Austin Butler and Matt Smith show commitment to the craft by going bald for the Caught Stealing film

Caught Stealing has recently made its debut on Netflix. By shaving their heads, Austin Butler and Matt Smith showed their dedication towards the film. Butler, known for his transformations, changed physically near the end of the shoot. Matt Smith, his co-star, wore the haircut during filming. Their choice emphasizes their artistic partnership with Darren Aronofsky to achieve maximum realism on screen.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly on August 30, 2025, he stated,

"I shaved it all off, and Darren and I jumped in the ocean in Tulum. It was a symbolic way of ending. We floated in the ocean for a couple of hours."

A dramatic plot twist near the end of the movie is what caused this clear change in Austin Butler's character. His character, Hank Thompson, is in a tough spot after the death of his neighbor, Russ (Matt Smith). Hank takes on Russ's identity to get away from the danger he is in, which includes getting his neighbor's signature hairstyle.

The Realism Behind the Shave of Austin Butler

The whole time that Austin Butler worked on Caught Stealing, his dedication to his job was clear. Several real injuries happened to the actor while filming the action-packed scenes, which shows how willing he was to fully embody the character's danger. As he did a simple jump over a counter, he cut his shin open on a metal cabinet.

He also got bruises from doing dangerous stunts, like hanging on one arm from a six-story window in the East Village. Butler said that the physical difficulties gave him the sense of realism he was looking for. They reminded him of trying to make pretend play as a child.

In the same interview with Entertainment Weekly on August 30, 2025, Austin Butler mentioned,

"I cut my shin open, on a metal thing that was on the other side, a metal cabinet or something. This sharp metal piece was there. So, I cut myself open."

About shaving his head, he mentioned,

"At first, I felt reticence toward shaving my head into a mohawk because I had no idea what it would look like and my own feelings around what that was going to be. I didn't know what that was going to feel like, but once I shaved it, it was incredibly liberating. When you shave your head for the first time, the physical feeling of the hair follicle is an amazing sensation."

As part of the story, Butler's character Hank had to get Russ's unique mohawk to complete his disguise. The actor had to shave his head for this important scene, which was filmed near the end of the production schedule.

Caught Stealing: Plot Summary

In 1998, the story takes place on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and follows Henry "Hank" Thompson, a former star baseball player who is having a hard time working as a bartender. Hank is haunted by the drunk driving accident that killed his friend and derailed his hopes of becoming a major league baseball player. His life changes when he agrees to watch Russ Miner's cats.

Soon after, two Russian mobsters named Aleksei and Pavel show up at Hank's apartment and beat him so badly that he loses a kidney. They are also looking for Russ. When Elise Roman, a Narcotics Detective, talks to Hank, she finds out that Russ is a drug dealer with ties to the powerful Drucker brothers. Hank finds a key hidden in the cat litter box and is thrown right into the world of crime.

Hank is questioned by the Russians and their partner, Colorado, after a night of drinking, but he can't remember where he put the key. After some time, he remembered taking it to Paul's Bar. He runs back to his girlfriend Yvonne's apartment to protect her, but finds that she has been killed, which makes him feel terribly guilty.

Roman shockingly tells Hank that she is working with the Russians and Colorado after Hank tells her something. More killings happen after a fight at Paul's Bar, and Hank locks himself in a safe to get away. He gets the key back from a homeless man who took his clothes.

Russ comes back out of the blue, but Hank hurts him by accident. Russ says that the key opens a storage unit that has more than $4 million that he was supposed to give to different criminals. Hank stops Russ from running away so that he can be the one to blame. Then Hank tries to trade Bud, his cat, for Russ, the key to Roman, and the Russians. During the trade, Russ kills Aleksei and then runs away with Hank and Bud, but he ends his life on the subway from his injuries.

Hank gets in touch with the Druckers to protect his mother from being threatened, dealing Roman with death for money. But after the Druckers kill Roman, Hank figures out that they also killed Yvonne. He deliberately hits the car they are in, killing both brothers. Finally, Hank gets away to Tulum by pretending to be Russ and sending his mother a portion of the money.

Caught Stealing is available to stream on Netflix.