[Editor’s note: The following contains major spoilers for Marked Men: Rule + Shaw]

Summary

Chase Stokes felt drawn to ‘Marked Men: Rule + Shaw’ due to its unconventional love story.

The tattoos for the film were meticulously created, respecting the character’s craft, and authentically aged.

Stokes navigates the characters’ complex dynamics with depth, showcasing softness and nuance in Rule and his relationship with Shaw.

Based on Jay Crownover’s best-selling novel, Marked Men: Rule + Shaw tells the story of Rule Archer (Chase Stokes) and Shaw Landon (Sydney Taylor), an unlikely pair whose friendship shifts into something more, but not without its fair share of bumps along the way. To Rule, the impulsive tattoo artist with an aversion to commitment, Shaw is just “Casper,” the girl with the pale complexion who was roommates with his twin brother Remy until he tragically passed away three years ago. But Shaw, the pre-med college student from a well-off family, has silently loved Rule for years, as she’s watched the multitude of women in and out of his bed. After a drunken night of seduction blurs the line between friendship and love, the two try to navigate their differences in an effort to find something real.
Stokes has built up a fan base over four seasons of the hit Netflix series Outer Banks, in which he plays John B, a teenager who enlists his three best friends to hunt for a legendary treasure. Getting ready to shoot the fifth and final season, and with Marked Men and Valiant One both in theaters in January, he’s focused on future possibilities as an actor, as well as his desire to try his hand at directing.
During this one-on-one interview with Collider, Stokes talked about why he was drawn to the script for Marked Men, knowing that he had to work with director Nick Cassavetes (The Notebook), the decision not to copy Rule’s hair in the book, bonding with the cast in Bulgaria, the very naked introduction to Rule and Shaw’s relationship, shooting the tattoo shop seduction, whether he regrets any of his own tattoos, how he ended up getting spanked while wearing a bunny hat, and whether he’d want to return to see what happens with Ayden (Ella Balinska) and Jet (Evan Mock). He also discussed the challenging experience of shooting the military thriller Valiant One, how he feels about Outer Banks coming to an end, what he’s looking to do next as an actor, and his desire to direct.
Chase Stokes Was Sucked In by the Unconventional Love Story of Rule and Shaw in ‘Marked Men’

Image via Voltage

Collider: When this came your way, what was it that really grabbed you? There’s Nick Cassavetes. There’s also this character and his world. There are so many things that could hook you and make you interested in this. What was the first thing that made you feel like this was a cool project?
CHASE STOKES: In the position that I’ve been in, especially with Outer Banks and the gravity of the show, I can probably speak for a lot of my co-stars in saying that the next chapter is the most important chapter of not getting stuck in the space of being perceived as this one-dimensional artist. The script was sent to me and within two hours, they were like, “Hey, we didn’t put this in the email, but Nick Cassavetes is attached now. He’s done a new draft, and we want to send that to you before you get your hands on the first one.” And so, I read it and, within a day, I just sucked it in. It’s a very unconventional version of a love story that I hadn’t seen in a while. And I just felt like, at that point in my life, I was going through a lot of highs and lows and trying to rediscover who I am as an artist and as an adult. It felt like a cathartic but beautiful story that I was in the right place, right time to tell.
And then, I met Nick. Nick and I Zoomed because I was doing Valiant One at the time, and I just felt like I had known Nick in another life. I felt like he was the safest human to do this story with. He really, really understands love. He’s done The Notebook, but he’s done so many unbelievable films throughout his career. He’s just a giant lover. He’s a six-foot-six, tattooed head-to-toe human being who directed the most incredible love story that I think we’ve ever seen, but you would never know that by looking at him. Just having that visual and knowing how soft he is, I was like, “This feels like a really beautiful opportunity to do something very different, and also just show a little bit of range.”
Obviously, books get changed when they’re adapted for different mediums. Everybody knows that one of the most significant changes from the book, for both Rule and Shaw, is their hair.
STOKES: Yes.
When I asked Sydney Taylor about it, she said there was a brief conversation about the blonde hair, but that it just ended there. Did you have a similar conversation about attempting to do anything different yourself, or was that just not possible?
STOKES: If you were to go off of the book, just from a logistics standpoint in the film, it would be really tough to keep that element of Rule alive because I think he changes his hair four or five times. So, we knew going into it that the ability to keep up with that was gonna be a task in itself. I had my head shaved for Valiant One, and it was already a pretty drastic change from what I was known to look like. Nick and I talked about it, and he was like, “I kind of just dig your hair how it is. You have this don’t-give-a-shit thing. You’re the type of dude who, instead of having a mohawk or something crazy, when his hair gets a little bit out of control, you just shave it off.” That was still a version of what was on the page. If you took some of the visual cues away from Jay [Crownover]’s novel and you look at Rule, that felt really authentic to the character, so we went about it that way.

