‘1923’ Is Not the First Time That Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren Have Played Husband and Wife
1923 is the next Yellowstone prequel from creator Taylor Sheridan that is set to premiere on streamer Paramount+. Following 1883 — which starred Tim McGraw and Faith Hill as the first generation of Duttons to settle in Montana — this chapter in the family story will show how the next generation survived. 1923 stars Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren as Jacob and Cara Dutton, but this isn’t the first time they’ve played husband and wife.
‘1923’ highlights tough times for the Duttons
Forty years after James and Margaret settled the land where their daughter Elsa (Isabel May) died, the next generation of Duttons will hit hard times in the new prequel 1923. It’s set during a time of western expansion. And this post-World War I time period will see the family dealing with prohibition and the coming Great Depression.
“We’re going to see people who we didn’t know about come into the universe and we are going to recognize certain characters who are now members of the present-day Yellowstone family,” star Sebastian Roché told Variety. “In 1883, you saw the genesis of the Dutton family. This is the survival of the family.”
Leading the large cast is Ford and Mirren as Jacob and Cara — the brother and sister-in-law of McGraw’s James. The prequel marks the first time they’ve starred alongside one another in a TV show — but it’s not the first time they’ve worked together.
The ‘Yellowstone’ prequel isn’t the first time Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren have played husband and wife
More than 35 years before starring as Jacob and Cara Dutton, Ford and Mirren played husband and wife Allie and Margot Fox in Peter Weir’s 1986 film The Mosquito Coast. Based on the 1981 novel by Paul Theroux, it tells the story of a family that leaves the United States with the goal of finding a happier and simpler life in the jungles of Central America.
At the time, Ford was one of the biggest movie stars in the world, playing Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and starring in two Indiana Jones movies. Mirren, however, was mostly a stage actress at the time and wasn’t well known in the United States.
“When we first worked together, he was a huge movie star and I was like nobody. So I was very intimidated, ” Mirren said with a laugh at the 1923 premiere. “I learned a lot from him because I hadn’t done a lot. I had done a lot of theater at that point, [but] I hadn’t done a lot of movies. So I watched him and he taught me a great deal about film acting that, to this day, I’m still using.”
Harrison Ford greatly admires his ‘1923’ co-star Helen Mirren
For his part, Ford praised Mirren, saying that he “admired her work and her person then” when they worked together on The Mosquito Coast. Now, he holds “the same degree of admiration” for his 1923 co-star.
“She’s just a lovely person, so it’s been both a professional pleasure and also a personal pleasure to be able to work with her again.”
Darren Mann, who plays Jacob and Cara’s great-nephew Jack Dutton, says working with Ford and Mirren “was just like living my dream in reality.”
1923 premieres Sunday, December 18 on Paramount+, and 1883 is now playing. Yellowstone Season 5 airs Sunday nights on the Paramount Network. Seasons 1 through 4 are available on Peacock.
