'It Was Like A Master Class Watching Jeff Daniels & Maura Tierney: Rob Yang On Showtime's 'American Rust'

(CBS Local)-- Jeff Daniels & Maura Tierney are two of the best actors in Hollywood and they are the headliners of the new Showtime show called "American Rust." The family drama takes place in a Pennsylvania Rust Belt town where a compromised chief of police played by Daniels named Del Harris navigates a town full of good people making bad choices.

Rob Yang got to spend a ton of time on screen with Daniels, playing a cop named Steve Park. The actor spent six months living in Pittsburgh and getting to know local police officers and residents. CBS Local's DJ Sixsmith chatted with Yang about the experience, what he learned from Daniels and why this show is so important right now. "American Rust" airs Sundays at 10pm EST/PST on Showtime and the first two episodes are streaming now on the Showtime app.

"We shot American Rust in southwestern Pennsylvania on location out of Pittsburgh and that was a completely new place for me," said Yang. "I lived there for six months. I was really struck by the town there. It's incredibly beautiful, the whole southwestern Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh area. It's this historical time capsule and I loved being there. I stayed in this place that was a warehouse loft and I spent some time with local PD to get my cop game on. You can just feel the industry that used to be there and then rejuvenating with promoting tech."

One of Yang's favorite parts of the experience was how cinematic the town already looked with its old bridges, rivers and trains. While the actor has worked with a lot of talented people over the years, he relished the opportunity to learn from two of the best in Daniels and Tierney. He hopes he passed the Jeff Daniels test.

"It was like a masterclass watching these guys," said Yang. "I think I passed the Jeff Daniels test. I haven't been home to LA in a while, so my report card is probably in the mail unopened. The Jeff Daniels test is basically be prepared. When you show up, be prepared. If you are not, go home. There is really no excuse and it is really fair enough. Jeff has this incredible ability to learn massive volumes of material. If he has two pages of a monologue that he can rip through at the very start of rehearsal and if you have a couple of lines you can't get down, then he has no sympathy for you. It was great working with Jeff."