**All the pictures used in this post are credited to the MrHedlund website (may it RIP)**
Spring 2010. Cat is reluctantly studying for her sociology exam and looking for any excuse not to. She changes channels on the TV several times until she lands on a movie with Mark Wahlberg in it. Not really paying much attention she occasionally looks up and is only sort of wondering what the film is. On another glance she stops and stares. Who is THAT? A knack for remembering movie titles and the name of an actor you saw in a random film a decade ago she has no idea who this guy is, but he’s cute. Like, CUTE! Not only that but he can act.
Hi, I’m Cat. I’m a big fan of Garrett Hedlund.
The internet has its perks at times and with a few quick searches I found exactly what I’d ditched sociology cramming to watch. ‘Four Brothers’ the movie was called. That actor’s name was and is Garrett Hedlund. A name I’ll say a lot in this post, so get used to it.
When I decide I like something or someone I like it or them hard-core, so within the next 2-3 months I caught up on all of Garrett’s filmography up to that point (2010). I cringed during ‘Troy’, I got teary eyed during ‘Friday Night Lights’, I outright cried the first time I watched ‘Four Brothers’ in its entirety (still not over it), I made it through ‘Eragon’, I laughed over Harlan hugs in ‘Georgia Rule’ and I covered my eyes during ‘Death Sentence’. More importantly, I fangirled with like-minded individuals I met online who remain some of the nicest and coolest people I’ve ever talked to. Shout-out to the gals from the ‘Garrett Minds’ board (may it RIP). You’re so much more than just other Garrett fans.
‘Troy’ 
‘Friday Night Lights’ 
‘Four Brothers’ 
‘Eragon’ 
‘Georgia Rule’ 
‘Death Sentence’
It’s one thing to discover a great actor. It’s even better when you learn said actor is a good person too. Garrett is that. A great actor and even better person. Which makes it so easy to be a supportive fan. I have never met Garrett, but I know people who have. He goes above and beyond for fans. They are not my stories to share so I won’t – but he’s grateful and grounded, that much I’m sure of.
Growing up on a cattle farm in Minnesota Garrett lived closer to Canada than the nearest town in his state (a fact that I only recently heard him say in an interview). In fact, he would occasionally pick up Winnipeg’s radio stations (whaaaaaat?). Living so far out in the country he only got a few TV channels and rarely had the opportunity to attend a movie at the theatre. He watched whatever he could get his hands on from TV and old VHS tapes.
At 14 years old he moved with his mother to Arizona and started to pursue acting. He worked several different jobs to save enough money to fly to LA for auditions and landed his first film ‘Troy’. What a way to kick off your acting career. Literally starring opposite Brad Pitt. Not only that but playing his cousin. Following ‘Troy’ he chose films that were diverse and even played the bad guy in James Wan’s ‘Death Sentence’. It’s difficult to fathom Garrett being a bad guy but he pulled it off well.
I became a fan at an opportune moment. It was months before the release of ‘Tron: Legacy’ (2010) – the long awaited sequel to the 1980’s cult classic ‘Tron’, starring Jeff Bridges. That meant a couple things for me. 1. I had time to catch up on all of Garrett’s previous work first and then 2. Got to happy dance daily because ‘Tron: Legacy’ is a Disney film and Disney does a lot to promote their movies… Which meant a lot of Garrett interviews and adverts. We even had a huge billboard of Garrett on it in my old neighbourhood. Which says a lot because, really, how many billboards do we even have in Winnipeg? Not very many when you compare to other places.
Following ‘Tron: Legacy’ the hype continued with ‘Country Strong’ (2011). A whole new level for us fans because did you know Garrett can sing too? It won’t take you long to learn that Garrett is a country fan. Makes sense. Born and raised on a farm, plays a lot of southern characters… I’m pretty sure his faked accent has become his real one. Anyway, his voice is deep and slurred, which is suited for country and I don’t typically like country but I like when Garrett sings. Like ‘Tron: Legacy’, ‘Country Strong’ was released in theatres. I went with my sister to see ‘Tron’, I went with my mom to see ‘Country Strong’ (we both cried. You cry a lot as a Garrett fan. He does a lot of emotionally charged films).
