Eaton's Road

From new face to Sofia Coppola’s inner circle at Mad Max speed — WA model turned rising film star COURTNEY EATON clearly has her GPS set for megastardom. Kellie Hush meets her in the Hollywood Hills

- Kellie Hush

COURTNEY EATON is living the Hollywood dream. The 21-year-old is scoring big movie parts after her breakout role in Mad Max: Fury Road, fits modelling jobs between movie projects, has a hot musician/actor boyfriend and right now is starring in a new short film created by Oscar-winning writer and director Sofia Coppola. The irony is Eaton wasn’t even dreaming of Hollywood back in Bunbury, Western Australia, where she grew up.

“When I got cast in Max Max I was 16, turning 17, and I was following the path of modelling. Honestly, I had no idea what I wanted to do at that age, and because my personality is like, ‘Oh yeah, let’s try this’, I found out I actually loved acting,” Eaton says. “Modelling was something I enjoyed, but if I think about it now, it’s not something I would have done forever.”

At this moment, Eaton is sitting in a sun-drenched studio in West Hollywood dressed in denim jeans, a sheer black tee and black Monse ankle boots her stylist, Karla Welch, had put her in for a big Cartier party the night before. It was a glamorous affair, with more than 600 guests including Miranda Kerr, Kirsten Dunst, Dakota Johnson, Sienna Miller, Poppy Delevingne and Lily Collins. Eaton was there to appear on the red carpet with Coppola, who personally chose Eaton to star in a 60-second film she created for the relaunch of the Panthère de Cartier watch collection. And guess what? The story behind the casting is like a dream, too.