Jensen’s story about choosing his horse for Rust (SPNDen 2021)
So in the Western [Rust], all the actors go to the ranch, to pick out our horse. And they also want to see what your riding level is. So they put everybody on this one horse, Cowboy. Cowboy’s an old trail horse, so you get on him, and “Okay, alright.”
And then they’re like, “You feel pretty good?” I’m like, “Yeah, Cowboy, he’s a little slow.” [The wrangler]’s like, “Yeah, he’s old, he’s like the kids’ horse.” I’m like, “I’m ready for an upgrade.”
So then I get on Texas. I’m like, “Oh, I like the sound of that, alright!” So I get on Texas, start running around and doing some tricks.” They’re like, “You’re feeling pretty good. We’re going to put you on something a little better.” I’m like, “Okay, great!” They’re like, “Here’s Kevin.”
So I get on Kevin. Kevin’s a good horse! A solid horse. But then I look off in the distance and I’m like, “What’s that big, black horse over there?” Solid black, beauty, like Black Beauty, and just gorgeous. I’m like, “Who’s that?” And the wrangler goes, “That’s Baby.” [Crowd: Ohhhh!]
[JA]: “Yep, Baby’s coming with me!” And then the wrangler goes, “No, no, Bebe.” [JA]: “I don’t care. For this project, that’s Baby! Will he respond to Baby?” [Wrangler]: “I don’t know, it’s probably close enough.” [JA]: “Well, that’s what I’m calling him.”
“So I ride Baby, and he’s goood. We’re going full steam up the hill, down the hill, doing sliding stops. I’m starting to feel really comfortable. This is pfft no brainer.”
Show up Day 1 of principal photography, and the scene where I’m on the horse and come over this ridge and headed down towards an old cabin. I see them loading Bebe up into the trailer. “We’re about to shoot, where’s he going?” [Wrangler]: “Eh, he’s limping today.” [Crowd: Awwww!]
They’re like, “Yeah, we’re going to have to put you on a different horse.” Right about that time, this giant 16-and-a-half hand horse comes around the horse trailer, just this beautiful, huge, quarter horse. And they’re like, “We got the biggest horse for ya.”
