When Harrison Ford isn’t cracking a whip or piloting the Millennium Falcon, he’s running one of the best damn cattle ranches this side of Montana. As the Dutton patriarch in the Taylor Sheridan prequel series, Harrison Ford has revealed that working the Yellowstone ranch isn’t exactly a walk in the park.
It makes sense, since this part of the Yellowstone timeline is set in the 1920s during the turn of the Great Depression, when the Duttons were in a time of struggle. But on top of this, wearing old timey costumes and wandering around the blistering mountains in winter made things even harder.
In an interview with People Magazine that broke down his most famous roles over the years, from Star Wars to Indiana Jones, he made a point of reflecting on just how tricky of a shoot 1923 was for him and his fellow 1923 cast members.
“[1923 is a] relatively tough job. Out in the weather, in period costume,” he deadpanned. “I remember Helen [Mirren] and I standing out on a hillside when the wind chill factor had reduced the temperature to negative 21 below zero, and Tim Dalton had a three page monologue. It was cold.”
Part of the scene they’re referring to can be seen in the below behind the scenes clip (from 7:00 onwards). It’s probably partly due to an in tune performance to match the nature of the scene but, yeah, they don’t exactly look comfortable.
Not ideal circumstances for sure, but for these guys, who we consider to be a few of the greatest actors of all time, their professionalism carried them through and gave us one hell of drama series.
And Ford isn’t the only Yellowstone star to point out the difficult conditions in the Sheridan-verse. Cole Hauser, who plays Rip on the Yellowstone flagship series, also had something to say on the maddening weather when asked what the worst part of shooting was.
“When it gets like early December and it’s freezing,” he said [via CinemaBlend]. “And you’re sitting on a horse, freezing to death with the horse, the horse is shaking, and you’re shaking with it, waiting for them to say ‘action’.”
For more Yellowstone action, find out everything you can about the 1923 season 2 release date, 6666 release date, and Yellowstone season 5 part 2 release date. You can also take a look at our list of the best Westerns, and find out which Western icon nearly played John Dutton.
Plus, take a look at what to do now that Yellowstone is breaking up with you, and why we think Dallas ran so Yellowstone could fly.