BEN SHERMAN jacket, top, and pants and HUBLOT watch.
Fate hangs like an invisible tapestry, woven together by the cosmic forces that may be. Whether or not this divine textile cloaks human will, of course, is an eternal question, and one which we’ll perhaps only have clarity on as the curtain makes its final call. The dream of seeing yourself on the silver screen, of your likeness writ large on celluloid, remains a dream as prevalent in the City of Angels as its taco trucks or tummy tucks. For a young Scott Eastwood, the vision of cinematic stardom perhaps seemed not a dream, but a destiny—no matter how far he distanced himself from that tapestry that draped presumably every early doorway.
The actor, whom we photographed near his home outside of Austin, TX, for his cover story, has a resumé that boasts a nearly two decade-long career, which has seen him in roles from Nicholas Sparks adaptations to blockbuster war flicks. When deliberating on roles to take, Eastwood remarks that he tends towards “ones you read on the page and say, ‘That’s interesting. That’s left of center. That’s an oddball thing to do.’” Since his feature film debut in 2006’s Flags of Our Fathers, Eastwood has joined Brad Pitt’s tank crew in the World War II drama, Fury, played whistleblower Edward Snowden’s boss at an NSA facility in Hawaii in Snowden, and piloted the 268 foot tall Gipsy Avenger in Pacific Rim: Uprising. It’s this attraction to extreme context and critically integral characters that Eastwood has built his career on, and his forthcoming role in Guy Ritchie’s Wrath of Man is no different.
Eastwood shakes his head at the recent experience working with the legendary outsider director. “There’s the old saying—‘never meet your heroes’—right? This totally proved that wrong. Guy Ritchie was my hero, I loved his movies, and I loved working for him. He’s an absolute gentleman, a badass, he’s funny. He thinks on his toes. It was a dream come true.” This dream come true also features additional characters, as this picture based on the 2004 French thriller, Cash Truck, reunites Scott Eastwood with Jason Statham, whom he worked with on the 2017 installment of the prodigious Fast & Furious franchise, The Fate of the Furious. Statham also sees himself back in Ritchie’s orbit 15 years after 2005’s Revolver. It all feels like a dream, but it’s arguably a recurring one.
BEN SHERMAN shirt and trousers.
Shrouded in mystery, the ideas, plot, and tone of Wrath of Man remain under wraps for the time being. With not even a trailer to offer a morsel of what Ritchie has been cooking, we’re left to wonder what he’s done with Cash Truck. The source material follows Alexandre Demarre, who works as a security guard for the Vigilante armored truck company. As he peddles money around, he forms a bond with his degenerate co-workers, only to reveal the real reason he works for Vigilante. Similar to the Demarre character, Eastwood remains reluctant to share much about this particular second identity. When I ask about why I keep seeing all this hubbub online about his character, he coolly replies with, “I can’t really give that away, my friend. But, I’ll say that it’s a fun ride.”
This is a bummer, as one would hope to extract a bit more info than the murkiness that can be found online, but my interviewee is content to keep it a secret. What Eastwood won’t keep secret is what sets him apart as an individual. Of course, the assumption here is the potential advantages presented by the legacy forged by his father, actor and director Clint Eastwood. But this isn’t about hereditary inductions, connections, or abnormal workarounds, and Eastwood will have you know that.
Beginning his career as Scott Reeves, his given surname and that of his mother, Jacelynn Reeves, Eastwood distanced himself from any sense of inherited notoriety as best as he could. He’s an old fashioned, get your hands dirty type of guy, and he was raised that way. Eastwood labored for everything he strove for. Juggling school, bussing tables, valet jobs, auditions and acting gigs, he wouldn’t take any handouts. “You know, they call it the 10,000 hour rule,” he states. “You have to do something long enough to know you’re competent at it. You then value yourself and your time once you know you can do those things. It’s the layer cake of life. People want things now and expect things now,” and Eastwood knows that good things come to those who wait. Scratch that. The best things come to those who seek them out.
DIOR MEN shirt, pants, and loafers.
LEVI’S t-shirt, CALVIN KLEIN pants, and HUBLOT watch.
“From 17 years old to almost 35, I didn’t really lift my head up,” he shares, when asked about ways in which he’s clocked his 10,000 hours. “I was grinding for whatever that is. 17 years? As an actor, traveling around the world, making movies, doing different projects, producing. I just didn’t stop.” He seems exhausted just telling me about it, and luckily, the bleak year we’ve had has presented many with a unique opportunity for reflection. “It’s a year to sit still, reconnect with some of the things that matter most. Friends and family. Being there for your loved ones,” Eastwood ponders. “Reconnection with nature and being outside. Maybe just appreciating the smaller things in life.”
