Had up-and-coming actor Scott Eastwood chosen to use another surname than that of his very famous actor/director/writer/producer/composer father (apologies to Mr Clint if I left anything out) to avoid any favouritism, there was no way he was going to hide the uncanny resemblance he shares with his old man, having luckily inherited those piercing blue eyes and determined jaw.
Granted, the 31-year-old actor has appeared in some of his father’s films, making his debut in 2006 in Flags of Our Fathers and also had a role in rugby drama Invictus (2009). But he has since carved out quite a promising career, appearing in horror remake Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013), and war action film Fury (2014).
He also played the romantic lead in The Longest Ride (2015) and recently appeared in Oliver Stone’s Snowden, in Suicide Squad, and in Fast 8: The Fate and the Furious.
In Overdrive, Eastwood’s latest role, he stars as Andrew Foster. Andrew and his brother Garrett (Freddie Thorpe) are exceptional drivers and are also known for being the best car thieves in the world. In Marseille, they steal the local mafia boss Jacomo Morier’s jewel, a rare and priceless Bugatti 1937. Morier decides to use their talents to his advantage and against his long-time enemy, Max Klemp. But if they accept to enter this game, they have devised a much more daring plan.
Eastwood was clearly excited to be a part of this project, describing it as Gone in 60 Seconds meets The Italian Job. The first thoughts that came to his mind when he read the script was that this was “exciting, fast and sexy”.
He has since carved out quite a promising career
“I loved the idea that there was this classic car heist. I didn’t feel like we’d seen that in a film before. You know, just classic cars. And these brothers coming from different parts of the world that clashed heads and had different styles, but they were working together as car thieves…”
The cars were also a big draw, admits the actor. “The 1962 Ferrari GTO. That was... I mean, that’s a classic,” he recalls enthusiastically. “And the ’37 Bugatti. Those, when I read that off the page I was like: Wow! We haven’t seen these in film in a long time. And they’re classic and priceless. They’re really works of art now. So I wanted to see those in high-speed chases.”
Scott Eastwood with Clemens Schick.Eastwood describes Andrew as a man of action; and a no-nonsense man to boot. “He kind of bickers with his brother. I thought that was fun,” he adds.
“I like movies like that. I like the old classic movies, like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. They were the Lethal Weapons of their time and the Dirty Harrys, with the sort of partnership where there are two characters that are bickering the whole time. I always found that interesting.”
Eastwood speaks very well of his director, Antonio Negret. “Antonio’s very calm, mild-mannered, he’s soft spoken,” recalls the actor. “He’s definitely very concerned with performance, which I like. I had a great time working with him. He’s very, very easy-going.”
The affection is clearly mutual. “Scott Eastwood is the star of the film, and to me he’s a symbol of that,” says Negret.
“He’s such a great actor, such a modern, young, exciting new face. He brings so much to the film, and yet when you see him on screen you feel like you’ve been watching him for decades and decades and decades. He has this aura and this kind of movie star quality that is rare nowadays. And that to me was very exciting, to bring a modern actor that had this old-school charisma.”
Overdrive co-stars Freddie Thorpe, Ana De Armas and Gaia Weiss, and is written by Michael Brandt and Derek Haas.