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It feels like everybody really got their characters, they knew who they were, and they knew how to embody the essence of them, even if they aren’t exactly the same in every detail.
STOKES: It’s such an interesting thing. I’ve done an adaptation from a book to the screen in the past and it’s such a difficult task, especially in this genre in particular. When you have a large audience who has consumed the book, we all create our own version of the characters in our head and we all create our own version of what we perceive the world to look like, but you can never be accurate to the masses. You have to lean into what feels right to you. With the book that Jay so beautifully put together, and then with the script that was developed, there was enough there to really allow you to feel and build these characters. I don’t wanna say it was easy because it’s not an easy task, but it just felt like you had such a great roadmap to getting to where you needed to go. It was nice to know that Jay was so involved and so okay with the choices that we were making, from the very beginning, and in seeing the film, was very proud of what we created.
It’s hard to convey an entire history between two people that happens before we meet them in the film. Not only do you have that with Shaw, but you also have that with this whole crew of other tattoo artists and with Rome. Did you guys have time to build any of that before shooting, or did you just feel really lucky that the chemistry was there?
STOKES: Syd and I got to Bulgaria first. I had met Syd when she came in for a chemistry read in L.A. before we started, and I immediately was like, “This girl is really intuitive and instinctively ahead of the curve for her age.” She felt very safe, as a human being. I knew that was a quality and a tendency in Shaw that was super important, especially for playing Rule. So, the fact that it just organically happened between us was a really, really beautiful thing. And then, I was tipped early on that Alexander Ludwig was gonna be playing Rome. Him and I went and grabbed dinner the second night he was in town, and it was just immediately there. I had always wanted a big brother, and I felt like I had a big brother, which is hilarious because we’re the same age. I think we’re four months apart. So, we connected immediately. And the rest of the cast came in and we just all connected. I’ve been very fortunate on Outer Banks to have such a great experience, where the cast gets along and we have so many fond memories over the course of that show. Our showrunner, Jonas [Pate], has always said, “This is rare. You’re not gonna get this many times in your career.” And so, to go to a project like this and to get that same experience was incredible. The experiences that we had off camera will be left to the group chat, and the memories very much have translated on screen in this film.
Our introduction to Shaw is fun because she walks in on Rule in bed with a woman and they have a conversation while he’s naked. What was your reaction the first time you read that scene and what was that like to shoot?
STOKES: It’s the very beginning of the script, so you’re immediately thrown into this world of, “Oh, okay, this is gonna be an interesting, compelling scene to shoot.” Any time there’s nudity or intimacy in a film, it’s beyond the two actors. It’s like a dance. There are so many moving pieces. There’s a lot of vulnerability being in front of the camera to begin with, and Nick just made it the safest environment to do scenes like that. Truthfully, when I read it, of course, there was a little bit of nervous energy because it’s new and it’s uncharted territory. We played around with that scene a lot, with Syd and myself and Nick. It was one of the funniest days, despite basically being naked and trying to get the scene down. It really is a testament to Nick and how he crafts and creates the world around him to be super safe. It’s the perfect entryway into understanding how different and complex these characters are. How nonchalant her response is and how nonchalant his reaction to her coming in is, that’s how you’re getting into the world with these two.
Chase Stokes Was There To Support Sydney Taylor Through Their ‘Marked Men’ Seduction Scene

