Kevin Costner has been the face of “Yellowstone” because it debuted in 2018. As the top of the Dutton Yellowstone ranch, John Dutton, Costner is undoubtedly a part of the explanation Paramount’s neo-Western collection has turn out to be so common. However it’s not simply Costner that has portrayed the Dutton patriarch. Josh Lucas performs a youthful model of the character on the collection, and was really approached in regards to the function earlier than “Yellowstone” even shot its pilot episode. This was simply one of many parts that present creator Taylor Sheridan had mapped out forward of time, too.
In a 2022 Deadline interview, Lucas recalled being advised how, as soon as the placement for the Dutton Ranch was confirmed, Sheridan “walked round and pointed at sure factors, and mentioned, ‘It will occur right here in season 1,’ and ‘It will occur right here in season 2. And this is the place the graveyard goes.'” The “A Lovely Thoughts” and “Candy House Alabama” actor remembered being impressed with how meticulously Sheridan had his present deliberate out earlier than it even premiered. What’s extra, it appears the present creator had huge plans for younger John Dutton, telling Lucas that “It should be within the fifth season. The fifth season is the place you are gonna are available in.”
That is precisely the way it occurred, too. Season 5, half 1 of “Yellowstone” delves into John Dutton’s previous extra extensively than any of the flashbacks in prior seasons, offering a way more expansive backstory for the character simply as star Kevin Costner was wrapping up his time on the present. Final 12 months, it was confirmed that Costner wouldn’t return for the long-awaited “Yellowstone” season 5, half 2. It is becoming, then, that season 5 primarily noticed John’s life flashing earlier than our eyes earlier than he departed, as if Sheridan had a imaginative and prescient of Costner’s exit within the pre-pilot days and wrote a visible eulogy for the character years earlier than he really left the present.
Extra shocking nonetheless is that, regardless of depicting a younger John Dutton all through the collection, Josh Lucas has by no means really frolicked with Kevin Costner on the set of “Yellowstone.”
Why Josh Lucas and Kevin Costner had been saved separate on Yellowstone
There is a lengthy historical past in Hollywood of actors being saved separate whereas engaged on the identical mission. James Earl Jones and Eddie Murphy had been by no means in the identical room whereas filming “Coming to America 2” and Arnold Schwarzenegger did not movie a single scene along with his “Batman & Robin” co-stars. Within the latter’s case, it was all right down to scheduling and time-saving. However there have been far more controversial causes for actors being saved aside on-set.
Fortunately, in Josh Lucas and Kevin Costner’s case, it appears there was no controversy afoot. As an alternative, there was a way more sensible cause for maintaining the actors separate. In a 2021 Collider interview (through Looper), Lucas defined how he and his elder are “virtually saved separate on goal,” and the way Costner is “not there after I’m taking pictures.” He continued:
“Taylor [Sheridan] and I talked in regards to the concept of ‘The Godfather.’ When [Robert] De Niro was enjoying Brando, he wasn’t making an attempt to look or act like Marlon Brando. He was making an attempt to play [a younger Don Vito Corleone]. That is what we talked about.”
Evidently, put merely, each Sheridan and Lucas had been each making an attempt to maintain the latter from doing a Kevin Costner impression along with his model of John Dutton. As Lucas put it in his Deadline interview, the 2 characters “must have the essence of one another,” however the actors themselves do not essentially want to satisfy to ensure that that to occur.
Josh Lucas was very a lot doing his personal factor as John Dutton
Within the case of Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando, the 2 actors had been by no means on-set collectively as a result of they merely weren’t in the identical film. Brando starred as Vito Corleone in “The Godfather” whereas DeNiro starred as a youthful model of the character in “The Godfather Half II.” Nonetheless, as as soon as reported by The Telegraph, a serious examine of De Niro’s screenplays revealed the extent of his preparation, with the actor repeatedly watching Brando’s efficiency in Francis Ford Coppola’s celebrated 1972 movie. So, whereas the 2 actors by no means really met, De Niro was clearly closely knowledgeable by his elder’s efficiency.
For Taylor Sheridan and Josh Lucas, nonetheless, the easy incontrovertible fact that De Niro and Brando by no means met whereas enjoying the identical character supplied the important thing to making sure Lucas’ John Dutton efficiency stood by itself. What’s extra, as Lucas defined in his Deadline interview, his portrayal was extra knowledgeable by the conversations he had with Sheridan previous to taking pictures than the rest:
“I needed to grasp, was [Dutton] darker? Was he angrier? Who was he at that time? His spouse’s demise was a shattering component within the household that’s so damaging to the kids. Beth turns into Beth in that singular second. I believe all of the totally different characters, they turn out to be damaged in a approach. And so I mentioned, is John lonely? And Taylor sort of barked at me and mentioned, ‘He is too busy to be lonely.'”
Now that Costner has left “Yellowstone,” there are a variety of questions surrounding the present — most notably whether or not it’ll certainly proceed right into a sixth season with current co-stars Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser within the lead roles. However it’ll even be attention-grabbing to see how a lot Josh Lucas is used shifting ahead, if in any respect, now that Costner has departed on such contentious phrases.