Taylor Sheridan hopes the movie Kevin Costner left Yellowstone for is worth it
Taylor Sheridan talks Yellowstone ending and his relationship with Kevin Costner in rare interview
Aux News Kevin Costner
Could Taylor Sheridan ask for a richer drama than two cowboys clashing over their Western passion projects? Yellowstone is ending, but it doesn’t seem like that will slow down Sheridan (who has about 10,000 projects in the works, half of them Yellowstone spin-offs) or his star Kevin Costner (who is working on his four-part film epic Horizon). It does, however, seem to have caused a rift in the two creatives’ relationship.
Costner was Sheridan’s first choice for Yellowstone’s John Dutton back when the show was being developed at HBO. (As an aside, HBO asked for Robert Redford, and when Sheridan got Redford to say yes, they shot him down by saying “We meant a Robert Redford type.”) To hear Sheridan tell it—and contrary to rumors—there were few creative clashes when the show came to fruition at Paramount.
“There was a time in season two when he was very upset and said the character wasn’t going in the direction he wanted,” Sheridan recalls in a new profile for The Hollywood Reporter, saying he reminded the actor they were making The Godfather in Montana. “What he’s clung to is [Dutton’s] commitments to his family and way of life. Dutton’s big failing is not evolving with the times—not finding different revenue streams [for the ranch]. Kevin felt season two was deviating from that, and I don’t know that he was wrong. In season three, we steered back into it.” He added: “And I recall him winning a Golden Globe last year for his performance, so I think it’s working.”
Unfortunately, not even a Globe could keep Costner from the Horizon. “My last conversation with Kevin was that he had this passion project he wanted to direct,” Sheridan claims. “He and the network were arguing about when he could be done with Yellowstone. I said, ‘We can certainly work a schedule toward [his preferred exit date],’ which we did.”
Sheridan claims he didn’t do anything to drive Costner away, despite the rumors that overscheduling himself with a variety of projects (Lioness, 1923, Mayor Of Kingstown, etc.) cut into his time writing for the flagship show. But Sheridan says he has nothing to do with scheduling: “My sphere of control is the content—that’s it. No production of mine has ever waited on me. Believe me, I begged [for more time] with 1883. I begged with 1923. Begged. Nope, ‘Airdate locked; for what we pay you, figure it out.’ And I don’t stand in a corner and go, ‘I’m not going to do it.’”
Sheridan admits he’s “disappointed” with how things went down, and that Costner’s exit “truncates the closure of his character.” However, he states, “My opinion of Kevin as an actor hasn’t altered. His creation of John Dutton is symbolic and powerful … and I’ve never had an issue with Kevin that he and I couldn’t work out on the phone. But once lawyers get involved, then people don’t get to talk to each other and start saying things that aren’t true and attempt to shift blame based on how the press or public seem to be reacting. He took a lot of this on the chin and I don’t know that anyone deserves it.”
Sheridan, who knows quite well he’s currently the biggest sensation in television, concludes with this: “His movie seems to be a great priority to him and he wants to shift focus. I sure hope [the movie is] worth it—and that it’s a good one.”
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Sheridan claims he didn’t do anything to drive Costner away, except give him a ride to the Yellowstone airport.
Not the train station?
Twenty bucks says it won’t be.
This is the guy who starred in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, you think he needs goddamn Yellowstone?
I bet he uses the same accent for both.
Orange County.
I have a MOLE?!
It worked in Blazing Saddles.
A toll is a toll, and a roll is a roll. And if we don’t get no tolls, then we don’t eat no rolls
Did you say “Abe Lincoln”?
No I said “Hey, Blinken”.
I thought he was in Robin Hood: Men in Tights?
They don’t really even have to kill him off. On that show, it would be perfectly acceptable if there were just a scene where he’s riding out in a field and this coyote shows up and Dutton rides out after it and then is just missing for multiple seasons only to show back up whenever his schedule is clear with some vague explanation about becoming ‘one with the land’. Nobody would even blink.
‘I was busy dancing…’‘Dancing? With who?’‘Wolves!’
Boom done, give me writing credit now plz!
“Dancing with WHOM?”No writing credit for you!
While the grammar Nazi in me admires the correction, the writer in me says ‘Nobody actually talks that way so I will not write dialog like that.’
Eh, no one will pay any attention to your dialog when it’s delivered in Costner’s listless monotone anyway.
But if you accept that credit for something you wrote during the strike, you can never be a WGA member.
I’m not really a ‘joiner’ anyhow.
Does this count as crossing the line? Are you Murry Scab now?
I guess that depends on whether or not I get the credit…
Boom done, give me writing credit now plz!YOU FUCKING SCAB.
We watched “1883″ and liked it, but didn’t think there was really any plot to guide it. Just bad things happen on the Oregon Trail (ludicrously bad) …annnnnd you’re dead. Actually the actions scenes were lacking in direction and acting chops to be honest. But then we watched “1923″ and that ridiculous waste of casting talent made “1883″ look like “The Godfather”. Absolutely terrible on all fronts, so we’ve shied aways from investing in “Yellowstone”. I saw a trailer /ad where some bruh in a pickup truck comes across some random bikers having a meth picnic, destroys their bikes with his truck, then stops to confront them without a gun. A biker gang. More stupidity ensues as he single-handedly beats them all to pulp with his bare hands and stick. And tells them to leave after he destroyed their bikes. We were like, “Yeahhhhhhh. Nope”.
