LOS ANGELES, Jan. 15 (UPI) — Scott Eastwood says he learned lessons from his Alarum co-star Sylvester Stallone that he will take with him in his career. The film opens in theaters Friday and will also be available on digital video-on-demand.
In a recent Zoom interview with UPI, Eastwood shared some of the discussions he had with Stallone between takes of their scenes.
“Sometimes when actors are in doubt, they shout,” Eastwood recalled Stallone saying. “It’s kind of like a cheap way to address material. It means you probably need to have addressed it sooner.”
Eastwood stars in Alarum as Joe Travers, a retired spy married to Laura (Willa Fitzgerald), another spy he discovers is still taking assignments. Stallone plays Chester, an agent sent to retrieve a hard drive from Travers.
Veteran actor Stallone has made five Rambo films and other action hits, including Cliffhanger, Demolition Man and Cobra. Eastwood saw their scenes together as a “passing of the torch.”
Eastwood is the son of actor and director Clint Eastwood and Jacelyn Ann Reeves. He often visited movie sets growing up, and made his acting debut in his father’s 2006 film Flags of Our Fathers.
“Eventually, I decided to give it a shot,” he said of acting.
Eastwood took acting classes with John Cirigliano at Larry Moss Studio in-between acting projects like Pride and An American Crime. Stallone’s advice reminded him of lessons he learned in his early career.
“A lot of it is just like reps in the gym,” Eastwood said. “You just need to figure out how to dissect scenes, how to get up and speak in front of people and how to be comfortable doing it.”
Over the last 20 years, Eastwood has starred in such films as Fury, The Longest Ride, Snowden and The Fast and the Furious sequels. Although his abilities have grown, the actor said he still has bad days but has learned to keep those in perspective.
“When you do it a long time, you have more on days than off,” he said. “You didn’t sleep well. You’re in some hotel room across the world. It was a full moon. You ate something wrong and you’re struggling all day and you’re maybe not as on as you should be.”
Alarum was Eastwood’s first project since the end of the 2023 writers and actors strikes. Though Alarum only shot for 18 days, he was eager to get back to work.
“I decided better to make a movie than not make a movie, so we got our hands dirty,” he said. “Okay, we’re making smaller movies right this second because there’s not very many movies being made.”
Eastwood’s credits include elaborate big-budget action movies like the Fast and the Furious sequels, Suicide Squad and Pacific Rim: Uprising, as well as smaller, real-world style films like 1992, Wrath of Man and the true story The Outpost.
Despite limitations, Eastwood filmed sequences for Alarum where Travers fights Laura in a hotel room, rides a motorcycle, and shoots heavy artillery in the woods and a city street.
“I was in a motorcycle accident actually when I was 20 or 21,” Eastwood said. “So I haven’t really rode much since, but it was fun to get back on.”
After Alarum, Eastwood has four more projects scheduled for release, including the World War II film Lucky Strike and a sequel to Wind River. He is also attached to the movie Stolen Girl and has completed Tin Soldier and Pearl.
He is now awaiting a script for the 11th and final installment in The Fast and the Furious film series.
“I don’t know what the shooting schedule is yet,” Eastwood said of the sequel. “I think that’s all being worked out right now.”
