USA TODAY International Edition
Scott Eastwood embraces the darkness in ‘ Wrath of Man’
The following contains spoilers about the end of “Wrath of Man.” If you haven’t seen the action film now in theaters, stop reading or Jason Statham will pay you a visit next.
It’s any movie villain’s nightmare – thinking you’ve pulled off the perfect caper, enjoying a hot shower and a glass of expensive whiskey, millions in stolen money from a successful heist nearby.
Then you find Jason Statham sitting in your darkened living room with a gun. Scott Eastwood’s soldier- turned- thief Jan has that moment in “Wrath of Man“( now in theaters).
“Nobody wants to walk into that scene,” Eastwood, 35, tells USA TODAY. “That’s a very bad day.”
But it’s an audience- satisfying finale and screen kill, fitting for the very bad man Eastwood portrays in the Guy Ritchie revenge flick. Jan is the man deserving the rage in the “Wrath of Man” title, the darkest character in “The Longest Ride” actor’s career.
“He is a greedy son- of- a-( expletive),” Eastwood says. “But to play a volatile character like I’ve really never played before, exploring the dark parts of humanity, was surprisingly fun. I don’t know what that says about me.”
It was a long, treacherous road for his character, Jan, and for Eastwood to play the part, which started after he jetted out to Bulgaria to meet with Ritchie to discuss projects. One discussed movie fell through, but the “Wrath of Man” part came up.
Jan is the unpredictable element in a group of disgruntled former soldiers whose commanding officer ( Jeffrey Donovan) turns to lucrative armed heists with military precision.
Things turn bad for Jan after he kills armored truck guards during a heist, and then kills the witness, who happens to be H’s ( Statham) son. Jan shows a flicker of shocked remorse.
“You’d have to be a monster to have no emotions, it’s the ultimate regret, killing a kid. He thought it needed to be done because he was a witness,” says Eastwood. “We talked about giving Jan some humanity in that moment, showing regret in his eyes.”
But Jan recovers quickly enough to take out Statham’s charging H, a scene repeated throughout the movie.
He seemingly kills the undercover H again during the climactic Fortico Securities armored car headquarters heist on Black Friday.
Eastwood was honored. “Taking down one of the greatest action stars, that was pretty fun,” he says. “But I get what I deserve in the end.”
When the Fortico heist goes south, only three members of the crew escape with the multimillion dollar booty – Jan, Donavan’s injured Jackson and doublecrossing security employee Bullett ( Holt McCallany). In an icy villain move, Jan discreetly plunges the knife into Jackson, his former commanding officer.
“Jackson would have taken me out given the chance. I’m a liability and he’s got to tie loose ends,” Eastwood explains.
“I just beat him to the punch. Just a little too slippery.”
The shocking scene where Bullett and Jan then try to double- cross each other – with Bullett ending up on the wrong end of Jan’s gun – was added by Ritchie during filming.
“Guy adds things on the fly. And that was written in as we were shooting,” says Eastwood. “It’s one of my favorite scenes in the film. It’s so sudden. And you’re reeling after you watch it. Like what just happened?”
Jan drives off with the loot seemingly scot- free. But H recovers and tracks Jan down.
Eastwood says Jan’s late- night robe and whiskey were late adds to the final confrontation scene. “We wanted Jan comfortable in his own element, and then he just gets taken down.”
He was pleased with his character’s defiant death. But Jan’s last moments are spent sprawled and bloody on duffle bags overstuffed with money.
“He’s testy to the bitter end. It’s just a really good way to end it all,” says Eastwood. “And then falling on bags and bags of money with one last whiskey in my hands. That’s a pretty damn cool way to go down.”
Eastwood will keep the unhinged going playing reformed sociopath in the pandemic- filmed action drama “Dangerous” ( due later this year). His character’s number four buzz cut with a beard was menacing and needed for his just- released prisoner character. It was also convenient.
“It was easy, no grooming,” he says. “But there’s definitely eyes turning at the grocery store with that shaved head and that beard.”
But Eastwood isn’t having a darkcharacter period. The actor is in Atlanta, channeling his softer side with the romantic comedy “I Want You Back.”
“You got to keep ‘ em guessing, I gotta keep myself guessing too,” says Eastwood. “Otherwise it gets boring.”