Barron's Cove: Garrett Hedlund On His Most Controversial Character Yet

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Thrillers come in all shapes and sizes, but in Barron's Cove , things take a dark turn that audiences won't see coming. The film, distributed by Well Go USA, follows Caleb (Garrett Hedlund), a troubled man but a good father, who loses his son in a tragic train accident. Believing to have found the culprit behind what he believes to be his son's murder, Caleb kidnaps a small boy for answers and uncovers things he couldn't have imagined.

Single Sparklehad the opportunity to chat with Hedlund about his turn in Barron's Cove and how it affected him, as well as whether the Tulsa King actor thinks he could have taken on the role earlier in his life. Most importantly, Hedlund explains the importance of the role and how he approached perhaps the most intense role of his career.

Single Sparkle: You've mentioned in past interviews that you often gravitate toward roles that require a challenge or sacrifice on your part. What were some of the challenges or sacrifices that you had to make in taking on the role of Caleb?

Garrett Hedlund: Well, I relocated myself to Springfield, Massachusetts [where the film was shot] for about a month before shooting. So you kind of isolate yourself. That could be challenging for some, but I really just wanted to kind of focus on the material and ask myself the necessary questions of what I would have done in this situation? You know, I was taken by Evan Ari Kelman's wonderful script. And I found a really unique moment towards the end of the script. There was an officer who said something that was an answer to a kind of question of Caleb's underbelly throughout this whole film. Were we sort of answering this question of Caleb's, where he's wondering if he was really enough — if he did his job as a parent while he was a parent? And I thought that was so vulnerable and tender and endearing, that a man who was so haunted by his past and filled with such a kind of secretive guilt, still behind his shell, wondered if he was doing enough every moment.

You know, we don't see that very often. We're familiar with kids feeling like they're not enough or striving to be enough in relation to their parents, but not so much the parents wondering if they're enough to their kids, if they've protected them enough, or if they've provided enough help or support to help them endure. So that was really interesting. But yeah, you're right. I like a good challenge and a good sacrifice. It makes you feel alive, making you feel like you're doing your part within each project you choose. And I see sometimes all of that is there on the page. And sometimes it isn't, and you have to go through great lengths to get yourself there, physically or emotionally, to bring that level of justified intensity to to each role. But this one, the main question really was: "How far would you go if it were your child?"

There's a scene in the film in which you threaten Christian Connery's character. For a dark, shocking scene like that, what was going through your mind? And what were some of the challenges in trying to get to such a conflicted and dark place for that scene?

That breakdown when we did it was much, much longer and much bigger. But it was some time being there on location. I was really trying to justify that turn. It is a very tricky turn in the story. To figure out why Caleb would do that without rewriting the whole script. And I said to Evan that he must have gone through all of this before, and the events leading up to this moment have exhausted him to such an extent that he's ready to cave. Morally, he can't continue on with any sort of torture or abuse of this little child because it mirrors too much of what was done to his own childhood.

And that sort of revenge doesn't make sense to inflict a similar one to the torment his child endured. When we shot the scene, the begging and pleading for that went on for some good time. But when you're doing a thriller , you kind of have to speed those up a little bit. So my fear was, it was in condensing that breakdown, if it would still seem genuine and earned. The story was tightened up a great deal from the script version and from what we had shot. So there were a lot of other obstacles that Caleb was dealing with. But yeah, I specifically remember the moment when, breaking down the script for the 20th or 30th time, he was like, "Oh, he has to break." So it's funny you brought that moment up.

The role of Caleb is one of the most taxing roles I've seen in a long time. There's nothing easy about what he does or endures. Could you have seen yourself in a place capable of taking on this role 10 years ago? And if not, what experiences in your profession have helped you to reach the level needed?

I probably wouldn't have taken it on 10 years ago. It was just the fact that when I'd read the script, my son was 2 years old. So it was very easy for me to ask that same question, how far one would go if this child were taken from me in such a cruel manner. Nobody would be able to stand in your way. I think it's a question the audience is going to be asking themselves. I think it's going to be something that's going to linger after the film, them asking how far would they go for their own child. Or how far is too far when they feel they're right? And Caleb was carrying a lot of guilt from his haunting past. So what is the cost of carrying all that guilt? And then what does it take to let it go? These are all viable questions.

We all wish that when something happens that really upsets us or tears our life apart that we could take a moment to zoom out and get observant and objective about it and pan out and just take a beat for a moment before we take our next step,. A pal had told me one time that we're only responsible for our second thought and our first action. Sometimes your impulse might immediately drive you to do the most deranged or harmful things to others or to yourself. But your first action is going to make that thought set in stone, and it's going to have the most detrimental effects. And getting to watch somebody in the midst of that will keep you on the edge of your seat, wondering what's next.

Barron's Cove is now in theaters and available VOD.