Huffman.
We spoke to Garrett in a 1-1 interview on August 13th (’07) before the film’s release and the young man born September 3rd, 1984 from Minnesota talked about his new, hardcore gang leader role, helmer James Wan (“Saw”) and more.

Question:

This is your first bad guy role. Can you talk about your character Billy Darly who’s this ruthless gang member?

Garrett Hedlund:

“Yeah, that’s it in a nutshell. He’s a ruthless gang leader, sort of leader of a group of thugs, you know. His motivation is to get money however, wherever. In his situation he runs a meth lab and that’s what they call the office and that’s basically where he resides throughout the day. Basically where he’ll come into this story is that he’s getting his brother to commit an act of initiation whereas at that time it happens to be the same place where Kevin Bacon and his son are and that’s where I think the story starts to really unfold.”

Question:

Can you talk about your research for this. I know its backbone is the novel by Brian Garfield which is the sequel to his novel “Death Wish.” So would you say this is a modern day incarnation of revenge classics like the Charles Bronson flicks?

Garrett Hedlund:

“Yeah. I would say it was. I would definitely think it is. It’s written by the same author and it deals with the same theme of revenge which in this case of it, it’s that whole eye for an eye scenario. With that mind frame you only cause more hurt and suffering.”

Question:

On that topic of revenge, do you agree with “An Eye for an Eye?

Garrett Hedlund:

“Do I agree with it? Umm, I think it would have to depend on what the situation was and how high the scales are. If it was something like this you never know how you react when part of your blood, especially some of your family is affected. I think that your impulse is just unpredictable.”

Question:

Your career is flying right now with some great credits. How about working with Kevin Bacon. Is there anything you learnt from him as you continue to grow as an actor?

Garrett Hedlund:

“You know, the guy’s always under control and he’s always so calm and he told me one time, he said ‘I like to be as calm off camera as on camera’ and it’s funny man because he actually is. For a man to actually have that much physical control over his heartbeat. I’d say what you say around him, he might have ties with God.”

Question:

You play John Goodman’s (Bones Darly) character’s son. Talk about the characters’ relationship.

Garrett Hedlund:

“John Goodman’s character as Bones Darly is a non sentiment that really sort of is passed on to me as well. That’s something I really wanted to focus on was not being sentimental whatsoever, kind of remaining cold an always having that objective and in this case it’s Kevin Bacon’s character you know? So, no matter what if one my gang members goes down you know I completely jump over every obstacle to complete that objective to take down Kevin Bacon’s character Nick Hume.”

Question:

So would you say this was a physically challenging role?

Garrett Hedlund:

“Yeah, I would say so because I mean I had to gain a lot of weight and become physically bigger and intimidating all the while having to have a cigarette in my mouth in every scene. It was a little difficult when physically, during the day you have to run through the alleys and then tomorrow or the day before is just a scene with a million cigarettes. That’s the only physically demanding part, but gaining the weight and all that was just a blast.”

Question:

How many pounds did you put on?

Garrett Hedlund:

“I probably…I was a little thinner, I was coming off Georgia Rule…I probably put on another twenty or twenty five.”

Question:
As far as working with James Wan. You must have seen “Saw” right?

Garrett Hedlund:

“Yeah, of course and for this project because the script was dark you know, and it demanded a darker director, someone visually sort of gritty and that’s what James brings to the table very well. A sort of a creative style with the visuals and the angels and the pans and everything, you know, he was the right guy for the job on this and the reason why I actually wanted to do it as well.”

Question:
So, I read that whilst in high school you would read screenplays of older films then watch those films on video and then pretend you were actually auditioning for one of the roles in the film. Can you talk about that?  Do you still do that

Garrett Hedlund:

*he laughs*
“It’s funny you ask because I get tempted sometimes to continue to do it. I think it was in a stage where I really didn’t have as much money for coaching and stuff. I would just sit in a room and read a certain script that I hadn’t seen prior and then I would study it for a week, rent the film and see what somebody had done in order to get it. But that was all more a lesson of sort of spontaneity and showing you there are no rules to where you could imagine you see one line that could be…you know, you’d imagine it to be so monotone and so flat and just throw it away, throw those away and blow these ones up but that line as well could be so explosive. It was just one of those, that there were no rules and that’s where my entry into this whole side of arts came; it was when I had that realization.”

Question:

Were you a fan of anything in particular growing up? Are you big fan of the crime genre or is there anything else you fancy more?

Garrett Hedlund:

*short laugh*

Question:

“The only unfortunate thing was we didn’t really have a broad selection of films where I grew up at our video store…mostly your new releases and everything. I grew up during the latter ends of the eighties and nineties in Minesota, so I never really got the classics there until I became sort of invested into acting and wanted to learn more and study more and then I finally started picking those up. Yeah, I’m a fan of the ‘French Connections,’ you know films like that. But it was funny because I’d had that concern, I sad to Peter O’Toole one time ‘you know what? It’s hard for me to be able to get appreciate the films from two generations past me.’ You know like his earlier films and I said ‘It’s hard to keep up let alone when I have kids and I want them to experience the brilliant films you were in prior.”
He puts on a hilarious, spot on Peter O’Toole impression and continues -
“And he goes ‘Well Garrett my boy that’s the benefit of DVDs now!” *I laugh*

Question:

Future projects?

