The FX collection Underneath the Banner of Heaven solid Wyatt Russell as Dan Lafferty. Dan and his brother Ron (Sam Worthington) had been discovered responsible of the murders of their sister-in-law Brenda Lafferty (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and her 15-month previous. The collection relies on Jon Krakauer’s ebook in regards to the true case. Russell stated he had one other real-life expertise that knowledgeable his character.
Russell was a part of a Tv Critics Affiliation Zoom panel for Underneath the Banner of Heaven on March 29. He mentioned his position within the present and the private expertise he delivered to it. New episodes of Underneath the Banner of Heaven premiere Thursdays on Hulu.
Wyatt Russell visited Zion earlier than enjoying Dan Lafferty
The Laffertys belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The collection portrays the investigation among the many Mormon neighborhood. Russell occurred to have vacationed close to Zion Nationwide Park, which is a big Utah location for the LDS Church.
“Years ago, my wife and I would take van trips across the country,” Russell stated. “We go to Colorado and drive that route three times a year. You always drive through St. George. You drive through Utah and you go right through Zion, so we’d stop in Zion a lot. And we had done a canyoneering trip where they take you into Colorado City. They go, ‘You can’t canyoneer in Zion’ so they take you through a different route. And you go through Colorado City, where all the compounds are, where Warren Jeffs, his compound is now turned into a hotel.”
‘Under the Banner of Heaven’ reminded Wyatt Russell of the youngsters he noticed close to Zion
Russell noticed the locals with curiosity. Filming Underneath the Banner of Heaven reminded him of them.
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However I bear in mind getting out on the trailhead and, like out of the present, a truck full of youngsters wearing conventional clothes, ladies head to toe, received out. They began digging for gems and rocks within the stream as we had been passing by and looking out very fashionable in a harness and a helmet to go canyoneering. And I bear in mind making eye contact with this one lady who was digging for rocks, and it struck one thing in me the place it was identical to, wow, she’s only a child. She’s 10. And there was 11 brothers and sisters, and so they had been all simply going out to have a superb time. However it was like they had been out of a very totally different time. It appeared like they had been within the 1800s. And it simply struck me as one thing that was this dichotomy between the world that we reside in and the world that they nonetheless reside in.”
Wyatt Russell, Tv Critics Affiliation panel, 3/29/22
‘Under the Banner of Heaven’ doesn’t vilify Mormons
There’s a tragic crime on the middle of Underneath the Banner of Heaven. The present hopes to interrogate the neighborhood during which it occurred. Nonetheless, Russell confirms the present doesn’t vilify the complete neighborhood.
“Not demonizing that person for being born into that situation was, I think, always an important part of portraying someone who ends up going down that fundamentalist route,” Russell stated. “It is easy to feel like you are locked into a prison cell of your own birth when you’re in that situation. And treating those people with humanity and not putting just devil horns on them immediately was really important in the research for Dan in particular.”
Russell was capable of hearken to recordings of Dan Lafferty, who continues to be serving a life sentence. His brother Ron died of pure causes in 2019.
“It is a really hard thing because the minute you hear him speak, five minutes in you are going, ‘I like him. How is this possible? How is it possible that I’m hearing him speak and he’s speaking with love and joy and faith?’” Russell stated. “You have to come back to the reality of what it was and what he had done. There’s sadness in it because it was someone who was born into this situation and led down this rabbit hole in a way that only fundamentalist, extremist views can kind of lead you down.”