Josh Hopkins is a troubled U.S. Marshal on the hunt for an elderly outlaw and his grandson in Rust. After landing one of his first leading roles in New York Undercover season 4, Hopkins would enjoy success on both the big and small screens with everything from the beloved legal comedy Ally McBeal, CBS’ Cold Case, Courteney Cox’s Cougar Town and Chadwick Boseman’s Get On Up, among others. Despite his wide range of prior roles, Rust marks Hopkins’ debut in the Western genre, starring alongside Alec Baldwin, Patrick Scott McDermott, Travis Fimmel and Jake Busey.

Written and directed by Joel Souza on a story concept he and Baldwin developed together, Rust primarily centers on McDermott’s Lucas Hollister, a teenager in 1880s Wyoming Territory who, after the death of his parents, is left alone to care for his younger brother. After a conflict with a local boy’s father is followed by Lucas accidentally killing the man, the teen finds himself sentenced to hang, but is saved by his previously unknown grandfather, the тιтular outlaw. As the two ride for the safety of Mexico, they find themselves chased by a U.S. Marshal with a troubled home life and a ruthless bounty hunter.

In honor of the movie’s release, ScreenRant interviewed Josh Hopkins to discuss Rust. The star expressed his excitement at getting to join the Western genre, as well as how the film’s practical production took it back to the genre’s roots, while also breaking down his dynamics with Baldwin and Busey’s characters throughout the film. Hopkins also reflected on Halyna Hutchins’ family’s support for production resuming after the cinematographer’s tragic death.

Hopkins Was “Born Ready” To Make His Western Debut In Rust

He Also Praises Joel Souza For Tapping Into The Genre’s Origins

Rust marks a reunion for Hopkins with writer/director Joel Souza, having previously co-starred in the Thomas Jane-led thriller Crown Vic. Coming into the Western film, the star immediately praised his filmmaker as being “such a talent“, celebrating having written “these great characters” who are thoroughly “layered“, and was therefore ready to jump onboard to work with the “brilliant artist” again. “And, specifically, I was excited to do this genre,” Hopkins shared, “it’s about the most Americana of films.”

After sharing how the “world forever thought of us as the Old West“, Hopkins recalled being excited to “play a cowboy, put the boots on, throw the hat on” and “jump on a horse“, particularly since filming was on location in Montana, humorously joking he was “born ready” to star in a Western. He did, however, admit that he “was intimidated with the horse riding” to come from the film’s production, describing his character as being “a lot tougher of a guy than me“.

“I’m pampered with all the modern things we have now,” Hopkins chuckled. “I’d have a tough time in the 1880s, but it’s just pretend. I did have to do a lot of horse riding and horse-riding lessons. I did read a lot about the era, and what was going on, and some books that were written then that were contemporary. But yeah, there was a bit of a boot camp to it.“

In addition to the physical mini boot camp he underwent, Hopkins also found himself diving back into prior Western genre тιтles in order to prepare for Rust‘s production. One that he found himself revisiting the most was the 1989 miniseries adaptation of Lonesome Dove. “It just had so many great actors in it,” Hopkins praised. “Tommy Lee Jones, Robert Duvall and Robert Urich. But there are so many performances that I could just see, and they were so good. Those guys are always good, but they were very convincing because they could ride a horse, they knew what they were doing. So, that’s something I kept going back to.“

In reflecting on shooting the more action-heavy sequences of the film, Hopkins described them as being “very easy” to film “because of the genre“, as doing a “classic type of Western” is easier to envision than other productions when “you don’t exactly know how this is going to come off“. “You understand the [hums “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”], you feel that in the moment,” Hopkins explained. “So there’s a lot to relate to. It was fun to walk side by side, two deputies going off to a cowboy shootout.“

Now that Hopkins has made his Western genre debut, the sky’s the limit to what his return to the genre could be, particularly as it’s expanded to a large range of tones, whether the more contemporary Yellowstone universe or Kevin Costner’s era-spanning Horizon: An American Saga franchise. When asked about what kind of Western he’d like to star in next, Hopkins said he would prefer to “leave that up to the fates“, and that the quality of the script is the most important thing.

“If the script’s there for a musical, I would love to do it,” Hopkins expressed. “But, ultimately, what we’re doing is pretending, and to pretend to be a cowboy is a lot of fun. I don’t know the modern spins. I’ve watched Yellowstone and 1923, that’s so much fun. So, if the opportunity rose again, and the script was good, it wouldn’t matter the type of Western. Westerns are just fun.“

Wood Goes Through A Challenging Arc In Rust

“…That Belies The Truth Of Him.”

Throughout the history of the Western genre, the U.S. Marshal has ranged from being the hero to the villain for those who interact with the law officer. With Rust‘s Wood Helm, Souza and Hopkins found themselves aiming for a more intriguing middle ground for the character, as he generally aims to be a lawfully good leader for his town, though is also grappling with his son’s terminal illness, frequently going to the saloon and getting into trouble to drown his sorrows.

