It’s no secret that Yellowstone is the biggest show on television at the moment.
With the conclusion on Season 4, the announcement of the two-part Season 5, not to mention 1883, the next chapter in the upcoming 1923, the Four Sixes spinoff that’s also in the works, Yellowstone fans have a lot to look forward to.
And needless to say, Taylor Sheridan is unquestionably the busiest man in the business right now. I mean, did Paramount just give him half a million bucks, lock him in a room with a pencil and make him crank out scripts?
Whatever they’re doing… it’s working.
But perhaps one of the most interesting parts of Yellowstone is the variety of characters.
Some people think Kevin Costner’s character, John Dutton, the patriarch Dutton of the family, is the main and/or best character. Some love Beth. Some hate Beth. Some fans love Jimmy’s story and others think we’re getting way too much Jimmy.
Monica has her fair share of hate lately, and Kayce is every girl’s dream, but then you have Ryan Bingham’s character Walker, Wes Bentley’s weasel of a character with Jamie Dutton, and a ton more.
Everybody brings something different to the table and there are a number of different reasons to love or hate many of them. Maybe both…
However, one thing that we can all pretty much agree on is that Cole Hauser and Kelly Reilly’s portrayals of Rip and Beth are incredible.
And according to Cole himself, in an interview with Vanity Fair, it’s all about their natural chemistry:
“We were just very free together. You know, it’s rare that you find an actress, and she’s commented about it too in interviews, where I’m free to do as I please, and she follows my lead sometimes, and sometimes it’s vice versa and I’ll follow hers.
It’s a very unselfish relationship where we both just love working together.”
And while Rip and Beth might, in a way, be the stars of Yellowstone, it wasn’t necessarily drawn up that way. Rip & Beth’s love story was never supposed to be a main storyline in the show.
There was one steamy scene in particular, in the very first episode, that made creator Taylor Sheridan take their characters in a new direction… give them more of the spotlight.
And of all places… it happened in the bedroom:
“Initially there was a scene where we were having sex in her bedroom on the dresser, and she slaps me, and the way I reacted.
I remember walking out of that scene and everybody was just kind of glued to the monitors, and I saw John and Taylor and the producers and the D.P. and so on. And I looked at them and they just all looked up, like, a ‘Wow, that was amazing’ kind of feeling.
From that point on, he started really penning it more and really giving us more to do and giving us more opportunity. And then also pushing us and making us take risks together. And I think that’s how it’s become what it has.”
All it takes is one scene, one performance… and boom.
Here’s the scene that changed everything:
