SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Caught Stealing. If you have not yet seen the film, proceed at your own risk!
Throughout Caught Stealing, Austin Butler's Hank Thompson makes a regular habit of calling his mom to make sure she know that he is ok, and in addition to being a sweet aspect of the movie that adds to Hank as a character, it also sets up an amazing cameo. While we never see who the protagonist is talking to on the other side of the line, the actress is revealed in the film's end credit sequence, and it turns out to be none other than the wonderful Laura Dern.
It's a terrific surprise at the end of Caught Stealing – but there is a wonderful bonus surprise to be discovered as well. It turns out that while they've never previously been in a movie or TV show together, Austin Butler and Laura Dern have been friends for years, and that helped lay the groundwork for the latter playing the former's mom in the new 2025 movie. CinemaBlend's Hannah Saulic asked about the special cameo while interviewing Darren Aronofsky earlier this month during the Los Angeles press day for the film, and he explained the past connection between the two actors:
Austin and Laura are friends, and I'm friends with Laura, and actually, Austin felt… I think there was like a connection between Laura and Austin's mom in a certain way. And, so it just kind of all made sense.
It's perfect casting in all respects. In the movie, Hank has nobody closer to him in his life than his mom, even though she lives 3,000 miles away in California. They talk everyday and have a connection not only as mother and son but as die-hard fans of the San Francisco Giants. While Laura Dern is never shown while she is on the phone, the Caught Stealing mid-credits sequence sees her receive a package from her son in the mail that contains millions of dollars in cash.
After learning about the special connection between Austin Butler and the Jurassic Park star, Hannah followed up by asking the actor about the relationship when she had the chance to talk with him during the press day (where he was paired with co-star Zoë Kravitz), and he explained how she has been a wonderful part of his life in the last few years. Said Butler,
She's the loveliest human being in the world. She's so maternal and comforting and smart. And so we would have conversations about life and the creative process, and she's just been this angel figure in my life.
In recent years, Austin Butler has spoken about the fact that his mother passed away from cancer in 2014, when he was 23 years old, and it had an understandable emotional impact on him. In his time getting to know Laura Dern, he has found a special relationship, and he mentioned in our Caught Stealing interview that Dern even physically reminds him of his mom. He and Zoë Kravitz had a sweet back-and-forth about it, as captured in the video at the top of this article:
- Austin Butler: My mother used to always be told she looks like Laura Dern.
- Zoë Kravitz Really?
- Austin Butler: Yeah.
- Zoë Kravitz: Aww, man.
- Austin Butler: So when anybody would talk to my mom, they’d say, “You know, you look just like Laura Dern.”
- Zoë Kravitz: That’s crazy!
- Austin Butler: Isn't that wild?
- Zoë Kravitz: Yeah.
- Austin Butler: So all these years later, I got to actually tell that to Laura. And now she's like this, like, pseudo mom to me
- Zoë Kravitz: Aw, I love that.
It adds a terrific extra layer to what is already a great cameo in a super fun movie (as I detail in my Caught Stealing CinemaBlend review).
Adapted from the book of the same name by Charlie Huston and also starring Matt Smith, D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Regina King, Griffin Dunne, Liev Schreiber, and Vincent D'Onofrio, Caught Stealing is now playing in theaters everywhere.
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