‘The Warrant’ Stars Casper Van Dien and Steven R. McQueen Get Candid About the Classic Western (Exclusive)

While fans raved about Steven R. McQueen in Vampire Diaries and are loving Casper Van Dien‘s role in the CW hit All American, the two joined forces with Captain America actor Neal McDonough as they starred in INSP’s new film The Warrant. The Western film, which takes place around the Civil War, brought out different sides to each of these actors, giving fans a different lens to view from in comparison to past roles. In an exclusive interview with PopCulture.com, both Van Dien and McQueen get candid about their characters and reveal some of their favorite scenes to shoot.

“It’s a wholesome Western, it felt like a classic Western,” Van Dien said when asked what made him say yes to the script. Because the film premiered over Father’s Day weekend, he then detailed the emotional tie he had to his character, The Saint, as a father himself. “I have five children and I can relate to the love of a child and then this man had the loss of one […] He’s got two children, something happens and it does change him […],” Van Dien explained.

The film highlights the lives of John Breaker (McDonough), his son Cal (McQueen) and their torn relationship with The Saint (Van Dien). Following the death of one of The Saint’s sons, his motive in life drastically changes, leading Cal and Breaker to deliver a warrant for his arrest. “It was powerful […] there’s a powerful scene for me […] that happened when we’re at a gravesite and it was all because of being a father and what happens with your children, when you grow and life happens, you have different things that you can draw on,” Van Dien explained, saying that he used real-life experiences to bring his character’s emotions to light. “When I’m at the graveyard there’s a scene, I had gone through personal trauma in my family and I think that helped […] there’s a lot for me to draw on.”

While there’s a sense of heavy emotion tied to the new film, there are comical breaks. In addition, behind the scenes, both say they had a lot of fun working with one another on set. “It was great to be on set with a bunch of talented actors and get to shoot guns and have these fight scenes, it was a blast,” McQueen said. As for what drew the 31-year-old to the script, he explained, “Neal’s been a family friend for a long time so he called me and we had a conversation about it and he said it was gonna be a Western and we’d get to shoot some guns and have a good time […].”

While both are huge fans of Western films, the Tarzan actor said that was a huge reason why he chose to hop on board, adding that John Wayne is his favorite actor. However, one of his favorite scenes to shoot was a fight sequence involving McDonough. “When we got to do the fight sequence we just really went for it, and we had a couple older guys going at it fighting — we had great stunt guys — but he just wanted to push through and fight and I had so much fun with him. And he wasn’t gonna quit and I wasn’t gonna quit with him.”

After premiering on Father’s Day over the weekend, The Warrant will also air again on INSP on Sunday, June 28th at 8 p.m. ET.