A Little Bit L.A. and Nashville
Garrett Hedlund on Barbecue and Learning to Sing for His ‘Country Strong’ Role
While most young movie stars prefer their food served to them, 26-year-old Garrett Hedlund doesn’t mind going up to the counter and ordering himself.
“Oh, I forgot my fork,” said Mr. Hedlund at Hill Country Barbecue Market early this week after making friends with George Gonzalez, the restaurant’s chef, and settling on a meal of confetti coleslaw, pulled pork sandwich and Coca-Cola with lemon.
“I wish I got to go to these places more often, but I don’t,” he said dressed more dapperly than any of the restaurant’s other guests in a Calvin Klein blazer and white button-down shirt with Diesel jeans.
When a reporter seemed surprised that Mr. Hedlund wasn’t in fact over Southern cooking, given his work on the Jan. 7 film “Country Strong,” with Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw, he responded in between bites “I love barbecue and I feel like I haven’t eaten it in so long. Could all meetings be like this? It’s always so rushed, so I’m trying to take it slow and enjoy the food.”
He then turned to the waiter and asked, “Which sauce is better,” referring to the condiments on the table. Mr. Hedlund settled on the spicier of the two before offering a reporter a roll of paper towels he was clutching.
Though Mr. Hedlund had no prior professional singing or guitar experience, that kind of easygoing attitude is probably what landed the “Troy” and “Tron: Legacy” star his part in “Country Strong” as Beau Hutton, an up and coming, straight-shooting singer-songwriter who finds himself entangled with Ms. Paltrow and Leighton Meester’s characters. Mr. Hedlund based it loosely on Kris Kristofferson, someone whose music was “sad and gritty” and who “looked like a poet, not a self-conscious football player.”
“I had done chorus before in school, but I was only trying for an easy A,” he said gesturing grandly with his hands. “I was a bass going dum dum da doo wop. I had to sing karaoke for [‘Country Strong’ writer] Shana Feste at Brass Monkey in L.A., so she could report back to [producers] Tobey Maguire and Jenno Topping that she heard me sing. It was hard to even get up there. There were only three people in the place and the lights were on, I was like ‘give me a double.’ I ended up singing Pearl Jam’s ‘Better Man.’ It was hardly the best rendition, but she was kind.”
In respect to improving his singing skills, Mr. Hedlund had to get out of his adopted hometown of Los Angeles, “I grew up listening to Garth [Brooks], like ‘The River’ and ‘The Dance,’ and my grandfather would play Johnny Cash every morning when we were in the turkey shed in Minnesota, but when I went to a vocal coach in L.A. and he was like ‘and a one and two,’ I was like this is crazy,” he said. “I need to get to Nashville.”
Once in Nashville, Mr. Hedlund apparently spent time on Mr. McGraw’s property “living and breathing country music.” “I’m looking for a place down there,” he said as he rocked back and forth in his seat. “It’s not really like L.A. Nashville is a lot like my hometown. You learn so quickly once someone hears something about you or sees something, everybody talks about it at dinner. They know your business, so people tend to be more private and not to throw themselves into everyone’s faces.”
Just then a familiar tune blared through the honky tonk establishment. When someone at the neighboring table said it was Clint Eastwood, Mr. Hedlund proved his country prowess and started cracking up. “Unbelievable,” he said. “It’s Clint Black.”