Garrett Hedlund, OMG...

Geez, I have actually gone insane recently after I saw Country Strong for the first time about 3 weeks ago. I have now seen it 4 times at the theater & could literally watch it 100 more. & the reason for that is due to an actor by the name of Garrett Hedlund. OMG. The man's voice is so damn gorgeous, it is unreal. How could any man's voice be that beautiful???  He plays Beau Hutton, rising country music singer/songwriter that is asked to go on tour & open for country superstar, Kelly Canter, played by Gwyneth Paltrow.  The movie is really more Beau's story with a great performance by Leighton Meester as Chiles Stanton, a former small town beauty queen discovered by Kelly Canter's manager husband, James, played very well by Tim McGraw. Check him out singing "Give In To Me" with Leighton as Chiles from the movie (& yes, they did all their own singing in the movie, no lip syncing for Garrett either):

BEAU HUTTON

I grew up around country music a little, but I really only cared for rock & roll, hard rock, heavy metal, new age, jazz, blues, & pop.  After I saw this movie, I went nuts over the music in it.  Mostly because of the man that I previously mentioned.  & he's not even a singer by trade.  He has been an actor for most of his life, & has now been in 8 movies, with his 9th to come out later this year, "On the Road" based on the novel by Jack Kerouac.  Can't wait to see that one.  He plays the main character Dean Moriarty.  

DEAN MORIARTY

After seeing Country Strong, I discovered I had seen all his movies since he was first in Troy back in 2004.  Who knew???  I had already gone nuts over his other recent release, Tron Legacy when it came out before Christmas, but I didn't lose it over Garrett until Country Strong.  OK, OK, I truly have lost it.  But can you blame me??? 


He stars in Tron Legacy as Sam Flynn, son of Kevin Flynn, (played by Jeff Bridges), the protagonist from the original Tron movie from 1982.  It is a sequel of sorts starting up 28 years after the 1st movie.  I was a fan of the original Tron from way back then, regardless of how lame it is now compared to today's special effects.  It was great for it's time & I loved it.  The sequel is fabulous with out of this world visual effects.  I loved every bit of it, & Jeff Bridges & Olivia Wilde were great in it as well as Garrett. I have now seen Tron Legacy 4 times & will be seeing it again before it's gone too. Have recently heard that Disney has already decided to make another one & not 28 years from now either.  Thank God.  I probably wouldn't live that long, shit.  Plus we want Garrett back as Sam Flynn & while he's still young & gorgeous, not as a CGI character the way they had to do Jeff Bridges as his younger self, thank you.  
Check this out:

SAM FLYNN

Here's the trailer from the original Tron from 1982, (not good rez, but you can see what it was like for the most part):



I actually own that DVD from the original Tron which is no longer available, (it's in the Disney "vault"), geez.  I discovered I could probably get $100 for it if I wanted to part with it.  Thanks, Disney. 


Now for the rest of this jewel's movies that he has been in.  Mark my words, Garrett is going to be the next big thing.  


Here he was in "Death Sentence" as the baddie skinhead, tattooed & all, Billy Darley, with Kevin Bacon being the protagonist.  It actually was a very good movie, a lot of great action scenes & major violence in the unrated version.  Garrett shows his acting chops here proving he has a pretty damn good emotional range.  BTW, John Goodman plays his disgusting baddie father, he really made me believe he was a rotten POS.  Goodman is always good though in everything, in my opinion.

BILLY DARLEY

Here he was in a Garry Marshall dramedy opposite Lindsay Lohan also starring Jane Fonda, "Georgia Rule". I really liked this movie, he had a fairly small part in it, with Lohan being his love interest, although he played a Mormon virgin saving himself for his fiance.  Hmmmmm.  & Lohan's character gives him his first BJ in the movie, causing him to fall hopelessly in love with her.  He played a very convincing innocent, sweet, young man, Harlan, that was very endearing to say the least.  

HARLAN

Prior to that he had a small part as the goth looking, wildly heroic Murtagh in the fantasy dragon flick, Eragon, that was supposed to be the next big series after Harry Potter.  Unfortunately it didn't make it off the ground, so we didn't get any more of Garrett's Murtagh which was indeed very well done once again.

MURTAGH

Right before Eragon, was the excellent movie with Mark Wahlberg, "Four Brothers".  He played the youngest brother, Jack Mercer, who is my favorite character of Garrett's after Beau Hutton from Country Strong. 

JACK MERCER

His 2nd movie released in 2004 was Friday Night Lights, he played Don Billingsley, football player from Permian High in Odessa, TX, based on the true story of them going to state:

DON BILLINGSLEY

& that brings us to his 1st movie he was in, "Troy".   He played Achilles' younger cousin, Patroclus, small part, actually very small part.  It was the 1st movie he was ever in, he was just 18 when it was filmed & it shows.  

Since his character is not featured in the trailer at all, here is a little clip of his scene with Brad Pitt's Achilles, practicing sword fighting:

PATROCLUS

OK, have I convinced you yet that this is a rising star in the making?  Seriously, he is going to be famous sooner or later.  "On the Road" may very well do it, we shall see... 


some photos courtesy of mrhedlund.com