Josh Holloway on his ‘Yellowstone’ death: Snakebite critics are right
Josh Holloway loved working on new series ‘Duster.’ Here’s why
“Lost” star Josh Holloway reveals why he wanted to reunite with creator J.J. Abrams on new series “Duster.”
Josh Holloway’s slick antagonist Roarke endured one of the great “Yellowstone” deaths in 2021’s Season 4 premiere, ending two seasons of playing a thorn in the side of the Dutton family.
Dutton-family enforcer Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) opened a cooler with an agitated rattlesnake onto the unsuspecting Roarke, who was bitten in the face and dramatically died from the venom. While it’s hard to beat the spectacle, snakebite purists have griped that death came too quickly for Roarke.
“I agree,” Holloway, who stars as a getaway driver in the 1970s-tastic HBO series “Duster,” tells USA TODAY. The actor flagged the too-quick venom death to his friend and “Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan before shooting.
“We talked about that, Taylor and I,” says Holloway, who suggested moving the face bite to the nearby major neck blood vessel. “I said, at least do the jugular, so we could at least say it was a direct shot. We could say that. And he was like, ‘But it looks better here.’ And I was like, ‘But I wouldn’t die that fast!'”
The National Institute of Health reports “fatalities following rattlesnake bite are rare in the United States (and) usually occur some hours following the bite.” But the face shot worked better onscreen, making it clear that the bite happened in the confusion, with two visible bloody marks on Roarke’s chiseled cheeks.
“We had this argument,” Holloway smiles, admitting he lost the Sheridan debate and took his venom. “He said that it’s drama, and it looks better this way. Do it. And it did come out great.”
Why is Josh Holloway’s ‘Yellowstone’ death so great?
It’s a fantastic scene and a novel approach to TV dispatching. With real menace, the approaching Hauser sells the sneak snake attack to make it believable in a walk that should be on his Emmy sizzle reel. Holloway dies quickly, with foam coming out of his mouth. The best part might be that Rip walks away like Johnny Cash as Colter Wall’s “Plain to See Plainsman” kicks in. Rip picks up the empty duct-taped hard-sided cooler with a shrug. He’s probably still using that cooler in the “Yellowstone” spin-off.
Real rattlesnakes were professionally wrangled for the “Yellowstone” snake shots. “When they made that (rattling) noise, everyone was just like, ‘Wow,'” says Holloway. A “so real” prop rattlesnake was utilized for the actual bite, which had to be shot in reverse.
“For the close-up, you have to act backwards,” says Holloway, who had to react to the bite and then pull the fake snake away from his face. “So it felt ridiculous. But then, when they flipped the sequence (in editing), it looked really great.”
Why shooting his ‘Yellowstone’ scene was Josh Holloway’s ‘best job ever’
Overall, Holloway calls his “Yellowstone” death scene his “best job ever.” Shot at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, Holloway drove 15 hours to his wooded Montana cabin right next to the awe-inspiring Bitterroot River. He loved quarantine paradise for nine days while getting paid.
“There were elk running by all the time. And I’m a fly fisherman, so I fly-fished on the Bitterroot River for nine days straight,” says Holloway. “I would take one fish home every night and grill it. It was fantastic.”
It’s the best kind of method acting because Roarke is fishing during the rattlesnake scene.
“I had nine days, but all I had done was fish,” says Holloway. “When I arrived at the set, I practiced dying in my car for like a half hour. And I shot for four hours before driving home.”
How to watch Josh Holloway in ‘Duster’
Holloway plays getaway driver Jim Ellis in the Max series “Duster,” created by J.J. Abrams and LaToya Morgan. The action crime thriller (new episodes Thursdays at 9 ET/6 PT) stars Rachel Hilson as Nina Hayes, the FBI’s first Black female agent, who recruits Ellis (Holloway) to bring down a powerful Arizona crime lord.
