Keri Russell Names The Next Film Genre She'd Like To Tackle (With Hopes To Star Alongside Kevin Costner) - Exclusive

Now that Keri Russell has explored horror-comedy for the first time with the uproarious "Cocaine Bear," the three-time Emmy nominee has her sights set on another genre she hasn't yet explored in her notable 32-year career.

Russell, who made her screen debut in 1991 with a role opposite Rick Moranis in the "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids!" fantasy sequel "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid!" has taken on several different genres over the past three decades. Her breakthrough role came with the romantic drama series "Felicity," and after that, she explored various genres — including war in "We Were Soldiers," action-adventure in "Mission: Impossible III," espionage drama in the thrilling series "The Americans," and sci-fi in "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" and "Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker."

Yet there's one area of film that continues to elude the actor. However, as Russell told Looper in an exclusive interview, she's not only holding out hope to take a trip back in time to a classic genre, but she also wants one of her former co-stars to saddle up for the project.

Discussing potential future projects with Looper, we asked Keri Russell whether she'd be interested in joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe or the new DC Universe at some point. Instead, Russell noted her interest in the Western genre, which has maintained a high profile thanks to the efforts of Oscar-winning "Dances with Wolves" director and producer Kevin Costner.

Of course, the actor-filmmaker's turn in the 1990 best picture Oscar winner isn't the only time Costner has been featured in a Western on the big screen. He also put on his cowboy boots for director Lawrence Kasdan's 1985 hit "Silverado" and returned to the Wild West in such films as "Wyatt Earp" in 1994, "Open Range" in 2003, and the mini-series "Hatfields & McCoys" in 2012. Costner's current smash neo-Western series "Yellowstone" has even spurred a return to the classic Western genre with the recent hit streaming series "1883" and "1923," which examines the family roots of Costner's character, John Dutton III.

Russell said her desire to star in a Western with Costner dates back to a 2005 drama the actors did together called "The Upside of Anger." However, Russell recalled, Costner warned her that the opportunities for female actors — at least at the time — were woefully inadequate.

"I would always say to him, 'I want to be in a Western.' He's like, 'You don't want to be in a Western. The parts for girls — you're either in a whorehouse or you get raped or something,'" Russell told Looper. "I was like, "There's other parts!' He's like, 'I know, but not right now.' So I would love to do a Western with him. That's what I would love to do."

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While Keri Russell awaits her dream of hitting the trail with Kevin Costner in a Western, she seems to have serendipitously carved out her place in a subgenre of her own by starring in films with wild animals that have the penchant for tearing apart any humans who get in their way. After all, before director Elizabeth Banks' "Cocaine Bear," Russell starred in the 2021 horror thriller "Antlers." In the film — produced by Guillermo del Toro, and directed by Scott Cooper — Russell and Jesse Plemons play an estranged brother and sister duo who encounter a supernatural beast that wreaks havoc on a small town in Oregon.

So if Russell does jump back into killer animal movies, she shared with Looper a hopping mad idea: "What's going to be next? Cannibalistic bunnies or something? I don't know. Yeah, probably. That's what's paying these days, I guess!" she joked.

Also starring Margo Martindale, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Alden Ehrenreich, and Ray Liotta in a posthumous role, "Cocaine Bear" is new in theaters.