In breaking down his character, Hopkins describes Wood as being “the strong, silent type“, but also believes that this layer “belies the truth of him“. “I think he’s a very sensitive person, and hides it behind this stoicism,” Hopkins explained, “and he has a hard time dealing with the world that he is in, because of what he does, he sees the worst in humans, and sometimes participates in the worst of humans because of his job.“

Hopkins also denoted how, because of his job, Wood “hides [his sensitivity] as best he can“, but that having a sick son at home is “too difficult for him to deal with“. This, in turn, leads his U.S. Marshal character to have a sense of shame driving his actions forward, given that “he knows he’s hiding from emotions” by taking the job of hunting down Lucas, Rust and other outlaws, instead of confronting his problems at home.

There’s definitely an arc change in this towards the end. I don’t want to give anything away, but he makes a decision that kind of lets you know a little bit about how he might change, or what happens to Wood going forward. We’ll see that in Rust 2. [Chuckles]

Connecting With Busey & Baldwin Was An Easy Task For Hopkins

“…It Just Came Off The Page.”

Though Wood often comes across as a lone figure, he is joined for the majority of Rust‘s story by Jake Busey’s Drum Parker, his deputy with whom they share a long history on the job, and is one of the few who Wood allows himself to be vulnerable around. In reflecting on developing the brother-like relationship between the characters, Hopkins praised his co-star for being “accessible just as a human being“, which made it all the easier to “play that feeling that we had a lot of history together“.

“Because that’s what these guys have, they’ve seen some nasty stuff,” Hopkins explained. “Joel is such a talented writer, it just came off the page. But then, to meet Jake after watching him in so many movies, and television shows and things, it was, luckily, easy to trust him as an actor, and that way, you see the trust between the characters.“

Another key figure for Hopkins to ensure he connected with was that of Alec Baldwin as the тιтular Harland Rust, even though the two find themselves on opposite sides of the law in the film. While the two don’t share too many scenes together, they do have a couple of tense confrontations as Wood hunts for the outlaw and his grandson, and Hopkins acknowledged that the Oscar nominee has “a presence” and is “a movie star“, but completely put that out of his mind when acting with him.

“If I’m in a room meeting him, I’m intimidated by that, but not on a set,” Hopkins explained. “That presence he brings to that character, it’s easy to just be and react with that. If you just piss off about him being Alec Baldwin, and you just stare into his eyes, and you say this dialogue, you’re going to be honest, and that’s all you’re trying to be in every scene.“

The Rust Crew Would Not Have Made The Movie Without The Hutchins Family’s Blessing

“Her Husband Asked Me To Come Back And Finish This.”

While the movie’s star-studded roster and Western story would normally be enough of a draw for it, Rust had the onus of, as Hopkins described, the “obvious elephant in the room” of the tragic death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins following an incident involving a firearm intended to be used in production. After months of investigations and trials, in which the charges brought against Baldwin would eventually be dropped, production resumed on the movie with a few cast members changed and Bianca Cline taking over as cinematographer.

As we came toward the end of our interview, Hopkins expressed his graтιтude for “the respect” many publications have shown to not allow Hutchins’ death be the only talking point about the film as it geared up for its release. He also ᴀssured that “none of the profits of this movie are going to the original producers“, but instead to Hutchins’ husband, son, parents and sister. “The family requested that we come back and finish this, because they wanted the world to see Halyna’s art and her incredible work,” Hopkins shared.

The star also went on to express his belief that neither he nor anyone else on the Rust crew “would have come back to finish this movie without their blessing“, with Hutchins’ husband having “asked me to come back and finish this“. He concluded his thoughts by celebrating that, with the movie’s release, audiences “get to see what she was doing” and “what a beautiful artist she was“.

Hopkins Is Totally Game To Return For A Cold Case Revival

Fans Of The Show Still Approach Him About It

Looking beyond Rust, one show that remains a notable part of Hopkins’ filmography is that of Cold Case, in which he starred as ᴀssistant District Attorney Kite, a romantic interest for Kathryn Morris’ Lilly. There were reports in early 2024 that a revival of the show was in the works at CBS, something of which Hopkins would happily be a part of, as he “loved doing that show” and recalled “everybody involved [being] so much fun“. Hopkins also acknowledged that many fans of the show still approach him to talk about it, denoting how it “really struck a chord with a lot of people“.

Hopkins went on to share a specific moment in which he got to see the way Cold Case fans saw him, as he and his friends went to a bar to watch a football game, only for a rerun of the show to come on afterward. “Everyone in the bar was like, ‘Look!’, and were staring up at the TV, and kind of laughing“, Hopkins chuckled. “We couldn’t hear what was going on, but you could see that I approached Lilly to try and kiss her, and she turned away. And everybody in the bar, friends or not, were like, ‘Ah, ha, ha, ha!’ And then, 15 seconds later, my character came up, turned her around, and they kissed, and I was like, ‘Haha, I got that girl! I got her in the end.’ That was a hilarious moment.“

More About Rust

In 1880s Wyoming, recently orphaned Lucas Hollister (Patrick Scott McDermott) accidentally kills a rancher and is sentenced to hang. In a twist of fate, his estranged grandfather, the notorious outlaw Harland Rust (Academy Award nominee Alec Baldwin), breaks him out of jail and takes him on the run toward Mexico. As they flee across the unforgiving wilderness, the fugitive pair must outrun the determined U.S. Marshal Wood Helm (Josh Hopkins) and a ruthless bounty hunter named “Preacher” (Travis Fimmel).