…Obviously ‘Tron: Legacy’ 
‘Country Strong’
There’s something gratifying about being part of a team that helps promote and celebrate the career of someone you mutually think is talented. I did/do the same with Same Same/MCR/Simple Plan/Marianas Trench/Attica Riots. Throughout all the excitement the board I belonged to became a second home while at home. I spent hours upon hours on it talking to people around the globe about anything and everything. I remember we even did an accent challenge in order to hear everyone’s voice – probably one of the neatest things I participated in. Everyone always made sure to make a separate page for each individual celebrating their birthday so we could shower them with birthday wishes and a plethora of Garrett gifs. We even made Garrett a birthday thread, and Garrett doesn’t do social media in the slightest but he did go on to read our messages and he did respond. I was ecstatic about it for weeks… C’mon, this dude doesn’t even have Twitter. It’s like making contact with a Martian. How often does that happen? Exactly.
Probably the most difficult part about being a Hedlund fan is that Garrett has a strong devotion and love for independent, low budget films. Always good roles, but rarely seen. Can you guess where I’m going with this? Independent films often don’t make it into theatres (if they’re lucky to be picked up at all). Which means there is very little publicity for them and majority of independent films are only going to be viewed by people who already know about them (or the actor). Even when films are shown in theatres in depends who their distributor is and how much promotion goes into it. Garrett isn’t on social media to actively spam you with posts about his new films that you should see. If you weren’t actively following his career you might not have thought to watch ‘On the Road’ – an adaptation of the famous Jack Kerouac novel in which Garrett portrays the iconic Dean Moriarty (based on Neal Cassady). A project he was very passionate about. You may not have viewed ‘Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk’ in which he yells a lot and some of his lines will make you laugh. “Jesus, what happened to you? Why do you look like you just got laid?” is one of my favourites.
With the lack of publicity and with Garrett not being a fan of social media there was little to discuss or become excited about on the board. Maybe some of you aren’t aware, but running a fan site/fan forum can be expensive. When the hype and excitement dwindles it’s difficult to justify the fee anymore. The board – and subsequently the #1 fan site shut down (bummer, but completely understandable). I’m just thankful that I still kept other means of communication open with many of the individuals I met on the board.
For the last few years since the board shut down Garrett has focused more on smaller budget films with a couple bigger films in the mix: ‘Pan’, ‘Unbroken’, etc., and you wouldn’t have heard his name very much (most people I talk to still have zero idea who he is until I mention either ‘Tron’, ‘Four Brothers’, ‘Country Strong’ or ‘Friday Night Lights’ – four vastly different film genres). Things were pretty quiet. Then ‘Mudbound’ was released in 2017 on Netflix. ‘Mudbound’ was nominated for a slew of awards, including the Golden Globes and the Oscars and received outstanding reviews. It’s one of the most significant and emotionally challenging roles he’s played to date and the film’s recognition was well deserved. Several people I mentioned it to had watched and appreciated its powerful story. Mainly because IT WAS ON NETFLIX and easily accessible to view. Ok, Spielberg?
Let’s skip to the present. It’s 2019. ‘Triple Frontier’ was recently released on Netflix and I couldn’t go on any of my social media pages without seeing adverts for this new movie. Garrett’s face literally everywhere (I’m not complaining). I’ll take it as a sign. I’ve never not been a fan of Garrett in the last nine years I’ve known about him, but it was super exciting for me to refresh my YouTube page and find new interviews of him to watch. More so it was a reminder of the people I met through being a fan. I’m a Garrett Hedlund fan, YES, but I’m also a fan of the people I have met through being a fan of Garrett.
I’m so excited that I have had the opportunity to reconnect with the group I met on the forum. I love that we could pick up where we left off. We can argue over what the best Garrett film is or we can all complain about work. It’s all relevant.
