American Rust is based on the novel by Philipp Meyer. In its 1st season we were introduced to the town of Buell with a host of characters that see a frayed American dream in this Rust Belt town in Pennsylvania. We meet Chief Del Harris (Jeff Daniels) and Grace Poe (Maura Tierney). Throughout that season we see how people become compromised due to their interactions with others and how far they will go!
In it's 2nd season which streams on Prime Video on Mar 28th, we continue to see how choices that are made affect those around us as well as what it means to get justice in American Rust: Broken Justice. We had the opportunity to talk with Executive Producers Adam Rapp (Flesh and Bone, Vinyl, Dexter: New Blood) and Dan Futterman (Judging Amy, Capote, In Treatment) to find out more! If you have yet to see the first or second season, spoilers ahead.
ATHLEISURE MAG: I have been a fan of both of your work across a number of years! What as Executive Producers, were you looking for that drew you to this series?
ADAM RAPP: Look I, I just think that the characters are so rich! Dan brought me in! He gotten the rights to the novel and Jeff Daniels (The Newsroom, The Martian, Steve Jobs) was sitting beside him and they brought me in. I read the novel and I was just blown away by how rich and textured the characters were. The romance between Harris and Grace. The complexity, the nuance, and the mystery that is within that. Then of course, all of the different characters just kind of flow out of that. Billy’s (Alex Neustaedter) character – I mean, I always start from a place of character in my work. So it was really really easy to see how I could get in here and work on this with Dan. It was really fun!
DAN FUTTERMAN: Look, a lot of it was Jeff! He gave me the book and he had been trying to get this series made for awhile. He wanted to make this and I think that the world spoke to him very deeply. He’s stayed in Michigan his whole life, he grew up there and so this world is meaningful to him. Then yeah, what Adam is talking about, Philipp Meyer wrote a beautiful book. For me in particular, this relationship between Del and Grace and the question of can you love somebody and use them at the same time? That pervades the first season and it continues in a very different way in the second season.
AM: Of course, I watched all 10 of the screeners in prep for these interviews. How much time has passed between the first season and the second one? Where are we picking up these characters again?
DF: I think that we’re a few months in right Adam – would you say that?
AR: That’s correct. We always said 3 to 4 months. We were trying to figure out how much recovery time Billy could go through and be on his feet again. That helped and it also gave us some time for the fracking story to be established in the community. But it wasn’t a year or 2, it was just a few months.
AM: I really love that there is a lot going on in the S2. I watched it in 2 days – I felt that I wasn’t going to sleep and that was ok! You don’t think the events are connected, but then it funnels to a lot of connectivity between everything. What should fans of the show keep an eye out for in this season?
DF: I think that you bring up a great point about the different strands of this season. We made a very conscious decision that the first season kind of ramped up to the end. Then we just thought, well lets keep it going. Lets keep that motor running and lets get a lot of other motors going. All of those roads interweave. You may feel like a storyline is disconnected, but it’s not. All roads eventually lead back to Buell. The title Broken Justice, almost all of our characters are seeking justice in some way. Del has penance that he feels like he needs to pay, Grace feels like she’s owed something because of her son, Billy’s trying to get his life back together and what kind of justice can he find? Steve Park (Rob Yang) feels that he’s got a truth of what happened in S1, but no one will listen to him and all of these characters are colliding together against one another. That was a great thing to be talking about in the room and then to be able to see these actors execute it was amazing.
AM: I found this to be beautiful and intricate and I hope that there is a 3rd season! The finale definitely gave me pause. Being from the Midwest originally, a lot of the topics resonated for me when you’re talking about factory towns and I grew up in an automotive community and so to be able to see this and to watch the tensions that come around all sides as these communities navigate what’s around them and happening to them is interesting.
DF: Well thank you! Adam is from the Midwest as well.
AR: Where are you from?
AM: Born in Anderson, Indiana but grew up in Indianapolis.
AR: Ok, I’m from Joliet, Illinois.
Now that we know a bit about the background of the novel turned series, we wanted to talk with some of the actors involved in this season! We took some time with Alex Neustaedter (Colony, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Low Tide) and Mark Pellegrino (Dexter, 13 Reasons Why, The Class of '09) about playing a father/son in this series.
ATHLEISURE MAG: Mark and Alex, it’s so nice to meet you guys. I have enjoyed a number of shows that I have seen you in previously to American Rust! What drew you initially to be part of this show?