Image via Voltage

The whole seduction in the tattoo shop is a fairly long sequence with so many points where things could have gone wrong. From Shaw taking her dress off, to getting on the pool table, to pushing Rule into the chair and climbing on him, to her getting picked up and carried off, so many things could have happened. What was that like to figure out? Did it take a lot of time to shoot all of that?
STOKES: We spent a decent amount of time figuring out how the movement was gonna go. Nick is really big on rehearsal time and feeling out the space. And Kenji Katori, our DP who also operates camera, is just a maestro behind the lens. He’s so good at finding things, even when it feels like an impossible shot to get. So, when you have this incredible team of people around you, and you show them what feels organic, and you have such a creative team behind the lens who’s willing to just follow you and make it work, that was the secret sauce. Syd had to do a lot of the legwork on that one, and on the day, she was like, “I’ve just gotta commit, don’t I?” And I was like, “Yes, girl. I am here for you, however I can be, but this is your journey.” It ended up being a really beautiful scene and it was shot really beautiful. In a lot of ways, it could have come across as a little odd, but I think in their relationship and the dynamic in the film, it came out pretty beautiful.
Were you ever worried that you might drop her?
STOKES: I was. The story behind the story is that I had actually gotten a staph infection while filming this movie. When we were doing that scene, I really couldn’t use my right arm because if I added any weight, there was a concern that the fluid would build up again and I would get rushed back to the hospital, so I was trying to do it with one arm. Syd is a very small human being, so that made it a little bit easier on me. That was one of those things that happened organically, in the scene, as you’re finding it and as you’re seeing it. There was a world where it cut right on our faces, but then, we just made this choice and said, “What if we’re just like, ‘Screw it, we’re going straight upstairs to the bedroom.’” We sat on that, and then we did it, and we got the beautiful shot and it worked out in the ways that it did. Thankfully, I did not have to go back to the hospital, so it was a win for all.
Rule is very clear that a tattoo should mean something because it’s art. Do all of your tattoos mean something to you? Do you have tattoos where you didn’t think about them before getting them and you wish maybe you’d put some more thought into it?
STOKES: Absolutely. I have one on my arm that says, “Hello, lover,” that I got with a friend, drunkenly, in Venice, Italy, four years ago. It’s faded and the “e” is now a “c.” I didn’t have a plan. I just walked into the shop and did it. I’ve got a couple other ones that are just there. I don’t necessarily regret them. That’s where character versus Chase comes into play. I think sometimes it’s just fun to have shit that you like or don’t like, or was just a component of your life at a certain period of time, that’s a milestone or a memory. But I can understand for him, from the perspective of where he’s at, he takes his craft very seriously. It would be like if somebody came to work on a film set and just tried to wing it. I would have that same reaction. I’d be like, “This is fucking work. This is art. This shit matters.” It’s interesting finding the duality between the character, with what is honest to me and what was honest to him. But to go back to your question, I think it’s always fun to have one or two tattoos where you’re like, “Why did I do that?!”
Chase Stokes Fought the Impulse To Get Rule Archer’s ‘Marked Men’ Ink For Real