Alright, so what exactly makes me such a big fan? There are dozens of good looking actors in movies, but it wasn’t because I thought Garrett was and is attractive that I stuck around. It was many reasons, but it started with his portrayal of Jack Mercer in ‘Four Brothers’ that had me convinced he was a great actor. It’s not the dialogue but all of his body language that give you clues as to what Jack might have been through in the past. We’re never told what those things are, but because Garrett’s great at conveying emotion without words you can guess what his backstory could be. Garrett’s portrayal of different characters is always consistent in the sense that you can tell he’s done his “homework” and he takes each role seriously, no matter how big or small the part. He challenges himself by being very specific in the types of projects he takes on. Offered what we might call “breakthrough” roles in the past, e.g. Christian Grey (‘Fifty Shades of Grey’) or Finnick Odair (‘The Hunger Games’) Garrett chose to focus on smaller, independent films that he was more emotionally invested in. I might still be a bit bitter about him passing on ‘The Hunger Games’, but at least I can respect his decision. Most actors jump for the money. Garrett jumps for the opportunity to work with directors he admires and to challenge himself as an actor. While that makes being a fan a bit more difficult (long periods of wait time, needing to do more searching for information, not getting to see his work in theatres, etc.) it’s worth it for the finished product.
There’s no real purpose for me writing this post
other than me wanting to gush about Garrett Hedlund again after a break of not
really talking about him. Maybe you didn’t know who he was and now you do.
Maybe I’ve convinced you enough to watch a movie he’s been in…
My top 5 favourite Garrett movies:
1. Four Brothers
2. Friday Night Lights
3. Country Strong
4. Tron: Legacy
5. Mudbound
Top 5 movies in which I think Garrett gives his best performance:
1. Mudbound
2. On the Road
3. Death Sentence
4. Friday Night Lights
5. Country Strong/Four Brothers (I can’t decide
they’re too different and he’s equally great in portraying both characters)
WHAT’S NEXT?
– ‘Dreamland’. Not to be confused with ‘La La Land’. Margot Robbie’s in it too. I don’ know a heck of a lot about this one. It’s listed as a drama thriller and has words like “bounty hunter” and “unexpected twist” in its description. Set pictures make it look like it has something to do with being mobsters, but your guess is as good as mine.
– ‘Dirt Music’. Look, I’ve read the summary of the book this film is based off of. It sounds like it could be depressing, so of course Garrett’s playing the lead. Get your tissues ready, folks! At least we know his character likes to sing and play guitar. *Swoon*.
What I’ve learned from being a Garrett fan for 9 years…
– What ‘camaraderie’ means. No. Literally. Garrett used the word in a ‘Four Brothers’ interview and I looked it up.
– My friend Maxiekat is an excellent writer who should adapt her ‘Four Brothers’ sequel fanfic into a screenplay. Check it out here: ‘Write Your Own Song’ And then check out her other story called ‘Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk’ (I’m currently rereading it right now. It’s still the sweetest)!
– The game ‘Pass the Pigs’. Which might actually be the dumbest game ever and I own it thanks to my best friend Megs.
– What the Beat Generation was.
– Country music can be alright (this is difficult for me to admit).
– It’s possible to make friends with people across the world who you’ve never met in person.
– I’m pretty sure Garrett was asked more about the ‘Tron: Legacy’ suits than I’ve ever been asked about my protein intake as a vegetarian. Anyway, the suits were difficult to put on and take off and Garrett wasn’t allowed to pee for long periods of time (as a teacher I can relate).
– Garrett had to practise “dying” on a hotel floor before filming that scene in ‘Troy’. Imagine that. Garrett not knowing how to act out dying at some point in his career.
– I knew celebrity gossip magazines were gossip, but they’re really GOSSIP and majority of the time absurdly false. So you don’t need to buy them…unless you want the pictures (guilty!).
– From pre-production to release; how much work is involved with filming and how the industry works in general.
– How to make a “Derezzer” drink.
– No one says “Yesssss”, “Pals” or does a Terrence Howard impression quite like Garrett.
– Nothing looks more badass for your bedroom or rec room than a full theatre sized movie poster of ‘Four Brothers’. Finesse.
– Point in pictures. Point in all the pictures!
– Making gifs is a talent and I suck at it.
– “Jack drinks Jack.”
Did you already know who Garrett Hedlund was? What’s your favourite Garrett movie? Feel free to comment below!