BLOOD FOR DUST Director Rod Blackhurst

Hosted by Jason Godbey

On this episode, director Rod Blackhurst talks about his latest feature, Blood for Dust, starring Scoot McNairy, Kit Harrington, and Nora Zehetner.

Blood for Dust is a crime drama that finds Cliff (McNairy) in between a rock and a hard place financially. This leads him to make a deal with the devil in the form of Ricky (Harrington), a man who has fully accepted his fate and decided that the dark side is the only place he can thrive. He has no qualms about doing what he has to do if it means he can get rich, no matter who he has to use or hurt to get what’s his.

Blood for Dust is a quiet thriller and a bit of slow burn. It’s a character study with strong performances from McNairy and Harrington as well as the ensemble. Most of the characters exist in various states of grey with none of them completely good or bad, except for Cliff’s wife, played by Zehetner. She doesn’t get much to do in the film, but she is ever-present as the voice on the other end of the phone for her traveling salesman husband.

The atmosphere of Montana in the winter is cold and sparse, and adds to the cold cruelty of the situation our protagonist finds himself in. There isn’t as much action as the trailer would have you believe, but what action there is in the film comes suddenly and with a realistic brutality.

The film is a depiction of what happens on the underbelly of a capitalist society, and the pressures of financial hardship. It’s a commentary on what it takes to make it in America, and it pulls no punches.

We first interviewed Rod along with some of the cast of Blood for Dust on the red carpet of last year’s Tribeca Film Festival. You can watch that video here. Blood for Dust is currently available on Apple TV and Amazon Prime and sits at a comfortable 78% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Originally published at http://behindtherabbitproductions.wordpress.com on May 1, 2024.