Biographical drama about ‘hotshot’ team
MOVIE: Only the Brave
STARRING: Josh Brolin, Taylor Kitsch, Miles Teller
RATING: M
REVIEWER: Seanna Cronin
ONLY The Brave was more than just another film for Alex Russell.
The Rockhampton-raised actor stars opposite Hollywood heavyweights Josh Brolin, Taylor Kitsch and Miles Teller in the biographical drama about 19 hotshot fire fighters who lost their lives while battling a wildfire in Arizona in 2013.
Brendan McDonough (played by Teller) was the only survivor from the tragedy, which is the greatest loss of fire fighters in the United States since the September 11 attacks.
“This is a universal story. Anywhere where there is extremely dry heat and what they call fuel, a build up of brush or trees, you’re going to be faced with this and you’re going to need people to handle it,” Russell said.
“Australians living in these conditions can appreciate it.”
The Granite Mountain Hotshots was America’s first municipal hot shots team. Russell hopes the film will raise awareness about the challenging work of wild-land fire fighters.
“All the movies in modern cinema are about structural fire fighters – they are bad asses, make no mistake – but wild-land fire fighting is an incredible thing to wake up every day and say you’re going to go and do,” he said.
“I’m always cautious of overselling how tough something was, but we did a week of hotshot training and what we got was the faintest glimpse of what real wild land fire fighters do all day every day so we can be safe.
“You’re schlepping around hills in New Mexico with the sun beating down on you, experiencing the blisters that come with regulation boots.”
Russell portrays Andrew Ashcraft, one of the Granite
Mountain Hotshots’ chainsaw operators, a “sawer”, who must hike long distances with the heavy equipment slung over one shoulder.
“Brandon Bunch, who was on the Granite Mountain crew up until a couple of weeks before the tragedy, was one of our technical advisors on the film and I remember him telling me how he can’t hike properly without a chainsaw on his shoulder,” Russell says.
“That gives you some idea as to the level of training and discipline and tenacity that these guys have.”
But the most impressive part of working on the film for Russell was the generosity of the fire fighters’ families, who visited the set and gave the cast valuable insights into their characters.
“Andrew’s mother Debra and I still text,” he says. “She’s a beautiful woman and she reminds me of my mother.
“It’s such a tribute to these people that they could be so strong during this process to help us try to tell the story of these men as best we could. It takes tremendous strength to be able to do that when something is so recent.
“I’d never played someone who had passed away in such a recent and raw context, and with that came a whole new level of responsibility. This was more than a movie for all of us; this was a human experience.”
On the lighter side, Russell enjoyed growing a moustache for the film. His character features in several light-hearted, banter-filled scenes talking about his band, The Fire Lords, and his love for making home-made apple sauce.
“I knew I would never grow a moustache that big unless it was for a role,” he says. “It’s just not my natural style, so to have an excuse to do it was so fun.”
Russell will next be seen in the US crime drama
S.W.A.T., which premieres on Foxtel in January.