Scott Eastwood re-enlists in war movies with “Lucky Strike”
Scott Eastwood and writer-director Rod Davis Lurie first collaborated on “The Outpost” (2020), a extremely praised, fact-inspired Afghanistan war drama.
“Lucky Strike,” in theaters nationwide Friday, reunites the 2 in one other drama impressed by actual occasions.
“It began with Rob telling me, ‘I’ve this little script I’d actually such as you to learn. You’re excellent for it.’
“Then he mentioned, ‘It’s World War II.’ I mentioned, ‘Rod, I’m gonna cease you proper there. I’m so completely satisfied for you — you are going to make this film. But you are not going to make it with me.’
“I’ve done my Pacific tour,” Eastwood, 40, defined in a Zoom interview. “I did my Eastern European tour with ‘Flags of Our Fathers’ and ‘Fury.’ I’ve carried out this style.’
“Then my agent bugged me. And bugged me. Just read the script! Finally I did, and of course I loved it. A cool survival story. A great examination of what war does to the human spirit. So I was, I guess I’m going back to war.”
“Lucky Strike” – a title with a number of meanings – is about in the final months of WWII the place Eastwood’s John Castle is his regiment’s lone survivor. He’s trapped behind enemy traces, armed solely with a wi-fi radio and his wits as he dodges the Nazis.
Making this survival story usually felt elemental.
“We were out in Eastern Europe in freezing cold temperatures. It was pretty brutal. Luckily we had a lot of the crew and people from ‘The Outpost,’ so I already had a shorthand with them. We were all doing it together, which was good.”
Does he fear that should you say “World War II” to a Gen Z viewers hasn’t a clue?
“Not actually. Actually, I believe so many individuals are infatuated with this war. Because it is so clear what was proper and what was fallacious.
“Most individuals know World War II was about combating the Nazis and combating evil. Good versus evil and proper versus fallacious. It was very clear.
“And then it happens to be a true story. That’s always interesting to me.”
Eastwood has one other true story to inform. “Probably essentially the most attention-grabbing factor occurred after we premiered this movie on the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Our visitor of honor was Colonel Stern, he is 107 years outdated, the second oldest residing particular person in World War II.
“He was additionally in the Battle of the Bulge and attending to have him discuss what we bought proper in the movie — I do not need to give away an excessive amount of. But there’s some espionage stuff taking place and he was, ‘We nailed it!’
“And listening to him speak about it gives me chills, even telling it here. Getting to hear his take on what they went through was really powerful.”
“Lucky Strike” opens June 26
