92 – MAY 2015
HUGH STEWARTThe 19-year-old Western Australia-
raised actress was scouted from modelling
agency Vivien’s to star in the fourth Mad
Max film alongside Abbey Lee, Rosie
Huntington-Whiteley, Zoë Kravitz, Riley
Keough and Charlize Theron.
“For George [Miller], the film and the
process come to him in dreams, so he is
very specific about the look and feel of the
film,” she explains of the director’s vision
for casting tall, lean women to play the five
wives. “He didn’t find anyone [suitable] so
he went to modelling agencies, which is
how he found Abbey [Lee] and I.”
At the time, Eaton was just 16 and yet to
do any modelling work because of her age.
But since filming, she has starred in
campaigns for Tigerlily, shot in the
Maldives, and for Australian jeweller Jan
Logan, who frequently chooses actresses,
including Phoebe Tonkin and Rose Byrne,
for its campaigns.
Things moved quickly. After three
callbacks and a flight to Sydney for the
audition from her hometown of Bunbury,
Western Australia, she received a call from
George Miller himself, offering her the
role. A month later she was on her way to
the remote film set in Namibia for the start
of the six-month shoot.
vogue ARTS
“It didn’t really hit me until we were
finished the first day,” she says. “I was quite
nervous because I had no idea what to do.
There were so many people on set and
I [thought]: ‘Oh my god, how am I going
to do this?’ George is such a sweet man and
made me feel at home. He talked to me
and gave me tips. He was great.”
Now, Eaton is represented by LA’s
powerful Creative Artists Agency, the
same talent firm that looks after the likes
of Jen n i fer L aw rence a nd Dre w Ba r r y more.
“It’s ridiculous. I mean, I hadn’t really
paid that much attention to Hollywood or
film before,” she says. “I would just watch
the films but I didn’t pay much attention to
the people. It’s amazing to be alongside
some of those names – Oscar winners.”
And she has caught the acting bug: “I fell
in love with it and it ’s all I want to do now.”
Since wrapping Mad Max: Fury Road,
Eaton filmed the action/fantasy Gods of
Egypt (out early 2016), which also stars
Abbey Lee – who has become a firm friend- as well as Gerard Butler, and fellow
Aussies Geoffrey Rush and Brenton
Thwaites. Next, she would like to take on
a totally different genre. “Anything that
I can go crazy and do what I want would be
an amazing role,” she says. “Maybe a dark
villain or just anything you can sink your
teeth into. Emotionally, and even
physically, I’d love to train for something,
I think that would be really fun and
interesting and a challenge.” Tim Burton is
a director she would like to work with.
Eaton is now based in LA, where she has
set up house on her own with her dog,
close to her friends and near shopping
precinct the Grove. The young actress
enjoys hanging out with her Mad Max
“girls”, including Abbey Lee, who has
taken the fellow Australian under her
wing and introduced her to people around
town. “All the girls, we are all kind of
sisters now, which is really sweet.”
While she is enjoying a positive start to
her acting career, there is one element of
Hollywood that Eaton is wary of: the
paparazzi. “I experienced paparazzi when
I was with Rosie [Huntington-Whiteley].
It was insane and daunting; people getting
in your face and screaming questions at you
that can sometimes be quite personal,” she
says. “I am avoiding that until it happens,
if it happens at all. It’s a strange world for
people to be so obsessed with others and
want to know every inch of their lives.
I find that quite interesting, actually.” ■
Mad Max: Fury Road is out on May 14.“I WAS QUITE
NERVOUS BECAUSE
I HAD NO IDEA
WHAT TO DO.
THERE WERE SO
MANY PEOPLE
ON SET A ND
È* %+ *
T %-# % $
TO DO THIS?’”Gucci shirt.
Jan Logan
earrings. Her
own necklaces.