Nicholas Sparks, Britt Robertson and Scott Eastwood Talk Bull Riding, Art and ‘The Longest Ride’

Nicholas Sparks along with Britt Robertson and Scott Eastwood recently stopped in Atlanta to promote their new film, The Longest Ride. We got the chance to sit down with them and quiz them a bit about the film, relationship advice and of course – bull riding!

After hearing that Scott Eastwood bucked a bull against the wishes of film producers, we had to ask if he was a fan of bull riding – and how long he stayed on.

“Huge fan. One of the bigger reasons I think I was drawn to the role initially. My agent called and said “Do you want to play a bull rider?” and I said “Hell yeah, I want to play a bull rider!” I was a big fan of the PBR [Professional Bull Riders] even as a kid.” Eastwood answered. “I didn’t want to go around and talk that I knew what bull riding was about without really bucking a bull. I lasted about two and a half seconds!”

For those that don’t know, Eastwood is actually the son of Clint Eastwood, so we had to ask how having Clint as a dad helped Scott prepare for his role.

“I think just the way I grew up as an outdoorsman… I felt really comfortable in this world with these guys. I was a fan of it. It’s the stuff I like to do. I like to go ride horses or go fishing. My dad’s got a huge ranch up in northern California that I grew up going to as a kid and salmon fishing every year. So, I don’t know if it was an upper-hand, I just felt really connected with [my character] before even doing the film.” Eastwood commented.

One of the questions we got via Twitter from the fans was what were the parallels between Britt Robertson and her character Sophia?

“I’ve always been interested in art, I just have had no experience or knowledge. It’s always been based off my eye, really. In my own house actually, I have a painter by the name of Jack Bender, he actually created 2 pieces of art for me to hang up on the walls of my house, and it happened around the time we shot this movie,” Robertson explained. “I think I was inspired a little bit by that. I actually really wanted to take some of the paintings home that were in Ira and Ruth’s house. I wanted one of those so bad!”

She wasn’t the only one, we would have loved one of those paintings too!

As with any Nicholas Sparks movie, relationships and love are the focus, so we asked the Eastwood and Robertson what they hoped fans would take away from the film.

“Love takes sacrifice.” Eastwood answered keeping it short and sweet.

“Relationships don’t work because they’re meant to be and because these people are perfect for each other and that’s just the end of the story,” Robertson commented. “I think the point is that these two people care enough about each other that they’re willing to put in the work, and they’re willing to make sacrifices and they’re willing to make choices so that they can be together in life.”

And lastly, we also had to ask Sparks if he would be filming again in Georgia due to the film’s tax credits – and the cut of similar credits in North Carolina.

“Very strong possibility. Georgia and Louisiana. Parts of Louisiana look more like eastern North Carolina than do parts of Georgia. It’s just sandier and more palm trees, let’s say, in Georgia than there are North Carolina beaches, whereas New Orleans it’s different,” Sparks answered. “So it really depends on the particular film and what kind of locations we need.”

We hope it’s soon! We’d love to see another film from Sparks set here in our home state!

Be sure to catch The Longest Ride in theaters today!