Image via Voltage

Did you have any say in what Rule’s tattoos would look like? What was it like to see yourself with tattoos that weren’t actually yours?
STOKES: It was a trip. They definitely wanted my feedback. They wanted each character to have their own specificity to the artwork that they put on their body. One of our producers is a badass graffiti artist, and he actually sourced those tattoos through an artist who, I believe, was in Denver. They sent them to me and I was like, “This is the coolest shit, ever.” It was also scary because my impulsive behavior would be like, “I’m just gonna get them tattooed.” There was no need to have any negative reaction because they were just immediately so captivating. As soon as they put them on, I was like, “Okay, this is Rule.” But it was a process. Like three and a half hours of a process. They are very detailed. That was something that I was really impressed with. The level of detail that was put into those pieces by our hair and makeup department and our special effects team who did the tattoos, they used products to make them look aged and lived in. But still, every day on camera, in the places that you are able to see them, they were done very well and were very believable. I’ve seen some not so believable tattoos on camera in the past, so I’m just very thankful that they invested the time and effort to make them the way that they were.
When Rule first shows up to talk to Shaw, after their night together, he’s clearly not good at putting his feelings into words, like many guys aren’t. I was particularly struck by the moment when he says, “You’re important to me.” And her response is, “I am?,” because he’s never said anything like that to her before. How was it to figure out how that conversation would work? It’s such an important moment for them. What was it like to shoot that?
STOKES: We knew that was a very pivotal scene in the arc of Rule and Shaw. I knew something had to come from Rule that felt almost as if she’s taking it as he’s speaking a different language. It’s something that you just don’t expect to hear him say, especially as the conversation starts. It’s really just a testament to when you find the right person and you find somebody who makes you feel safe, those walls start to come down. That’s one of the first moments. Even the night that she tells him, “If you don’t wanna do this, we don’t have to,” he still has his walls up. You don’t see him cracking. And so, it’s a beautiful thing to see him acknowledge that he really cares about her and he does see her as a human being. He doesn’t see her as Casper, the girl that walked down the stairs, and all the things that he’s referenced in the film, up to that point. That was the facade, but now he’s allowing himself to find a softness.
The bunny hat makes an appearance a couple of times.
STOKES: It does.
What was it like to do the spanking scene while wearing that? That is really one of the funniest moments. How did you do that scene without laughing because you couldn’t have any reaction?
STOKES: Honestly, a lot of that moment was stuff that Nick thought would be hilarious. We shot a bunch of stuff with it. The bunny hat was really just scripted for the photo booth scene, and I thought it was hilarious, so I just kept it on for the majority of the day. I would take it off in between takes, which I’m sure our hair team was very happy about. When it came to some of that stuff, we played around with a couple different versions of that. I just said, “Why don’t I do it with this on?” Nick just thought it was the funniest shit, to see a man bent over a bed with sunglasses on and a bunny hat, getting his ass slapped with no reaction. It just felt like that’s the safest place you can be with your partner, to be that comfortable. It was a trip. Nick was off camera, just comically belly laughing for that entire sequence.
How did you manage to not laugh?
STOKES: It was hard. There were a lot of other bits that didn’t make the cut, that were within that sequence. If there was a mic on the crew and the people behind the camera, you would hear belly laughter. I was acting my ass off to not laugh, more than I was anything else in those moments.
Even the moment where you’re having the conversation with the bra on your head and acting so nonchalant about it was just so funny.
STOKES: Yeah. That’s a true testament to the safety between Syd and I, and our trust and safety with Nick. We were in such a safe space to allow moments to go from where the script is, and to have such an incredible captain of the ship in Nick to allow us to try things and to see how we could go a little bit further. It was about, is everybody safe? What about this? What about that? Are you guys cool if we go this direction? He would take ideas from us. For me, what I love about love is that, in a big, scary world where everything feels a little bit uncertain, to find a form of certainty with your person, so much so that you can wear a bunny hat with glasses and show your ass, or wear their bra upside down on your head, and not be worried about anything in that specific moment, that was really what I wanted, and Syd and I and Nick wanted to do. When Shaw and Rule find themselves together, it feels like you’re giddy to watch, but it almost feels like you shouldn’t be there because it’s so sweet and so tender. We really wanted to make that very clear because Rule is not somebody who allows that with anybody else. We see that in all different areas of the film. That’s the one place where he allows himself to get soft, so we wanted to find nuance in that space to make it work.
Chase Stokes Would Love To Get the Band Back Together for Another ‘Marked Men’ Film

