Dame Helen Mirren is no stranger to television, having made a name for herself in detective crime series Prime Suspect in the 1990s. But Harrison Ford, on the other hand, appeared in a few television episodes in the 1970s but has done no TV whatsoever since becoming a Hollywood star. All that is set to change with Mirren and Ford teaming up for Yellowstone prequel 1923.
This won’t be the first time that the pair have worked together. In fact, they’ve played husband and wife before – in 1986’s The Mosquito Coast, as the parents of River Phoenix’s Charlie. By this stage, Ford had already done Star Wars and Indiana Jones. Mirren was mainly known for British theatre and film such as Caligula, The Long Good Friday, and Excalibur.
“When we first worked together, he was a huge movie star and I was like nobody,” Mirren told Variety with a laugh at the red carpet premiere of 1923. “So I was very intimidated. I learned a lot from him because I hadn’t done a lot. I had done a lot of theatre at that point, [but] I hadn’t done a lot of movies. So I watched him and he taught me a great deal about film acting that, to this day, I’m still using.”
“I admired her work and her person then, and I hold the same degree of admiration for her,” Ford said about Mirren. “She’s just a lovely person, so it’s been both a professional pleasure and also a personal pleasure to be able to work with her again.” Ford is also set to star in an Apple TV series about a psychiatrist, so it looks as though he’s embracing television in his 80s. Shrinking will premiere in January 2023.
1923 follows the Dutton family as the cope with the Great Depression and the prohibition era. “In 1883, you saw the genesis of the Dutton family. This is the survival of the family,” said Sebastian Roche.
1923 premieres on December 18. Check out our guide to the Yellowstone filming locations.