When “Lost” star Josh Holloway walks into the room of the imposing Hotel Majestic in Cannes, his face is turned upwards in a big grin. This is because he has spotted LaToya Morgan (“The Walking Dead,” “Shameless”), one of the creative minds behind his new Max show “Duster.” The other creative behind the series is, of course, J.J. Abrams, marking a much-awaited reunion between the two fellow “Lost” veterans.
Having its world premiere out of competition at Canneseries, “Duster” is a throwback to classic ’70s crime shows. Set in the Southwest in 1972, it follows the FBI’s first Black woman agent (“This is Us’s” Rachel Hilson) as she attempts to stop a powerful crime syndicate (led by veteran actor Keith David) with the help of a charming getaway driver (Holloway).
The show is a long-time coming, originally given a straight-to-series green light at HBO back in 2020 as part of Abrams’s deal at WarnerMedia. A pilot was shot in 2021, then reshot in 2023, with the series going into production later that year and then being halted due to the WGA strikes.
Speaking with Variety ahead of the premiere, Holloway says he is “super excited” for the series to be finally out. “It was quite a journey, life does that to you sometimes. J.J. called me, then COVID happened. We were finally able to shoot it, and then there were a couple of regime changes within HBO, a couple of strikes, different pilots… [JJ] was like: ‘You know what? We are still going to do this.’”
“Our perseverance comes through in the show,” he adds. “Usually with regime changes, they clean the slate a lot. I was proud every time we survived, because it meant they knew they had something good.”
Asked about reuniting with Abrams two decades after they first teamed up for “Lost,” Holloway exclaims: “Are you kidding me!? He called me up and asked if I had a minute, and the answer is ‘yes,’ always ‘yes.’ Whatever he is asking.”
“It was just so exciting to talk to him,” he adds. “Then he told me about LaToya, and suddenly I am watching ‘Into the Badlands’ and going, ‘this girl knows what’s up.’ She brings this coolness to the table, and a different perspective than J.J.. Their combination is fantastic. They are so agile but not rigid, it moves the show forward in a way that is subtle but poignant, where the audience can really take it in and don’t even know exactly what happened.”
Courtesy of HBO
Morgan recalls first meeting with Abrams after the lauded producer read one of her scripts, saying he came to the table with a simple image that would become the opening scene of “Duster”: a phone rings in the middle of the desert, a muscle car pulls up, and Josh Holloway comes out of it to answer the call.
“That was intriguing because I loved Josh since first seeing him in ‘Lost,’” says Morgan. “We brainstormed for an hour and a half before J.J. said we should work together. I always equate it to jazz, where he would play a note, I would play a note, and we just had the same taste.”
“Duster” feels like it goes against the grain of recent television trends in how it doubles down on its earnest homage to the ’70s crime thriller, with zingy one-liners galore, revving rides, and cowboy boot-wearing baddies. Commenting on getting such a show greenlit, Morgan says it is a “testament to how much original television is needed and also how much throwback shows are now coming back in style.”
“Everything is cyclical,” she continues. “You have something like ‘The Pitt’ throwing back to ‘ER,’ and our show is very much a throwback to the greats like ‘Starsky and Hutch.’ I think it’s a prime example of how everything is in a cycle.”
“When I watch TV these days, and a lot of times these are brilliantly written and incredibly interesting shows, I am usually left with an emotional hangover,” adds Holloway. “They are so heavy and dark. What I love about our show is that it captures the nostalgia of the ’70s. It’s groovy. Bad things happen, but you don’t feel so bad about it.”
The actor says one of his favorite things about “Duster” is how “each character brings a kind of fun and levity to it,” going on to praise his young co-star. “Rachel’s character feels all this prejudice coming at her and just keeps going. I love that she’s pulling me one way, and I’m pulling her the other. We’re both crossing lines and taking risks. Their relationship is a dual trust. It was so great to work with her.”
Courtesy of HBO
Another great thing for Holloway was the opportunity to do his own stunts as getaway driver Jim. Upon agreeing to take on the role, the actor immediately signed up for stunt school and became a certified stunt driver. “Troy Brown, our stunt coordinator, had a lot more trust in me than I even did. He took me out to the track, let me practice, and then do these stunts. It’s such an incredible feeling to get to do those because the car is a character in itself. He’s a getaway driver, if he can’t drive, that’s not cool.”
With such a positive experience making the show’s first season, is the duo hopeful for a second spin aboard the titular ride? “Absolutely,” says Morgan. “We have some plans and talked to the studio and the network about them, so hopefully folks will tune in and watch the series, so we are able to do some more. We want a second season.”
“And I want to go back to stunt school and tighten up a bunch of stunts,” Holloway amusingly wraps up.
Source link
