LOOSE CANNON
CMU grad Kyle Beltran oers thoughts on ‘American Rust’ role
Spoiler alert: This story contains spoilers for all 10 episodes of “American Rust: Broken Justice.”
Just like its predecessor, “American Rust: Broken Justice” ended its 10-episode run with a potentially game-changing cliffhanger that could send shockwaves through the fictional Western Pennsylvania town of Buell, Pa.
Season 2 of the Pittsburgh-shot crime series debuted last week on Prime Video. The wild and highly bingeable “Broken Justice” threaded together several storylines that included Del Harris’ (Jeff Daniels) efforts to expose a cabal of dirty Pittsburgh police officers known as The Brotherhood, Grace Poe’s (Maura Tierney) new job with shady fracking outfit Landwill Energy and Lee English’s (Julia Mayorga) crusade to take it down a peg.
Anyone who has already completed “American Rust” season 2 already knows that the “Broken Justice” finale featured yet another triple homicide that removed Landwill fixer Russell Wolfe (Christopher Denham), new Buell police Chief Steve Park (Rob Yang) and poor Lee from the equation. Buell police officer Hannah Geddy (Rae Gray) was shot during that altercation and wakes up from a medically induced coma 10 weeks later.
She may or may not have heard (or remember) the confession Park coaxed out of Del regarding his season 1 transgressions — or the fact Grace killed him. That’s the least of Del and Grace’s worries, though, as dangerously amoral Brotherhood member Ramon “Ray” Fisher (Kyle Beltran) literally has them in his sights. The season ends with a gunshot that was likely fired by either Fisher or Grace’s son, Billy Poe (Alex Neustaedter).
The Post-Gazette caught up with Beltran, a Carnegie Mellon University graduate who made his “American Rust” debut in the show’s season 1 finale, to discuss his character’s journey from seemingly upstanding law enforcement officer to one of the most cold-blooded characters in the entire “American Rust”-verse. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
You were in season 1, obviously. Before everything went down at Showtime, were you given any indications that you would be back for a theoretical season 2?
They told me when I came to do the last episode of season 1 that there was an intention to have the character come back in season 2. It’s obviously sort of a setup cliffhanger when he starts coming to poke around Del. But I didn’t know what that would look like.
Then we got canceled, so I thought it got another season on Amazon.
How did you feel to be one of the relatively few season 1 cast members who ended up coming back?
Very grateful! Honestly, I’m a really big fan of the show. Watching the first season, I got really sucked into the story. I wanted to binge and keep going. It’s always nice when you get to be on something that you enjoy watching as a fan. I was thrilled to come back, especially as they deepened and expanded the world of the show the way they have.
Did you have any inkling that, assuming everything played out in a way you got a season 2, that Detective Fisher would end up being arguably the dirtiest cop in Pittsburgh?
I didn’t know! One of the really funny but also exciting things about working in television is that you’re getting surprised as an actor sometimes by the writing that’s coming your way. You have to play ball, and stay loose and game.
They told me before the second season where it was heading. I was excited, because it’s fun when a character has secrets. Fisher, you kind of get to peel back like an onion. He holds his cards so close to his chest, really like a shark. Very methodical and calculating and quiet.
What are your thoughts on Pittsburgh as a city?
I love Pittsburgh! I went to drama school at Carnegie Mellon. Coming back was amazing! It was a total nostalgia blast. I was so happy! I was living there for about six months. It was great to visit all my old haunts, my professors, and also to see how the city has grown and changed. It’s a city that’s obviously very, very close to my heart.
I thought it was cool that Fisher got to spend most of his time in that police station they just made in the Strip District. Is it cool that the production design and city itself lend themselves to the characters and show? It’s such a huge part of building the
world in our imaginations. Everybody working on this show is so talented and creative. The details are so rich. Pittsburgh, as a city, has so much character. You can really feel it and see it on the screen. It’s such a great city to shoot for that reason.
We talked just a little bit about who Ray is and how surprising he can be. How do you get into the mindset of playing a guy whose moral compass is clearly broken?
It’s such an exciting challenge to have to exercise empathy for a character you’re playing, even if the character isn’t exercising empathy. He is pretty far from who I am as a person in real life. You look to bridge the gap, to find the ways that you’re similar.
I think he’s a person who actually really cares about being good at what he does, even if being good means doing some pretty horrible things. He’s a person who likes power, and takes his power and himself very seriously in a weird way.
You get no disagreement from me! I would say he’s definitely a guy who likes where he is and wants to stay there.
All these guys in The Brotherhood, they think that the system that they’re using is better than the one that they’re operating in. They think that The Brotherhood is the power system that really takes care of things and the way they ought to be.
Coming into this season, everyone thought Fisher was going to be the side of the law bringing Del to justice. But then you have that episode 1 twist where we find out who Ray really is. How much fun was that?
There were some people in my life who were big fans of the show who were really excited for me to come chase Del. I almost felt guilty that I wasn’t going to be able to fulfill that in the way that they thought.
The reveals are so exciting! We just had the premiere. People were gasping! It’s thrilling television. I think you get more and more layers of Fisher from being revealed to be in The Brotherhood, and then slowly getting more and more enticed by power and kind of sinking deeper and deeper into depravity.
You were involved in the cliffhanger too. What are your thoughts on that situation?
When you’re on a show like this, we joke all the time it’s the kind of show where every page you turn is, is a bullet coming for me? You get to the end of the season and start to feel everyone looking around like, ‘Who’s going to kill who?’
As an actor, I’m excited of course to make it through the season! I don’t know what’s next, and I’m very excited to see what’s next. Fisher has proved to be a very resourceful, skilled character. I’m sure that he will do everything he can to stay alive for as long as he can.
What do you want to say to convince people to watch “American Rust: Broken Justice”?
I think the first season, a lot of people were talking about pacing issues upfront. It really is a smart show that built relationships slowly, that built the world to a place now where it can really take off. There’s so much going on, there are so many storylines and it’s a really, really thrilling season full of tons of twists and turns. It’s a really bingeable show.
I watched 5 ½ episodes in a single day.
That’s what it’s like! Give me more, more, more. I know what happens, and I still feel that way!