Minnesotan battles against Pitt

Posted on Fri, May. 21, 2004
Former Roseau area man lands role in blockbuster ‘Troy’

Pretty good company for an actor in his first movie. Not bad for a young man who grew up in the Roseau and Strandquist, Minn., area.
Garrett Hedlund, 19, looks enough like Brad Pitt to play his cousin, and that’s exactly what he does in “Troy,” the new sandals and swords movie that opened last weekend.

The hunky young actor lives in Los Angeles, by way of Scottsdale, Ariz. Until he was 15, he lived in the Strandquist and Roseau area with his father, Robert Hedlund, then moved west to live with his mother, Kristi Hedlund. He did some modeling for L.L. Bean and Teen magazine, then set his mind on the movies.

“When he made up his mind to do something he did it,” his father said. “He went to an audition in L.A. and they thought he looked like Brad Pitt. That’s how he got the part,” he said, describing his son as a “self-taught” actor.

Garrett Hedlund plays the role of Patroclus, the cousin of Pitt’s character Achilles. The Minnesotan’s movie debut is a long swordfight between the two warriors. Hedlund has a role in another movie, “Friday Night Lights” with Tim McGraw, scheduled for release in October.

Robert Hedlund said, “He told me he got to go on stage with Tim McGraw on Easter weekend for a benefit concert. I guess I never really heard him sing. He used to like to play around with karaoke and act a little with that. Other than that, I’m hoping he can act.”

Robert Hedlund saw the movie last Friday night in International Falls, Minn., with friends and family members.

“I liked the movie and thought he had a good part,” he said. “I thought the goriest part was when he got killed,” declining to say any more about the movie “because people have to see the movie to find out what happens.”

Robert Hedlund said his son “was a good kid” while growing up.

“He liked to hunt and fish, and he was a wrestler. He was comical and had a good sense of humor and was a homecoming ‘prince’ when he was in seventh grade.”

Garrett grew up on the farm near Strandquist with an older brother and sister, but “wasn’t too fond of farming.”

Robert said his son “seems to be very excited about the movie. It’s the beginning of a new career for him,” he said.

He said people around northern Minnesota are pretty excited about the movie, too, asking him about it whenever he goes to town.