We leave off with Shaw saying that she feels bad for leaving Ayden without a roommate, and Jet saying that he’s her new roommate. What do you think Rule’s reaction was, after the screen goes black in that moment? Are you rooting for another movie to get to see where that relationship goes?
STOKES: Yeah, anytime you get to tell an extended version of a story or peel off in a different direction. I love Ella [Balinska] and I love Evan [Mock], and the opportunities that they had to create the chemistry of the characters that we do see in bits throughout the film was really fun. Ella is such a charming actress and she’s so funny in this. And Evan is so hilarious. Seeing that world and seeing where they would be able to take it would be a really, really fun film. And selfishly, we had such a great time making this that I would love to get the gang back together and go again. I think Rule was like, “There’s this girl who says she hates everybody that breathes oxygen, and then my friend who pops in and pops out whenever he chooses in life and never commits to anything, and now he’s moving in with her.” That was a fun way to let the audience know that we’re not done telling the story and the characters that they got introduced to have their own lives that we wanna invest in too.
It’s a fun moment that lets us know other things were clearly going on off-screen that we didn’t know about.
STOKES: Right. What were you guys doing when Shaw and Rule were ice skating?
You also have Valiant One coming out this month, and that film seems like it must have been very physically demanding, from start to finish. Was that the kind of project that you really have to pace yourself through?
STOKES: Yeah. With a film like that, everything that you think you’re prepared for, you can throw it out the window a little bit. That’s just the truth of that world. You can be as prepared as you want, but in the blink of an eye, any and everything can change. It was fun to go out of the world of Outer Banks and get an opportunity to get into producing and help bring a story to life that felt like a nontraditional war/military film. It was really living in an adjacent world to it, which was nice. It felt fresh. The character was fun. He’s there because he knows if he puts his time in, then he can go off and do the next chapter of his life.

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Was there a most challenging scene or moment in that, that you just didn’t know if you would even get through?
STOKES: One of the more challenging sequences was definitely in the caves. We shot that towards the end of the movie. We shot almost entirely chronologically. Just being in such a confined space with live fire and stunt performers and the rest of the cast, we tried to keep it authentic. We had a man by the name of Todd Sharbutt, who’s a 25-year Navy SEAL Master Sergeant veteran, as our military advisor, and he was really adamant about the way that we moved and the way we operated our weapons systems. He wanted it to be authentic to the military, so that they felt seen and supported. And it was so cold. It was getting to that point in the year in Vancouver where the wind was whipping and it was not ideal. We were going from a warming tent with some space heaters into the cold and the juxtaposition was pretty intense. There was a lot of moving through the forests of North Korea and the DMZ that took a lot of days of walking and finding the authenticity in it. The whole movie was tough, truthfully. I think we had one day that was just a dialog-based day, and that was in the farmhouse. I don’t even think it was a full day. I think it was half of the second half of the day, in the evening. After running and getting in a firefight, I got to sit down in the last half of the day and just do words.
Chase Stokes Will Forever Love His ‘Outer Banks’ Experience and Deeply Miss John B

Image via Netflix

You’ve talked about how Outer Banks marked a turning point in your career. What’s it like to be branching out into these other projects and taking on leading roles, like the one in Marked Men, while you’re still wrapping up that project? How does it feel to have those worlds colliding, as you start to say goodbye to one chapter of your career and branch into other chapters?
STOKES: It’s very bittersweet. I’m very thankful for the last five and a half years of the show. It’s been the most incredible training ground, and it’s been a story and a character that I will love forever. I will deeply, deeply, deeply miss John B. I learned a lot about myself. I’ve grown up with the character, in a sense. In a weird sense, it was the perfect first job because it allowed me to grow with the character and it allowed me the opportunity and the space to really challenge myself in all the ways that, as an artist in this industry, you don’t get really a lot of, all in one package, whether it be doing your own stunts or leading a show or traveling the world and going to foreign locations to work on your craft, and hitting every version of art that you can. Although it’s coming to an end, I think sometimes we see shows run a little bit longer than they probably should, so at this point, we need to wrap it up and we need to do it right, for all the people that have invested years of their lives and grown up with these characters as well. I’m really looking heavily to the writers and the showrunners to make sure that they do right by these characters and do right by the audience and do right by the time that has been invested in the show. That allows me to close this beautiful chapter of my life and jump into the film space. I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity that I’ve had so far with film and getting into theaters. I wanna challenge myself to just keep building and growing and continuing to make better projects and work with incredible artists and continue to put myself out there.

