Harrison Ford as Jacob Dutton and Helen Mirren as Cara Dutton in 1923 streaming on Paramount+ 2022. Credit: James Minchin III/Paramount+
James Minchin III/Paramount+
After first appearing on screen together 36 years ago, Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren are back for the latest offering in the Yellowstone franchise, 1923.
In the Yellowstone prequel series, the actors reunite decades after Peter Weir’s 1986 film The Mosquito Coast. As the 80-year-old Ford explained at the Hollywood Legion Theater Post 43 series premiere Friday night, his respect for Mirren, 77, hasn’t wavered since.
“I admire her work and her personality [now]and I admire her just as much as I did then,” Ford told multiple outlets, including PEOPLE again.”
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Editorial use only. No use of book covers. Mandatory Credit: Photo by Saul Zaentz Company/Kobal/Shutterstock (5881093h) Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren The Mosquito Coast – 1986 Director: Peter Weir Saul Zaentz Company USA Scene Still Action/Adventure Mosquito Coast
Saul Zaentz Company/Kobal/Shutterstock
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Back in 1986, Ford had appeared in the original Star Wars trilogy and punched out two Indiana Jones films. Mirren, meanwhile, said she considered herself a “nobody” at the time – as it was a time two decades before she won an Oscar for her performance in The Queen.
“When we first worked together, he was a big movie star and I was like nobody,” she explained. “I was very intimidated, very intimidated.”
“But also,” she continued, “I learned a lot from him because I hadn’t done much. I had done a lot of theater at that point, I hadn’t done a lot of films. So I watched him, and he taught me a lot about film acting to this day [that] I’m still using.”
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1923 stars actors Jacob and Cara Dutton, a couple who manage a family farm in Montana as they face the challenges of the early 20th century, including pandemics, a historic drought, the end of Prohibition and the Great Depression.
The story goes on
Ford told reporters Friday that creating the project ultimately convinced him of the role. “The writing and the ambition of the play that comes from scope and scope, [drew me to the role,]”, he explained. “And the precision of his language and his dialogue and the character.”
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Mirren echoed Ford’s sentiments, specifically praising series creator Taylor Sheridan for his writing and calling his work “extraordinary”. Sheridan also took on the role of the series 1883, which stars Tim McGraw and Faith Hill as James and Margaret Dutton, and follows their story as they travel to Montana.
“To be part of something that’s so exciting in the American entertainment world, but also to be part of something that examines American history in this particular way [is great]’ Mirren said. “You can’t do it in two hours, you know, it’s great to have this big sprawl and I just thought before that it’s like a big Russian novel. It’s like war and peace, you know, that real sense of a tremendous arc of history. And to be a character in that is very exciting.”
The latest series also features other names such as Marley Shelton, Jennifer Ehle, Sebastian Roché and Darren Mann.
1923 will premiere on December 18th on Paramount+ and the Paramount Network in a special simulcast event.