Fans were delighted to watch country legends Faith Hill and Tim McGraw star together in the Yellowstone prequel, 1883. The music icons, who have been married for 25 years, enjoyed the experience but admitted they endured some unfavorable conditions. According to the “Wild One” singer, at one point, her husband smelled so bad she had to “force” him to shower.
‘1883’ marked the 1st time the country artists acted together
Faith Hill plays Margaret Dutton in the Paramount+ limited series. Her character is a determined mother and wife moving her family West after the Civil War, hoping to find a better way of life. McGraw plays Margaret’s husband, James Dutton, desperate to escape the poverty of Texas by traveling to Montana to become a settler.
The Friday Night Lights star revealed to NPR that when he signed the contract to appear as one of the original Dutton family members in 1883, he knew it would be “really hard work.” The “Humble and Kind” singer said, “It was 14-hour days, six days a week, and we probably got three hours of sleep at night.”
Before filming began on 1883, the hard-working couple spent three weeks at “cowboy camp” to learn the basics of wagon driving and pioneer living. It marked the first time they acted together.
“We’d lay in bed, and … she would read the entire script out loud. And then I would read episode 2 out loud,” McGraw said. “But we never sat down, and we never rehearsed our lines together. We never rehearsed our scenes together because we didn’t want to bring so much of Tim and Faith into our characters. We wanted it to remain Margaret and James.”
Faith Hill told Tim McGraw to hit the shower
Tim McGraw discussed getting into character during an interview with Mark Malkin for the podcast Just for Variety. The “Don’t Take the Girl” singer revealed, “As the show progressed, I wanted him to look more and more haggard, and more and more tired, and more and more sleep-deprived.”
The Country Music Hall of Fame artist added, “I think we accomplished that one. There were a few times that my wife forced me to take a shower while we were shooting because, you know, I wanted to stay in character as best I could.”
Asked if he was focusing on Method acting, McGraw jokingly replied that his wife said, “I don’t care about Method. You stink.”
An everlasting love
“To show up [onstage] and put on these tight jeans and have this big dark, dyed beard and have the script in my head and trying to remember words, I just didn’t feel comfortable at all,” McGraw admitted in the podcast interview. “It was tough to do.”
The powerhouse couple, who often sing together, share three daughters whom they refer to as their “most important collaborations.” The couple has shared many triumphs and tribulations over the past 25 years.
In an interview with People, Hill confessed it was hard filming intimate scenes for 1883 with her husband. “I feel like that belongs to us,” she explained.
McGraw jokingly said that sometimes their acting seemed too realistic: “We had this scene where she has to slap me. I was expecting a finger slap, but it was a paw to the jaw. There was 25 years of pent-up aggression going on!” He added, “When you see it on screen, you realize it was a genuine hit.”
The Live Like You Were Dying artist appeared in Yellowstone Season 4 in a flashback series that led to the creation of 1883. The next series, 1932, is expected to air in December 2022, continuing the story of James and Margaret’s children through the Great Depression. According to CMT, “Paramount+ recently announced that Academy Award winner Helen Mirren and critically acclaimed actor Harrison Ford will star in 1932.”