Garrett Hedlund covers the new issue of Flaunt, a magazine a rarely care about unless their cover features Dragonflies. But this editorial with Garrett is nice, even with the distinct lack of winged creatures. Garrett has some interesting projects coming up, not least of which is his supporting part in Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken. I can’t wait to hear what Garrett thought of Angelina. I want to know what the actors think about Angelina’s directing style. But he doesn’t talk about Angelina in this Flaunt piece. Which is fine – there’s a way to go until the Oscar campaign. You can read the Flaunt piece here (it’s written somewhat pretentiously) and here are some highlights:

He smokes & drinks tea: He smokes Marlboro Lights. He calls them “Marbs.” He drinks Earl Grey tea.

Be open: “Every once in a while we remember that life is short, and to appreciate the time with your friends and family, and to be open to have beautiful exciting moments in your days and stop worrying about what’s pulling you down.”

His dad came to visit him in LA: “It’s hard to get him off the farm, to fly. He’s gotten older now, but he was able to do it. He was helped by the assistants at the airport—not people with Blackberrys but people with a wheelchair. It’s not all that glamorous. But it’s nice for someone on the farm to come to a beautiful city where it’s primarily 90 degrees all year round and you get to see the ocean and see a faster-paced life. But really, he’s just proud of me. ”

On Brad Pitt: “He helped me understand a lot of the technicalities that actual filmmaking involves, how broken up it can be just to shoot one scene, how many different angles and camera shots, and how to approach the scene with different colors of emotion each take.”

On Peter O’Toole: “He threw his arm around me and said, [in mock Peter O’Toole voice], ‘Do you wanna hear how we shot this movie, my boy?’”

On Viggo Mortensen: “He gave me a book of his photography and poetry during On The Road. It’s great to see people that never lose touch with that creative side of themselves, to meet that artist that never ceases to see the world in a different way.”

Privacy: He believes in privacy. He’s never had a Facebook or Twitter account, or a MySpace account, for that matter. He does have a secret Instagram account. Upon last check, he had three followers. “The industry can be very small sometimes,” he says. “I think the only way to keep even the smallest amount of privacy is to just not participate.”

Why he’s an actor: “What first made me want to be an actor was the first time I found myself crying in the theater.”

[From Flaunt]

In case you were wondering how he knows Brad (and how he knew O’Toole), Hedlund played Patroclus in Troy. With Brad and O’Toole. Anyway, I sort of like Garrett. He’s kind of hipster, but I feel like he’s probably so genuinely uncool and un-Hollywood that he reminds people of the hipsters who “ironically” act uncool and un-Hollywood. He’s like James Franco without the douche, narcissism or famewhoring, let’s put it that way. Now we just need to get him away from Kiki Dunst.

Photos courtesy of Flaunt.