Key Takeaways
- Theo Rossi wore Prison Blues jeans and a work jacket made by incarcerated people to Bruton’s U.S. premiere at the Austin Film Festival, using the red carpet to spotlight their work.
- The Oregon-based clothing program trains incarcerated adults in garment production, connecting Rossi’s outfit to his role as former prisoner and rehabilitation advocate Bryan Bruton.
- Rossi watched the film alongside Bruton, whose incarceration and separation from his family drive the story, and thanked him: “Thank you for trusting us with your story, my brother.”
Theo Rossi turned his latest red carpet into something bigger than a fashion moment. The Sons of Anarchy star attended the U.S. premiere of Bruton at the Austin Film Festival wearing jeans and a work jacket made by incarcerated people through Prison Blues, an Oregon-based clothing program. Rossi made the deliberate choice, playing real-life former prisoner and rehabilitation advocate Bryan Bruton in the film.
Rossi stepped out in Prison Blues’ seven-pocket men’s work jeans and rigid-blue, unlined Yard Coat at the Nov. 3 screening. Afterward, he made sure the people behind the clothing received their credit.
“I was proud to wear @prisonbluesusa and give some love to the people who made it,” Rossi wrote on Instagram.
He also spent the night beside Bruton, watching the completed film with the man whose life he portrayed. “That’s the part of the night I’ll remember most,” Rossi wrote. “Thank you for trusting us with your story, my brother.”
The clothing came directly from a program built to give incarcerated adults practical skills they can carry beyond prison walls.
Prison Blues launched at Oregon’s Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution after the state established a work-training initiative in 1989. Its products are manufactured inside a 47,000-square-foot garment factory, where participants are selected through a process modeled after private-sector hiring and trained by managers with industry experience.
Prison Blues says participants are 56 percent more likely to maintain good conduct while incarcerated and 50 percent less likely to return to prison.
For Rossi, wearing the brand created a direct connection between the premiere and the issues explored in Bruton. “Through my own involvement in initiatives supporting people impacted by the criminal justice system, I’ve seen how important opportunity and human connection are,” he said ahead of the event. “Wearing Prison Blues to the premiere is a way for me to recognize the incarcerated people who made these clothes and bring attention to their work.”
Written and directed by Vincent Grashaw, Bruton follows a Florida husband and father whose life is upended after an accidental death results in a manslaughter conviction and a 10-year prison sentence.
During 11 years of incarceration, Bruton was moved through 10 Florida prisons and spent significant time in solitary confinement.
The film, which also stars Tammy Blanchard, Aya Cash and Tony Hale, focuses heavily on what the sentence cost Bruton and his family—particularly the years he lost with his daughter. It previously screened at Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival before making its U.S. premiere in Austin.
The role adds another layer for viewers who remember Rossi as Juan Carlos “Juice” Ortiz on Sons of Anarchy.
Juice’s tragic spiral ended inside a prison during the FX drama’s final season, but Rossi’s connection to the franchise is about to begin a new chapter.
