'1923': How Taylor Sheridan Got Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren to Sign On
It didn't take Harrison Ford or Helen Mirren much convincing before the critically-acclaimed actors agreed to sign on to Taylor Sheridan's latest Yellowstone spinoff, 1923, which made its premiere on Paramount+ this week. The series' showrunner opened up to Deadline about getting the Oscar nominee and Oscar winner on board to play Jacob and Cara Dutton in his latest show in an interview published Tuesday.
"I called [Ford] and said come down to my ranch and he flew down. I did the same with Helen," Sheridan revealed of the casting process. When the Witness actor made his way to Sheridan's ranch, it was a straightforward pitch from there. "I said, 'We're going to do this thing together.' He goes, 'Can I read a script?' I said, 'You can when it's written, but it ain't written yet and you got to commit to it now,'" Sheridan recalled.
He continued telling Ford, "'I need to know who I'm writing for. I'm done wondering who I'm writing for, and I have to go try to chase the person I had in my mind and I can't get the person because they're doing some f-ing Netflix show. I don't do that s- anymore. So, are you going to do it or are you going to watch Chris Cooper do the next great thing? What do you want to do?'"
After "about two bottles of wine," Ford agreed to sign on, and Mirren was quick to follow when Sheridan did the "same thing" with her. When the script was finished, Sheridan remembered getting a call from the Star Wars alum telling him it was "f-ing perfect" and asking when they would start filming. It's been "great" having such esteemed actors sign on to lead 1923, but Sheridan is also excited to introduce new talent to the world with the rest of his cast.
"Wait until you see some of the people I pulled in for this one. It's a great opportunity. It's not a lot of risk or time commitment from them to come in and get a chance to play in a world that most people aren't creating anymore," he explained. "When you can find anchors like Harrison and Helen, then it lets me go and discover the next generation of movie stars, which is my favorite thing to do. Go find somebody no one has ever heard of, because our business doesn't make stars anymore."