Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren spoke with ET about the upcoming Paramount+ launch of the 'Yellowstone' prequel.
It was a lovefest at the 1923 premiere in Las Vegas over the weekend, which saw Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren and the ensemble celebrating the launch of the Yellowstone prequel in style! ET's Cassie DiLaura spoke with the cast of the anticipated Paramount+ series, where series creator Taylor Sheridan crashed the interview with James Bond himself, Timothy Dalton, who plays the powerful Donald Whitfield.
"It's Bond, it's James Bond," Sheridan, who oversees the Yellowstone franchise, said to Dalton on the red carpet as he approached the interview midway through. The mastermind behind the Dutton family wasted no time singing Dalton's praises for believing in him and 1923 when there wasn't even a word written on paper.
"Look, what an honor to have this man be a part of this," Sheridan told ET. "When I called him, I called him from a ranch in Wyoming... and he said, 'Taylor what are you asking me to do? There’s no script, there’s nothing.' I said, 'You just gotta trust me,' which I guess is not a British thing to do, but he did and his work is special and I’m honored to have him a part of it. And I can't wait for him to see what he does because it's rare. It’s really rare and its beautiful and it’s tough to watch."
Dalton returned the favor, crediting Sheridan for dreaming up an entire universe that's, in turn, caught the attention of millions of viewers.
"There’s a reason why these shows are so good, and you all are here in fact," the British actor said, saying that anything Sheridan touches is "better than" gold because his work "is truly remarkable."
"The rarest thing in our business is honesty in storytelling and I don't know that I'm a good storyteller but I'm an honest storyteller and if you're an honest storyteller then an audience is going to react to it," Sheridan shared. "And the great artists of our generation and this is one of the truly great artists of our generation," he said, referring to Dalton, "they're going to respond to it too because it’s so rare that they get to be honest. So I tried to create something honest for them to say and to feel and I don't know if its going to work. No one knows if its going to work. We hope it does and I think it did and we'll find out."
Ford, meanwhile, recalled the best part he's had so far playing Jacob Dutton, who is the great-great uncle of Yellowstone's John Dutton.
"I enjoyed Taylor's rendition of how he deals with the issues that face him, the reality of the life of this person in that period of time is not something that I know a lot about," the actor told ET. "But he's given me a roadmap and he's given me a character that has visceral reactions to things. The language of film is emotion and so it's full of emotion. But of course, cowboys don't cry."
Mirren reflected on working with Yellowstone star Kelly Reilly, aka Beth Dutton, decades earlier in the U.K. series, Prime Suspect.
"I remember this very beautiful and very talented girl arriving on the set and I remember looking at her and saying, 'There's a star,'" Mirren shared with ET. "And it was her first job. It was very clear right from the beginning."
"I've watched Kelly over the years just giving wonderful performances in the theater and on screen and it's just another one of her great performances," the Oscar winner praised of Reilly's Yellowstone portrayal.
1923 premieres Sunday, Dec. 18 on Paramount+ in the U.S. and Canada. Paramount Network will have a special airing of the 1923 premiere on the same day following Yellowstone. The second episode will air Jan. 1 on the network.
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