That’s hilarious. The first time I ever laid eyes on Yellowstone it was right as the truck plowed into the motorcycles. I’ve since watched every second of Yellowstone. It’s the dumbest show I’ve ever enjoyed.But if 1923 is too bad for you to watch, do not watch Yellowstone.
Thanks. I will heed that advice and apportion my next available 20 hours for TV entertainment on some other production. Whatever happened to 90 minute movies?
“It’s the dumbest show I’ve ever enjoyed.”That’s for sure. I finally had to tap out part way into season 3 when Kaycee Dutton and his Native American wife (who is definitely played by a half-Chinese woman pretending to be native) were having sex in the woods and a wolf walked up. Kaycee and the wolf made eye contact and nodded at each other then the wolf walked away out of respect for their marital privacy.
Gotta load up on wagon axles and oxen if you want to survive the Oregon Trail. And don’t ford the fucking river, caulk that shit.
I think Costner is trying to recreate his legacy of Dances with wolves. He fails to comprehend that ‘Yellowstone resurrected is dead career. Yellowstone also brought back the Western Genere. Kevin’s the one who started speaking through his Attorney. I believe many Yellowstone fans aren’t going to embrace his movie b/c he essentially killed off John Dutton and Yellowstone. A lot of this is coming from Paramount to bring to an end of the revenue streams that peacock has over Yellowstone. Peacock has rights to continue streaming up until 1 year after the end of Yellowstone. Paramount wants control of the future streaming rights.
Yellowstone did no such frigging thing and anyone who looked around the media landscape could see that. I guess Deadwood doesn’t exist?God the stans of this bullshit show and its egomaniac creator…
Deadwood is kind of overrated honestly & the movie was meh. Truth be told western like Tv shows are hard to do. The best one ratings wise was Supernatural which had a gimmick of brothers going to different towns in US and fighting monsters
However anyone feels about Deadwood critically, the POINT is that it was a TV Western and Jellystone didn’t precede it. We also got Justified before Yellowsnow. Wynonna Earp, which was a sort of Canadian Supernatural by way of Western, came before Hellastoned. Hell, Sheridan was ON a Western-flavored biker drama in Sons of Anarchy! There was a cinematic Western revival in the 90s, another one in the 00s, another one in the 10s. There’s just no proof *whatsoever* that Yellowstone ushered in a renewed interest in Westerns. And even plenty of fans of the show itself would say it has more in common with prestige TV soap operas than “Westerns”.
Deadwood is maybe my favorite show of all time, and I’m incredibly lukewarm on Yellowstone, but the former was airing when I was an actual child (I’m in my mid-30s now), where Yellowstone has brought discussion of Western dramas back into the cultural zeitgeist in a way I don’t think Deadwood ever did. The only other Western related anything that I can think of that drummed up interest enough to have regular conversations about it are Sicario and Hell or High Water (both modern Westerns, like Yellowstone, both by Sheridan as well), and Zahler’s Bone Tomahawk.Al that to say you can shit on Yellowstone all you want, and I’m not gonna defend the quality of it, but it IS probably the most culturally relevant and interest-drumming Western project since 2007’s 3:10 to Yuma, because the Magnificent Seven remake and The Harder They Fall sure didn’t do it.
There’s Mystery Road, which I would rather be classified as a Western and not a fucking “bush noir”, a genre I hate.
Ffs what a stupid fucking take.
I mean, depending on what a genere is maybe ‘Yellowstone’ did bring it back.
For Costner, it was is comeback story. Is performance cannot be denied.
The drama behind the camera is franky more entertaining then the real show.
Better be as good as Waterworld!
All we can do is hope.
*Postman*
Well timed!
wait wait wait Kevin Costner has his own TV show now?
Never seen Yellowstone, probably never will. But I just (finally) watched all of Sons of Anarchy, and Taylor Sheridan is a really good actor. And I liked Sicario, Wind River and Hell or High Water.So I know Sheridan is fine. Just never thought much of Costner. I liked him in The Big Chill though.
I see what you did there.
“You’ll be back…”
Kevin Costner’s a movie actor. I’m surprised they got him for more than one season before he got sick of it. And “I hope it’s worth it…”? I mean, unless he’s got tax problems I’m unaware of, Costner’s not going to miss any meals.
He’s got a divorce looming. There is a pre-nup, but after 19 years and three kids, the pre-nup may not hold.
I’d love it if this egomaniac asshole would just shut up forever. Keep writing your bullshit that people love, whatever. Just shut the fuck up.
Waterworld 2: Iceworld (starring Kevin Costner, Ice Cube, Ice-T, and Vanilla Ice)
And introducing Ice Spice!
It took me until a couple days ago, when I finally watched Hell or High Water, to realize that Taylor Sheridan played a fairly regular character on Veronica Mars. Who would have guessed Danny Boyd would go on to rule the cable TV universe?
The Redford story reminds me of the famous Hollywood actor track:Phase One: Who’s Robert Redford?Phase Two: Get me Robert Redford!Phase Three: Get me a young Robert Redford!Phase Four: Who’s Robert Redford?
I don’t know that I’ve ever read an interview (the actual Variety story, not this AVC shit) that would make me hate the creator of his early work, that I liked, more than that. Much of what I had mistaken for taking nuance and irony is what this motherfucker believes.