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Do you know what you’re going to do next, beyond that? Have you thought about the kinds of projects you want to do? Do you have a secret desire to do a musical?
STOKES: I would love to. I don’t think I have the voice to do a musical, but I love theater and would love to eventually find my way, if I’m able to and if they trust me enough to do something on the stage. I am very much in a space of, there are a lot of exciting things in the future. As hard as it is to say goodbye and let the world of Outer Banks come to a close, I’m equally as excited for the opportunities that are very much on the horizon. You wanna show diversity in your work, but you also wanna make sure that you tell stories that matter. I don’t chase a project because I’m like, “Oh, this is the polar opposite of Outer Banks,” or “This is drastically different from Marked Men or Valiant One.” All of them were compelling stories and characters that I felt a connection to. The simplicity of it and the specificity of these characters felt really present. John B has a specificity to him where everybody is like, “I know somebody who’s like John B.” I think that Rule can also fit that category and have people be like, “Dude, just put your walls down. Love is awesome if you allow it to be there.” I also think that Brockman is a character that people look at and are like, “Dude, you could do so much more if you just put some effort into your life and didn’t just half-ass the entirety of your world.” So, in continuing in this career and doing the next projects, I really just wanna chase those characters that have that specificity and do it with incredible artists around me. I’m very excited.
With success and attention comes options. And if you’re getting into producing, that also gives you the opportunity to figure out what you might want to do, that other people haven’t necessarily pictured you doing.
STOKES: Sure. There are some really incredibly specific roadmaps that artists before me have laid out for how to do it right, and you put your own spin on that. A lot of people don’t really know, but I am a huge camera nerd and I’ve always wanted to get behind the lens and direct. That is something that I am gonna be doing. in 2025 or early 2026. That’s another side of this industry that I don’t think people would expect out of me, but for those who are close to me and who know me, they know that is a passion that I hold very near and dear to my heart. I think I’m just trying to find the right ways to do the next chapter and do the next right thing. Right now, it’s promoting these movies, and then going back for Season 5 of Outer Banks, and then getting in the director’s chair after that.
With directing, do you want to ease into it by doing a short or an episode of TV, or do you want to direct a film?
STOKES: I can’t say too much without saying too much, but it’s definitely not an episode and it’s definitely not a short. It’s a passion project that I’ve had for a long time, that I’m very excited to be able to bring to life and that will be coming to life.
It’s cool to be in a position where you can make that happen.
STOKES: Yeah, and for people to take me serious enough and sit down with me and acknowledge that I have the ability to do this.

Release Date

January 22, 2025

Cast

Chase Stokes
, Sydney Taylor
, Ella Balinska
, Evan Mock
, Alexander Ludwig
, Natalie Alyn Lind
, Matthew Noszka
, Hannah Kepple
, Daisy Jelley
, Michael Bradway
, Adam Abbou
, Inanna Sarkis
, Paul Johansson
, Tonya Cornelisse
, Nancy De Mayo
, Anton Poriazov

Runtime

93 minutes

Writers

Jay Crownover
, Sharon Soboil

Producers

Andrew Panay
, Jennifer Gibgot
, Brian Pitt
, Ryan Westheimer
, J.B. Sugar
, Josh Keselman

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Marked Men: Rule + Shaw is now playing in theaters. Check out the trailer:

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