‘Lucky Strike’ Interview: Scott Eastwood and Rod Lurie

Scott Eastwood in ‘Lucky Strike’. Photo: Roadside Attractions and Saban Films.

Opening in theaters on June 26th is the new war thriller ‘Lucky Strike’, which was written and directed by Rod Lurie (‘The Contender’).

“One man’s fight to survive.”

Release Date: Jun 26, 2026

Run Time: 1 hr 42 min

The new movie stars Scott Eastwood (‘Fast X’), Colin Hanks (‘Nobody 2’), Taylor John Smith (‘Where the Crawdads Sing’), and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (‘King Richard’).

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Scott Eastwood and Director Rod Lurie about their work on ‘Lucky Strike’, reuniting after making ‘The Outpost’ together, why Eastwood initially turned down the role, how he prepared for the movie, the challenges of executing the action sequences, and the pressure of making a movie based on a true story.

Related Article: Scott Eastwood Talks ‘Tin Soldier’ and Gives Update on ‘Fast X: Part 2’

(L to R) Colin Hanks and Scott Eastwood in ‘Lucky Strike’. Photo: Roadside Attractions and Saban Films.

Moviefone: To begin with, Rod, you’ve directed Scott before in 2019’s ‘The Outpost’. Did you know then that you wanted to work with him again and why was he the right actor for this role?

Rod Lurie: Well, when I offered him the role, he said no. I mean, he’s perfect for it. Then when he said no, I went to a few other people and all of them said they didn’t want to deal with the physicality of doing a Battle of the Bulge movie. Eventually he came to his senses. Eventually he read the screenplay and then he said he would do it.

MF: Scott, why you were reluctant to make this movie?

Scott Eastwood: I had felt like I’d done my duty. I’d done ‘The Pacific’. I had done my European tank movie, ‘Fury,’ ‘Flags of Our Fathers’, and ‘The Outpost’ about Afghanistan. I said, “We’re going to go to war again?”

Scott Eastwood in ‘Lucky Strike’. Photo: Roadside Attractions and Saban Films.

MF: Scott, as you mentioned, you have a lot of experience making military movies. But how did you prepare for playing this character beyond just reading the script?

SE: People have asked me that and I just keep telling people that I think it was an amalgamation of all my time working on a couple World War II films in what feels like a past life now, but in 2006 I did one and then in 2013, I did another. So, all that buildup of listening to veterans speak, and being around them, and reading up on it, I think, prepared me for this role.

MF: Rod, can you talk about the challenges of shooting the action sequences?

RL: Well, it was a big challenge and when you see it, you’ll understand why, because we do a oner into a tank. When I presented that to Lorenzo Senatore, our DP, he said, “This cannot be done.” He said that about 10 of the shots in ‘The Outpost’ and he always figured out a way. It’s a great shot and they’re very difficult to do, but when you can do them, they’re so immersive. This is very much a first-person movie. It’s completely from his point of view. So, the more you can do that, the better. It gets really tense. I think we got it in two or three takes, but we rehearsed it for five hours. It was great.

Scott Eastwood in ‘Lucky Strike’. Photo: Roadside Attractions and Saban Films.

MF: Scott, what was more challenging for you on this film, the action sequences, or the emotional scenes?

SE: I like the challenge of those fun physical shots. I think the challenge of this movie is it’s really a one-man survival for act two and act three. So, you’ve got to hold the viewer’s attention. You don’t have other actors to bounce off. So, you want to make sure you’re giving a dynamic performance, and it was cold. It’s interesting because the film is about what war does to the human spirit. For this, what we were doing was tough, that made it, I guess, in some ways easier.

MF: Finally, the film is inspired by real events. Rod, does that put an extra pressure on you to get things right?

RL: Yes, I would say so. That was bigger in ‘The Outpost’ because that was a true story and this one is based on true events. We really are making a film in the spirit of ‘Von Ryan’s Express’, or ‘Where Eagles Dare’, or ‘The Guns of Navarone’. Obviously, we want to honor the guys in the Bulge, but it’s also a piece of entertainment. So that’s another obligation that we had. War films can be entertainment if they’re about us fighting Nazis. Every other war film must find its nuances, but there are no nuances when it comes to the Nazis, especially the SS and the first SS Panzer division.

Editorial Note: James White conducted this interview and contributed to this article.

Scott Eastwood in ‘Lucky Strike’. Photo: Roadside Attractions and Saban Films.