Jack Reynor

ABOVE: JACK REYNOR IN LOS ANGELES, MAY 2013. STYLING: EILEEN HAYES. SUIT AND SHIRT: DOLCE & GABBANA. POCKET SQUARE: PRADA. WATCH: PATEK PHILIPPE. SOCKS: FOGAL. SHOES: CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN.

Jack Reynor had some dark months last year. “I hadn’t worked in nine months,” the 21-year-old actor says. “I was completely destitute. I was living at home with my mom, and she had just developed breast cancer. It was difficult because I have a 5-year-old brother and 7-year-old sister, and we were in a dark place economically.” But the degree to which Reynor’s fortunes have changed since then makes a car turning into a giant robot seem like a party trick by comparison. After going through treatment, his mother’s cancer went into remission. He is also now one of moviedom’s hottest new properties, having replaced Shia LaBeouf as the lead in Michael Bay’s Transformers franchise, the fourth installment of which arrives in theaters in 2014. Chatting a few days before principal photography was set to begin on Transformers in Chicago, Reynor, who was born in Colorado but raised in Ireland, recounts how he’s been living in Venice Beach for the past three months, spending his days preparing to fight the Autobots by learning stunt-driving techniques, pumping iron, and riding a tandem bike with his Irish girlfriend. “It’s been mad,” he says. “I couldn’t even get an audition for network TV at home in Ireland. Now I’m talking about Vince Vaughn, Michael Bay, and Mark Wahlberg like they’re my mates. Fucking crazy, man.” In addition to his role in Transformers, Reynor also plays one of sperm-donor Vince Vaughn’s 533 sons in Ken Scott’s upcoming comedy Delivery Man. Reynor, who says he knew from age 5 that he wanted to act, landed his first leading role in the 2012 Toronto Film Festival hit What Richard Did, playing a Dublin teenager who gets into trouble with police after a drunken night out. The drama gave him his first dose of international attention, but he confesses to owing more than just his big break to the film’s director, Lenny Abrahamson. “I was flying to L.A. after Toronto with a suitcase stuffed with clothes and zero money, so Lenny gave me the last $50 in his pocket,” Reynor says, although he admits that he still hasn’t fully paid Abrahamson back. “I have, though, bought him a drink or two,” he says.

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