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Harrison Ford is not a rancher in real life, but he does own a house on the range. The Indiana Jones star and his wife, actress Calista Flockhart, spend a lot of time on an 800-acre property outside of Jackson, Wyoming. “It’s an old ranch,” Ford told Yahoo Entertainment. “I don’t raise cattle here, but I’m the steward of this little piece of nature and it’s full of wildlife, streams and woods. I enjoy being there.”
That might explain why the Ford looks right at home 1923the latest prequel to Taylor Sheridan’s hit WesternYellowstone. Premiering December 18 on Paramount+, the series stars Ford and Helen Mirren as Jacob and Cara Dutton — ancestors of Kevin Costner’s rancher John Dutton III, in the mothership series, currently in its fifth season. (A previous prequel series, 1883which played on the streaming service earlier this year.)
“I’ve never played a character like this before,” Ford says of his ’20s-era alter ego, who must protect the Dutton family homestead in a rapidly changing world that faces challenges from insect infestation to a threatening economic depression. “The complexity and his moral journey in terms of the decisions he has to make is complex and interesting. I want the audience to see the struggle of a determined man in these particular circumstances.”
Watch the trailer for 1923 below
Asked if he gave any of the 1923 cast with the lessons he learned from his time in the Wyoming outdoors, Ford humbly suggests that they don’t need any advice from him. But his co-stars are singing a different tune. “He gave me a lot of advice in life,” insists James Badge Dale, who plays Jacob’s nephew — and John’s grandfather — John Dutton Sr. “I’m going to keep some of those things to myself, but when Harrison Ford turns to you and he says: ‘I’m the luckiest man on Earth to still be doing this job for a living,’ you better listen to that.”
“What he brings to the set every day is amazing,” echoes Darren Mann, who plays Dale’s onscreen son, Jack. “He’s such a wicked guy: I loved hanging out with him. He was my childhood idol, and it was a dream come true to work with him.”
Not for nothing, but Ford also got the opportunity to act opposite one of his idols. Thirty-six years ago, he and Mirren played a married couple in the Peter Weir-directed drama, The Mosquito Coast, and the actor has always hoped to be with her again. “The relationship between Jacob and Cara is a really strong element of the show,” he said. “I look forward to working in that area with him.”
This is clarified in the first episode of 1923 that Cara is Jacob’s equal when it comes to running the ranch. And she’s not shy about encouraging fellow Dutton matriarchs — including John Sr.’s wife, Emma (Marley Shelton) and Jack’s bride-to-be, Elizabeth (Michelle Randolph) — to assert their own authority. “Women back then were fierce; they had to,” Shelton said. “It was really intense living out there. Harrison even has a line where he says, ‘I gotta ask the boss.’ And he’s talking about Helen!”
Randolph also credits Sheridan for writing female characters who stand toe-to-toe with their male co-stars. “Helen is such a bold presence,” she raves. “My character looked at him because he is equal to men. When they leave the ranch, he is there to pick up the slacker. Cowboys know it, men know it and he knows it.”
One of the themes explored in 1923 is how the traditions of the Old West are bent and destroyed as the modern conveniences of the 20th century are eagerly rolled out. That idea is summed up in a single shot in the first episode when Jacob and his ranch hands ride into town on horseback, navigating busy streets lined with some of the earliest mass-produced vehicles .
“It’s a real crossroads,” confirms Mann about how the setting affects the show. “World War I is over, prohibition is starting, electricity is coming to town and people are starting to get washing machines. There’s a lot going on, and I think people would really enjoy learning more about the history of time.”
But Dale also sees some connection between the past and the present. “They had the Spanish flu, and we had our own pandemic,” he said. “The stock market crashed, and we’re having our own market issues now. They’re dealing with electricity and we’re dealing with cyberspace. It’s funny how many parallels there are between the two eras.”
For his part, Ford also sees an opportunity to explore some of the sins of the past through the series. “There have been times in the history of this country where we’ve gone through social upheaval and we’re fixing some of the issues that were a product of our [history],” he said, citing a major plot thread in the 1923 follows the harsh experiences of a young Native American girl (played by Aminah Nieves) at a government-run boarding school. “We push into the unexplored relationships with the indigenous community. Those are all elements of this story — quite broad and ambitious.”
1923 premieres December 18 on Paramount+
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