“1923” leading lady Helen Mirren conducted her only post-season interview for the show with Deadline on Monday, and the details are fascinating.
When we left Mirren, who portrays “1923” matriarch Cara Dutton, she and her husband Jacob Dutton (Harrison Ford) were reeling from the news that revolting industrialist Donald Whitfield (Timothy Dalton) had paid the taxes of the famous Dutton-Yellowstone Ranch. Unless Cara and Jacob find a way to repay him by the end of the year, the ranch will default to his ownership.
It turns out that Mirren didn’t even get to read a script before signing on to do the show, according to her interview with Deadline. Instead, she flew out to Texas to spend time with show-creator Taylor Sheridan, which is where she decided, “Yeah okay and I’ll jump in the deep end and have a go.”
Sheridan didn’t give anything away about the story, but the two got along so well that he formulated Cara’s development around Mirren.
And we wouldn’t have wanted it any other way https://t.co/cd3iP6Ya0d
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) February 28, 2023
It also turns out that Mirren and Ford have played a married couple before. They appeared alongside each other in a movie called “Mosquito Coast.” Neither knows who was cast first by Sheridan, but Ford reportedly claims that he only signed on because Mirren did.
“I think it’s a wonderful pairing,” Mirren noted. “We love each other very much as people. I love Harrison. There’s just no two ways about it.”
But apparently the same love was not extended to horse riding. Other cast members have described the brutality they faced during Sheridan’s Cowboy Camp, but Mirren was pretty blunt about the fact she doesn’t ride. Though she’s been on the back of a horse many times, Sheridan decided to put her in a buggy instead. “I’ve never really learned properly how to ride,” she explained to the outlet. (RELATED: ‘1923’ Forecasts The End Of Freedom In Chilling Latest Episode)
And, in what could be a major spoiler for the future of “1923,” Mirren noted that instead of just a 10-hour movie-style show, the announcement of a second season came after she’d signed onto the project. “Now it’s becoming a 20-hour movie,” Mirren explained, suggesting we may only get another season of her wonderful world within the “Yellowstone” universe.