When Kevin Costner first got pitched the dramatic Montana-set Western “Yellowstone” by Academy Award-nominated writer and director/creator/showrunner Taylor Sheridan (“Sicario,” “Wind River”) he was all in, though he may not have been entirely sure what he was signing up for. “He said something that I’ve been doing my whole career,” Costner recalled during this week’s press day to celebrate Paramount+’s very recent launch in the U.K. (June 22), alluding to some of his lengthier films like “The Postman.” “He goes, ‘Look, I want to make one long movie,’ [and] I thought perfect, I like long movies.” However, there was a twist to it all. Costner didn’t know the project would ultimately become a story told on TV. “I didn’t know it was going to become a series, that was a little bit of a revelation,” he admitted.
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But shifting the story to television wasn’t a problem for the actor, who said he likes to marinate inside characters and long-form storytelling. “Stories take time,” he said. “I like investing in a story [so this] is a good place for me to be” (Costner also said this week he’s going to be directing a four-part movie that is going to be 10 hours long, so he really means it].
Paramount+ launched in the UK this week with a broad content slate of more than 8,000 hours, much of the key programming is from 101 Studios, the company behind all of Sheridan’s current series, “1883,” “Mayor of Kingstown” and of course their flagship big hit “Yellowstone,” which stars the aforementioned Costner (coming up later this year will be the mob drama “Tulsa King” with Sylvester Stallone and the country music limited series, “George And Tammy” starring Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon).
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Asked whether something like “Yellowstone”—seemingly as American as apple pie—could translate to the UK, and global markets, Costner agreed, that the show is quintessentially American but believed its universal elements will shine through. Look at the brassy, take-no-sh*t character of Beth Dutton (played by English actress Kelly Reilly), for example, he said. “I think a lot of women would love to feel as free as her,” he said. “So, movies [and TV] have always allowed us to want to be somebody and for all the things that Beth does wrong that rubs us all wrong, there’s a freedom she has, a language she has, so she has a voice.”
Costner said the same for the male characters like ranch enforcer Rip Wheeler, and John Dutton (Costner), the patriarch of the Dutton ranching empire. “Rip is doing things a lot of guys wish they could do,” he said of the universal wish fulfillment several of the characters on the show provide audiences. “And John Dutton, in really critical moments is saying things we wish we would have thought of on the spot, so movies [and TV] have been that. We’ve all wanted to be Clark Cable and say, ‘I don’t give a damn.’ And there are lines and situations on ‘Yellowstone’ that resonate with people.”
While it’s just getting started in many ways, “Yellowstone,” already the crown jewel in Paramount’s tiara, is still in the midst of its own empire-building dynasty. “Yellowstone” is the number one show on cable and has already spawned the prequel “1883.” And at least three more spin-offs are coming: “1923,” another direct, generational “Yellowstone” spin-off, the upcoming series “6666,” set in the present day on the Four Sixes Ranch in Texas, featuring Jefferson White’s Jimmy Hurdstrom character from “Yellowstone” and eventually, “1883: The Bass Reeves Story,” a spin-off centering on David Oyelowo playing an enslaved man-turned legendary lawman (Sheridan is directing the pilot).
While three of these spin-offs aren’t even on the air yet, Costner is definitely aware of them and cognizant of what he has helped build in “Yellowstone.”
“I have a special pride in understanding what we launched, what we did, how we continue to do it,” he said. “In America, if something works, you just figure out how to make that same idea work and work and work, and you ring it out until it won’t give anymore. And certainly, they’re trying to do it in an intelligent way, but yes, ‘Yellowstone’ spawned all this.”
“Yellowstone” earned its first major acclaim earlier this year when it was nominated for a Screen Actor’s Guild ensemble award for television. While awards recognition is nice, Costner suggested a more important aspect is the fact that the show has hooked audiences beyond just the heartland of America, where it was first extremely popular.
“People are catching up to it,” he said. “I had a belief in it, in what it could be. It satisfied a couple things that were really important to me. It was highly original—in its own terribly familiar way—and people around the world are starting to relate to it. More than that, it’s a confirmation for me that I have to follow my instincts, I can’t follow a trend.”
Paramount+ launched in the U.K. this week, online, on mobile, and on a wide range of connected TV devices via the Paramount+ app, via broad direct-to-consumer distribution through Apple, Amazon, Google, Roku and Samsung, and more to come. The streaming service will also launch on Sky platforms in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany and Austria later in 2022 as part of a new multi-year distribution agreement that also includes the extended carriage of Paramount’s leading portfolio of pay TV channels. – Additional reporting by Katherine Jane Alexander.