Over the years, we’ve heard a lot about how hard it is to make the Yellowstone shows. From cowboy camp to simultaneously dealing with extreme heat and snakes on set to filming deeply heavy scenes, it’s no easy feat. However, the casts of these projects work through it, and make series that I never want to miss. In the case of 1923, they had to deal with winter while they filmed Season 1, and Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren explained just how hard it was to work in freezing temperatures while watching a scene ahead of Season 2’s premiere on the 2025 TV schedule.
While watching this frigid scene from Season 1 where Cara and Jacob dealt with Donald, Mirren described the day as “freezing, freezing,” and yes she said the word twice. It deserved it too, because Harrison Ford then explained just how cold it was when they filmed this confrontational moment, saying the following in a video for 1923’s Instagram:
That’s the scene where it was 21 degrees below zero.
Mirren confirmed that too, nodding her head in agreement and reiterating the point Ford made. In short, it was very, very, very cold that day.
A bunch of the 1923 cast was involved with it too, as it served as a big moment where Timothy Dalton’s Donald Whitfield and his goons confronted Jacob and Cara with guns and then debated what was going to happen with the land surrounding the Dutton’s home. To that point, Ford and Mirren had an entertaining back-and-forth about how the cold impacted their ability to emote, and ultimately made it so no one was overacting:
- Helen Mirren: And this was unbelievably cold this day.
- Harrison Ford: And people are still able to make faces.
- Helen Mirren: Well, maybe it was, like perfect acting, because…
- Harrison Ford: You couldn’t overact.
- Helen Mirren: I mean, all you could do was survive.
Basically, anyone who works on one of the Yellowstone shows has to deal with challenges like this too. In 1883, the actors were dealing with both the heat and cold as they filmed a story about traversing the West on wagons. Meanwhile, on Yellowstone, this last season saw them facing the Texas heat, among other things.
However, the product seems to be worth the hard work on their end. And as a viewer, I can’t even begin to explain how much I appreciate the practical sets that are on location, the real ranch work done, and the way the shows show off the beauty of the American West.
If anything, this video from the set of 1923, upped my excitement for Season 2 even more! I was already looking forward to seeing how Alex and Spencer got back to Montana without each other, and this clip reminded me of the challenges Jacob, Cara and co. are facing at home.
I adore 1923, and I’m dying to see what happens next. Now, I’m also hoping that they didn’t have to freeze their faces off to make Season 2 too. However, we’ll find out if that’s the case once we’re able to learn more about these episodes that will begin airing for those with a Paramount+ subscription on February 23.