Garrett Hedlund:

“I don’t have anything that’s set in stone right now. I’m not working on anything, I’m taking a little break but my main focus is just to work with great directors that I can learn from on set and great material that’s going to push me.”

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Minnesota’s Garrett Hedlund gets nasty.

At 23, Garrett Hedlund has already appeared prominently in a big-budget historical blockbuster (“Troy”), an action thriller (“Four Brothers”), a weighty sports drama (“Friday Night Lights”), a special-effects fantasy (“Eragon”) and a comedy-drama (“Georgia Rule”) in which Lindsay Lohan’s character gives Hedlund’s character his sexual initiation in a rowboat.
Now the native of Roseau, Minn., stars opposite Kevin Bacon and John Goodman in “Death Sentence,” playing his first heavy, a gangleader terrorizing a mild-mannered businessman. In a recent phone conversation, he talked about performing alongside veteran actors, playing against his matinee-idol looks and being blasted apart in an onscreen gunfight.

Q In this movie, you can’t hide inside a big cast. You’re not the sidekick, you’re the big, bad villain. Did you feel any increased sense of pressure or responsibility stepping up like that?

A No, not at all. I felt much more motivated and inspired. I’ve worked with a lot of great actors and I’ve been able to just sit back and learn from them. Working with them always inspires you to do a great job, as well. I was so amped, too, because the character’s such a complete opposite from everything else I’ve played. This guy was a thug and a complete opposite from what I am as a person, so every day you’re pushing yourself. You’re learning and growing every single day.

Q At this point, do you choose your roles or do you go where you’re wanted? How did you get this one?

A I read the script about a year before it started filming. I was about 20 years old, right? And the role of Billy was written as 30 years old. So I was like, no chance. Then out of the blue, they called and offered me this role. And had I gone in to read for it, there probably would have been no chance I would have gotten it. Physically, I don’t think I was somebody they would have cast; I had long hair, I was clean-shaven. It was one of those things that was meant to be.

Q Is part of the appeal of a role like this so that nobody can say you’re coasting on your good looks?

A That wasn’t the appeal for me. I like the darker films, this kind of content. It was about looking at how to diversify, how to structure things for hopefully a long career. That’s what I was looking for, just different colors.

Q You have some really intense one-on-one scenes with John Goodman and Kevin Bacon. Did that require you to ramp up your acting game?

A It does. You just feel good that you’re going to be in for an experience. You’re going to be in for an actual session on set and you kind of get to lose yourself creatively and work. It’s great to have that with Kevin. The last moment in the film is one of my favorites, a scene with just me and Kevin that’s almost all silent. To work with Kevin on this is great. Going onto the next film, I’ll be a little stronger and more in control than I was on the previous films.

Q Was it a kick to shoot guns and lose appendages in a screen shootout?

A The guns, that’s just great old Minnesota deer hunting there. I grew up just outside of Roseau way up north, and I had the gun permit at 11 like all the rest of ‘em. The appendages — you just never know how much you need those fingers until they’re gone. It’s a little gruesome. I guess that won’t be my mom’s favorite onscreen moment of mine. I think Dad and brother might give me a pat on the back. Mom and sister might be a little jaw-dropping.

Q What really happened with Lindsay Lohan in the rowboat in “Georgia Rule”?

A You know that’s just uncomfortable, when you’re doing a scene like that and all you can hear in the bushes is [paparazzi cameras going] click-click-click-click.

By Colin Covert Star Tribune Last update: August 30, 2007 – 5:17 PM

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The Kansas City Star Most young actors endure years of rejection and menial jobs before finding a degree of success in Hollywood.

 And then there’s Garrett Hedlund.
“I moved out here when I was 18,” Hedlund, who will turn 23 next week, recalled in a recent phone interview.

“I graduated early from high school in Scottsdale, Ariz., in December of 2002, came out to L.A. and almost immediately got cast as (Brad Pitt’s buddy) Patroclus in ‘Troy.’ ”

Since then the credits have been rolling in: “Friday Night Lights,” “Four Brothers,” “Eragon” and “Georgia Rules.”

Hedlund’s latest role is his biggest to date. In “Death Sentence” (opening today) he plays the leader of a gang who wages a war of escalating violence against a suburban dad (Kevin Bacon) whose son was a victim of a gang initiation murder.

“Playing a bad guy is fun,” Hedlund said. “You get to unleash a little bit more, dive into your bad conscience. It’s really kind of therapeutic.”

It was also a treat to work with Bacon, although they rarely got to act one-on-one.

“Between takes I’d hang around to watch Kevin work. We got to know each other and were able to hang and chat. We got to know each other as actors. But basically we were hardly ever in the same frame. So when people ask, ‘What’s it like to work with Kevin Bacon?’ I can’t tell them much.”

Hedlund said he tries not to take his rapid success in Hollywood for granted.

“When I moved out here my mom gave me a tub of household cleaning supplies and a big box of Ramen noodles. I never had to dig too deep into the noodles, but every now and then I break out a package and cook them up. It reminds me of how lucky I’ve been.”

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