It’s indeed the smaller things that make the actor impress something inconsistent with what his name might suggest. He reminds me more of the small town guys from back home than the Hollywood aspirational types. In fact, Eastwood feels more at home in that persona, and he has made a home in Texas where he can live that. “I fell in love with the simple things,” he says, panning his view to his surroundings. Over the past several months, Eastwood has indeed been able to relish in the simplicity of living in Texas. Ranching, fishing, hunting, hiking, camping, boating, you name it, he doesn’t take the gems on offer in Texas for granted. “I think that’s why people who come to Texas really can fall in love with it. There’s more community, people are more neighborly, people are nice. It slows life down a little bit. It’s not this fast-paced living in a big city like New York or Los Angeles.” He playfully adds, “Keep it simple, stupid.”
This remark conjures up the notion of the ‘old school’, a phrase he’s used in previous interviews, and a lifestyle he’s embraced due in large part to his upbringing. “There are lessons to be learned from an old school way of doing things,” he says. He’s come to understand how to parse out the valuable wisdom from life’s lectures. However, a balance must be struck. “If you flip too one-sided, then you become short-sighted. When you’re not paying respect to some great values, or not paying respect to the way things are done now, then you’d be left in the dust.” Looking to the changing tides of the film industry and its social and cultural makeup, Eastwood enthusiastically embraces the redistribution of power to those who are owed it and attention to those who deserve it. “I think now, specifically, it’s great to see it’s in such a better place,” he remarks enthusiastically. “Women coming to the forefront and in some of the highest positions in Hollywood. Lots of minority groups are becoming better represented. We’re in a much better place than we were ten years ago.”
BEN SHERMAN jacket, top, and pants and HUBLOT watch.
BEN SHERMAN shirt, polo, and trousers, ERMENEGILDO ZEGNA XXX boots, and HUBLOT watch.
RALPH LAUREN suit and turtleneck and HUBLOT watch.
CALVIN KLEIN suit, LEVI’S t-shirt, and HUBLOT watch.
On account of the theme of this issue, Eastwood must of course be asked the requisite wishes question. He immediately retorts, “You know the rules! You’re not supposed to ask someone’s wishes—then they won’t come true!” Hard to argue with that. Pivoting, I follow up by asking what he hasn’t wished for that he can share. “Fair enough,” he responds. Eastwood’s affinity for simplicity persists in that he tells me he doesn’t wish for anything material. “You can be so happy with what you have. I think about experiences. I hope I have a great year with friends and family. I hope we can experience something new together.” It’s hard to argue with the merits of this response, but I venture to rephrase the question again to one you always find yourself getting asked in job interviews: “Looking back five years from now, what’s something you’d hoped to have accomplished?”
He appears satisfied with this retooling, and that simple, old school guy shines through. He feeds back, “I hope I’ve mentored someone, and imparted any wisdom I may have. ‘Here are things I’ve experienced, here are my regrets, here are things I did right.’ I think everyone should be mentored and everyone should give mentorship.” This inspiring response feels a culmination of our interview. What really is life if not fostering that of another? “Pass on the knowledge,” Eastwood continues, “You can’t just take it with you. We all turn to dust at the end of our lives, so help as many people along the way as you can.”
Clearly demonstrable from his work ethic and his embrace of necessary evolution, Eastwood doesn’t want to be left in the dust, nor does he want the dust he kicks up in his waking life to exclude others. In the process, the actor is a reminder of the conflict between stardom and basic human needs. “People need people,” he tells me as we chat about the pandemic, shaking his head at the sweeping impact this time has made on us all. “If there’s anything I’ve learned from my short, almost 35 years on this planet, it’s that: being with people who are all in with you.” It seems he’s testing his mentoring chops.
Notching a string of experiences with filmic all-stars, an upcoming role with the inimitable Guy Ritchie, reuniting on screen with Jason Statham—Eastwood has indeed journeyed to find the people that are all in with him, not only in his acting career, and in his dearest friends, but yes, in his family.
If you believe in some kind of destiny for someone like Scott Eastwood, then perhaps he was meant to be a movie star. Perhaps his sheet had already been wreathed. However, let it be known that this is not by the distinction of his descent, but by the rewards of his toils and his confidence in their spoils. Today, it may be that Eastwood was reluctant to carry on too much about himself like some actors are so quick to do, but by the end of our interview, it’s refreshing. Think of our conversation as something of a shooting star, and Eastwood is out there, on the plains of Texas, making his wish right now upon it.
Written by Nate Rynaski
Photographer: Kurt Iswarienko at Walter Schupfer
Stylist: Doug Voisin at IA Agency
Digital Tech: Taylor Jones
Producer: Stacy Scarsella at Plaid Pony Productions
Associate Producer: Jose Hernandez.