ALEX NEUSTAEDTER: Well I loved the book. I also grew up playing sports and I have always wanted to play an athlete. I played football in high school and pop warner and tackle football since I was a little kid. So I feel like having the opportunity to play a football player that is way more than just a football player and to kind of explore the livelihood of someone who didn’t go and chase their dream was really enticing and exciting!
AM: And Mark, for you?
MARK PELLEGRINO: Yeah, I read the book as well and I loved the book. I love complicated relationship stories you know? Family dynamics are very intriguing to me. You get all of that here and I wanted to explore coming from a fatherless home in my own world, I wanted to explore that dynamic from the other side and to see what it made me feel like and if I could get any closure in my own life, in my own world by playing this out.
AM: Can you tell us about the father/son relationship between Virgil and Billy?
MP: Yeah, I think that Virgil has been an absentee father. I think that he is basically a boy in man’s clothes and he wasn’t there for his son in the pivotal times and in the way that a son needs a father to be there. A son doesn’t need a father just to go to his games. He needs him there to grow up and face life and he wasn’t there for that. I think that in S2, Virgil attempts to make up for all of that lost time.
AM: Where do we leave you guys in American Rust and where are we picking back up with you again in Broken Justice?
AN: We leave Billy knowing that he goes into a coma and at the start of S2, he has made a semblance of a recovery, he’s not all the way recovered, but he can walk again. His surgery is healed. So, for Billy, at this point, it’s really recovering more mentally than it is even physically. He has the physical part down, he knows what to do, but the next chapter is how will Billy deal with his past and is he going to confront the demons that keep popping up into his life?
MP: Yeah, in S1, Virgil seems to have some suspicions of Del and Grace. He has some information that he is putting together that very well could topple everything that Grace and Del have built up from S1 and there is a kind of resolution in respect to that and an attempt on the part of Virgil to get back and to try to have a relationship with his son and to help him out in his tough time.
AM: Well, I enjoyed watching all 10 episodes of the screeners and the second season was so amazing. What are you excited for viewers and fans to see for this season?
MP: I loved the pace of it and that there were multiple mysteries going on at the same time and you see people in desperate situations who love each other trying to help each other get out of those desperate situations.
AN: I love and what I think that fans are going to love the most is how action packed it is and also kind of a new lease on life that a lot of these characters have and how they’re going to try to change what they have done in the past and how they will do this for the future and how they will continue to grow and to become better versions of themselves.
We talked with Luna Lauren Velez (New York Undercover, Oz, Dexter) and Rob Yang (The Americans, Succession, The Menu) who play police officers in this series. In their own way, they are looking to find the truth behind the mysteries that continue to pile up!
ATHLEISURE MAG: It’s nice to connect with you guys! I have been a fan of both of your work! Rob, I enjoyed your episodes in Succession and Luna, I loved you in New York Undercover! I grew up watching that show and it’s great to see you in this series!
LUNA LAUREN VELEZ: We love that show didn’t we?
AM: Yup!
What drew you guys to American Rust initially?
ROB YANG: I think that the story and the people involved! I increasingly look at who is involved and who I am going to be working with is a big thing that attracts me to a project and then what I walk away from. It’s making new friends and working with people that I admire.
LLV: I got to see S1 right after it was shot and the characters are just wonderful in this show and the acting of course and the actors! I just thought that like what Rob said, after a certain point, what becomes the most important thing is who you’re working with, what you’re part of, I think that those things are the most important and so for me, that is one of the things that drew me to be part of the show.
AM: So Rob, where did we leave Chief Steve Park last season and where are we picking up with him in Broken Justice? You were incredible, I watched all 10 of the screeners and stayed up 2 nights in a row!
RY: You watched all of them? Wow!
AM: Oh yeah, I love this show!
RY: Even I haven’t seen it. I haven’t watched any of it.
You basically pick up after S1 with this – he’s got strong suspicions and he feels like he needs to prove it. That’s where S2 takes off. It’s off to the races.
AM: For Detective Angela Burgos she comes into Broken Justice. What can you tell us on what we should keep an eye out for from her?
LLV: I think that what you should keep an eye out for is just the way that perception starts to shift. She’s always looking behind her back and she is always aware of what’s happening, but as much as she expects what could happen, she is unprepared for what happens.
AM: What are you excited in general for what viewers and fans will see this season?
LLV: All of it!
RY: Thank you for watching!
IG @primevideo
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | America Rust: Broken Justice/Prime Video
Read the MAR ISSUE #99 of Athleisure Mag and see AMERICAN RUST: Broken Justice in mag.
