Diksha Sundriyal
Directed by Joel Souza, ‘Rust’ transports the audience to the Wild Wild West, where a boy tries to escape punishment for an accidental crime and finds refuge in his grandfather, who is ready to do whatever it takes to protect him. Set in the 1880s, the film takes us through the violent and raw landscape of Kansas, where 13-year-old Lucas Hollister goes on the run after he accidentally kills a man. Despite his young age, he is supposed to be hanged for the crime. As a notorious bounty hunter chases him, Lucas’ only safety net is his grandfather, Harland Rust, who is already living as an outlaw. The Western crime drama gives an authentic and visceral presentation of the characters and their journey, but its connection to reality remains non-existent.
The Fictional Rust Initially Had a Different Protagonist
‘Rust’ is an entirely fictional story from the mind of writer-director Joel Souza. He grew up watching Western films, and it was his dream to make such a movie himself. When he started considering the idea, his primary focus was to explore a father-son relationship in an incredibly violent setting. However, when actor Alec Baldwin joined the project, a shift took place in the narrative, and it ended up becoming the story of a grandfather trying to protect his grandson. The writer knew that the grandfather had to be someone who has been on the run for too long. This means that apart from knowing the ins and outs of life as an outlaw, he would also be entirely desensitised to violence and bloodshed.
Souza had the Terminator as one of the inspirations for the character, but Baldwin believed there had to be a soft spot within Rust’s heart. Despite the darkness of the character, he had to be compassionate towards his grandson to develop the bond between them. Still, Souza didn’t want Rust to be too much on the good side. His rough and unfriendly nature was an important part of the story’s arc, so at the end of the day, Baldwin had to retain that brutal side of him. Still, despite the grandfather being a ruthless character, Souza chose to have the innocent grandson on the run from the law. Through the boy, he wanted to explore the loss of innocence and childhood, and how the savagery of the time impacts a child.
Rust’s Plot Unintentionally Mirrors the Real Tragedy on Its Set
The plot of ‘Rust’ hinges on the fact that a person ends up accidentally killing someone else. Unfortunately, a similar thing happened on the set of the movie in October 2021, when, during rehearsal, Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun that happened to have a live round, which killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded the director, Joel Souza. While the charges against Baldwin were dropped, prop armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was sentenced to eighteen months in prison for involuntary manslaughter, and assistant director Dave Halls was convicted of negligence, which involved failure to check the firearm before handing it to the actor. Halls took a plea bargain and was sentenced to six months of unsupervised probation, twenty-four hours of community service, and a $500 fine. The incident left an indelible mark on the whole cast and crew.
Souza could not return to the film until Hutchins’ family expressed their desire to have her final work completed and shown to the public. The theme of accidental death became even more prominent due to the cinematographer’s death. Though it is a tragic coincidence, the director hopes the audience learns a valuable lesson through the film. One of the significant things he focused on was underlining the importance of accountability and facing the consequences of one’s actions. In the movie, the rifle, which is the Rust family heirloom, serves as a metaphor for carrying that load of violence through generations. Souza hopes that despite all the gunfights and bloodshed, his and the movie’s anti-gun stance resonates with the audience, and they relate to the fact that guns and violence are never the right answer to any question.
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