'Out of destruction comes new life,

Josh O'Connor chats about his new film Rebuilding, in which he plays a Colorado cowboy who loses his ranch to a wildfire. The film is in cinemas this weekend

- 

The threat of wildfires has become increasingly urgent in recent years, with the 2025 Palisades fire demonstrating their unpredictability.

Last year, The Lost Bus, starring Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrara, examined the devastating impact of the 2018 California wildfires through the lens of ordinary heroism.

Now, writer-director Max Walker-Silverman turns to the aftermath of disaster in Rebuilding, a new neo-Western about a community grappling with the profound loss left in a wildfire's wake.

The film follows Dusty, a reserved Colorado cowboy played by Josh O'Connor, whose ranch has been destroyed.

Now living in a trailer community on a FEMA campsite, temporary accommodation provided to victims of natural disasters in the US, Dusty finds solace among neighbours who, like him, have lost everything. As he quietly begins to rebuild his life, he also starts to reconnect with his ex-wife Ruby, played by The White Lotus actress Meghann Fahy, and their young daughter Callie-Rose, played by Australian actress Lily La Torre.

Filmed against the rapturous backdrop of southern Colorado, the film also stars Oscar winner Amy Madigan as Dusty's mother-in-law and True Detective actress Kali Reis as his neighbour on the campsite.

O'Connor, 35, who won an Emmy for his role in The Crown, says he appreciated the film's gentle approach to the climate emergency.

"It's something that's very important to me, as I'm sure it is for all of us," says the British actor. "In some ways, I think there's an element of hope in the way climate is explored in this film.