Alex Russell in Only The Brave.
Camera IconAlex Russell in Only The Brave. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Only the Brave: Australian actor Alex Russell talks new movie

Julian WrightEastern Reporter

AUSTRALIAN actor Alex Russell is in surprisingly good spirits despite recently being involved in a road bingle.

Speaking to Community News while taking an Uber to his LA home after a long day filming his latest project, the NIDA graduate said he had been without his own vehicle for a couple of days.

“My car is in the shop; someone rear-ended me the other day,” he said.

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“It was not serious, just enough to inconvenience me; (the guy that hit me) was the nicest guy, he was so sweet, I could not have asked for a nicer guy to be rear-ended by.

“He owned it straight away and apologised, so I couldn’t be upset with him.”

In his latest film, Only The Brave, Russell portrays family man Andrew Ashcraft, one of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, an elite crew of firefighters who fought the Yarnell Hill Fire in June 2013.

After braving the South American wilderness while filming Jungle, Russell faced a new set of challenges for Only The Brave dealing with real fire and scorching heat.

“Different sets offer different challenges,” he said.

“I am always wary about being a wimpy actor; we get a glimpse of the situation but at the end of the day we are actors and after a 12-hour day we go home or back to the hotel and have a drink and read our lines. The Hotshots stay on the line and camp there and do it the next day and the next day.

“What we did, the challenge was a fraction of what those guys do.”

Russell said the cast bonded with the real family and friends of the people they portrayed.

“We met their friends and family; we shot in and around Santa Fe, New Mexico, and they came to visit us, answered our questions and offered their opinions and feedback, showed us pictures and let us listen to voicemails,” he said.

Only the Brave is in cinemas November 30.