PITTSBURGH — They were so close. So agonizingly close.
It was a Thursday in mid-March 2020. About 35 folks gathered into a conference room for a table read of "American Rust," a new Showtime series starring Jeff Daniels. While the threat that COVID-19 posed wasn't understood enough yet for anyone to be wearing a mask, its potential dangers still compelled everyone to avoid close contact.
Production was set to begin the next Monday throughout western Pennsylvania.
It didn't happen. A day or two later, Showtime informed showrunner Dan Futterman that filming would be delayed.
"Everyone said, 'I'll see you in two weeks,' " Futterman told the Post-Gazette. "Nobody had any idea what was going on."
More than a year later, filming of "American Rust" finally resumed in locations in and around Pittsburgh. Sets for the show have been spotted everywhere from Ross to the Strip District, and it's expected to stick around until at least August, Futterman said.
The show is based on the 2009 Philipp Meyers novel of the same name about the morally compromising situation Del Harris (Daniels), the police chief of a small Rust Belt town, finds himself in when the son of the woman he loves is accused of murder. And in case you're keeping track, the show was initially called "American Rust," then became simply "Rust," and now has gone back to the original name, Futterman said.
"American Rust" also stars Bill Camp ("The Queen's Gambit"), Maura Tierney ("The Affair"), David Alvarez (the new "West Side Story"), Alex Neustaedter ("Colony") and Julia Mayorga.
It's a quintessentially western Pennsylvania story that Futterman knew would have to be shot here because "you can't replicate that somewhere else."
Futterman, 53, is a veteran actor, writer and producer who spent a few weeks here in the early '90s while filming a small part in the 1992 comedy "Passed Away." In addition to filming in the city, he has been stitching together the show's fictional town with scenes shot in places like Braddock, Donora, Rankin (specifically the Carrie Blast Furnaces), McKeesport, Ambridge and Clairton.
Pittsburgh's thriving entertainment ecosystem has provided Futterman with just about everything he's needed, including about 40 local actors who he said add "some real color that you're not going to get in Toronto or Atlanta that's so specific to this place." Same goes for our picturesque bridges and rivers.
"It's visually stunning," Futterman said of the Pittsburgh region. "Everything we're capturing on film is tremendous."
His path to television showrunner has been quite unorthodox. He started out taking just about any acting gig he could and lived for a while on the money he earned from commercials for Pizza Hut and Liz Claiborne's fragrance line.
He made a splash as a writer after he penned the Oscar-nominated screenplay for 2005's "Capote," which earned the late Philip Seymour Hoffman the 2006 Academy Award for best actor. He said there are a lot of themes at play in "American Rust" that were also present in the film about author Truman Capote's experiences while writing "In Cold Blood."
"Can you both love someone and use them at the same time?" Futterman posited. "It's a part of this show and it was part of 'Capote,' and that's a subject I find endlessly fascinating."
He received another Oscar nomination in 2015 for the "Foxcatcher" screenplay, and went on to write for and executive produce HBO's "In Treatment," Fox's "Gracepont" and Hulu's "The Looming Tower," where he also worked with Daniels and Camp.
"He's such a tremendous and devoted actor who sets a tone of preparedness," Futterman said of Daniels. "He can have fun on set, but he wants people there to do the work. Once you work a day with him, you don't show up if you don't know your lines. You have to come prepared for take one, because he is."
Sets are a bit trickier to navigate these days thanks to the pandemic, but the showrunner said there have been no major problems. Despite recent changes in gathering restrictions and mask mandates on the state and national levels, masks are still 100% required on sets and actors must wear them at all times while off camera. They must also take a rapid PCR test every morning.
"The vast majority of cast and crew" have been vaccinated already, Futterman said.
"It's very strange, particularly as mask mandates are starting to be lifted to be shooting outside, and yet you have 120 people still wearing masks," he said. "There's a pretty strict limit on the number of hours we can shoot. But it's been great. It's been largely without a hitch."
As much as Futterman believes Pittsburgh is "becoming a real base of production" for Hollywood projects, he does wish it had more sound stages.
Then there's this: "Why there's not a good direct flight from [Pittsburgh to] Los Angeles is beyond me."
Regardless, he's excited to be showing off the region with "American Rust" while providing valuable experience for local talent.
"I hope Pittsburgh gets its due in terms of people realizing it's a great place to shoot, but I also hope if we have a second season we'll still get stage space and get our crew back," Futterman said. "I sort of want to keep it a secret, but Pittsburgh's about to have its moment."
