- Action! - Action!
- Action!
(soft symphonic music)
(glass shattering)
(fire igniting)
- When all the pieces of my brain came together for "1883",
I decided to write it like a novel.
- Taylor called and he says,
"I got this idea, and you're gonna play the original Dutton
who founded the Yellowstone Ranch in the 1880s."
- It's like an original piece.
You don't have to have ever seen "Yellowstone" to watch it,
because they're new characters
going through a pretty remarkable journey.
- It's a tale that's been told,
it's a tale that we're all familiar with,
The Oregon Trail.
But it's never been done like Taylor's done it on the page.
- Taylor's writing is poetry,
it'll be something for everyone.
- I mean, the writing is just really amazing.
- You don't strike me as a man who travels without a plan.
- I got a plan.
- The Duttons come from Tennessee, originally.
- For me, finding James Dutton,
he always felt like he was put in a position
that he didn't wanna be in.
I think there was some conflicting emotions that he had,
and I think that he was just wanting to escape
that whole world.
Part of the storyline is they were escaping poverty
and looking for a better life,
and I think there's more to it than that.
- This is a new journey and it's exciting,
but it's extremely dangerous.
And it's never not going to be.
- It's a rocky road, big time.
- He really understands that he's put his family
in a really terrible position.
- Elsa and her family, after arriving into Fort Worth,
go into the town and stay at a hotel.
A drunk man stumbles into her room,
he's gonna try to attack her.
(Elsa screams)
She fights for her life and screams and hollers,
and it's the first time
she's ever experienced something like that.
Her father shoots and kills the man,
and you see the worry and concern
on her father's face after that.
Is he doing the right thing?
- That's the moment that triggers him to know
that he can't do this on his own.
He decides that he needs the help
of Shea and Thomas's company.
If you need help, I'll get it.
- I'll take it.
- Right off the bat, there's a mutual respect.
I mean, the reason that they want
James as part of their crew,
is they realize that I'm a capable person
and that I could help them.
- Shea is on a mission to get back to Oregon.
Then at the same time, he has something in him
that wants to help these other people get there as well.
- Josef and the immigrants hire us
to accompany them on their journey for protection.
We know the terrain, we know the traps,
we know what to look for.
So, we need to go out and we need to hire people
to help us out, to have our backs.
- It's a pretty good ride though.
- I'm ready when you are.
- Yee-haw. - Yee-haw.
It quite simply, to me,
it's a story about immigrants on The Oregon Trail,
of this diverse group of people
that came from far and wide.
And fate has thrown 'em all together.
- It's just amazing.
All this nature, it makes you feel grounded.
(film slate clicks)
- These Germans gotta learn to hold their own, Thomas,
or they won't survive the trip.
- In that time period, bandits were everywhere.
And if they see easy pickings, easy prey,
if they don't see the men around to protect,
they just go in and take what they want.
- Be gone!
- Our camp is attacked by bandits.
- Be gone.
- It's devastating.
It was hard for all of us to make it through that scene,
because it was really physical.
(man grunts)
(women screaming)
(guns firing)
Mary Abel gets shot, and she gets killed and she dies.
And it was just gut-wrenching, and just rips your heart out.
- Shea, I don't think he has much regard for outlaws,
for thieves, and certainly not for killers.
I think he thinks probably the fewer of 'em, the better.
(guns firing)
These guys came in and killed some of his immigrants,
and he felt bound to dispense some sort of justice.
- Working with Billy Bob Thornton in Fort Worth,
he comes in, he's this easy-going guy,
he's kind of unassuming.
We get inside the saloon,
and he just turns it on.
This stone-cold, killing sheriff.
- There's only one killer in Fort Worth, and that's me.
- Claire's character is so powerful.
- Her daughter had gotten killed
when the bandits had raided the camp.
James knew that she'd made her decision.
He knew her well enough to know
that he wasn't gonna change her mind no matter what,
but he was very matter-of-fact about it.
Goodbye, Claire.
(dramatic sting)
When you see the flashback to the Civil War,
it morphs out of the original picture
into a live shot of Antietam and the farmhouse.
You find out that I was a captain in the Civil War
for the Confederacy,
and he had a lot of pain and PTSD from that.
Tom and I have been friends for such a long time,
but when you're sitting there
and you see Tom Hanks walk up,
look at you and say, "Captain."
I just fell apart.
- When actors like this
are willing to come play for a day or two,
whether it's Tom Hanks or Billy Bob,
it gives a weight to the world
and it gives a sense that anything can happen
to anybody in this world.
- Cut! - Cut!
- The struggles are all real, the people are all real.
- There's a certain amount of authenticity here
that everybody's after.
- This journey, it's so compelling.
And it tells a story that it's gut-wrenching,
but it's truthful.
(violin plays)
- There's nothing clean and pristine about this show,
it's really gritty.
And really, like I say, historically accurate.
You feel it, you're in the moment.
- It's so well-studied and so well-created.
- This is what happened,
this is the journey that our ancestors took.
And it was horrifying and extremely difficult.
We haven't really seen that.
- History is doomed to repeat itself
because it's never taught accurately.
As a storyteller, my job is to hold a mirror up to nature
and reflect back the world as it was.
To be able to go back
and look at an event and a slice of time,
and study it accurately.
Because the information's out there,
it's not that hard to find when you start looking.
- Taylor's a complicated cat, and he's a brilliant man.
He understands this whole story that we're talking about,
he understands this period,
he understands these people,
he understands these characters.
And we're lucky to be out here doing his work.
(intense symphonic music)
(dramatic sting)