Kevin Costner on What His New Album Reveals About ‘Yellowstone’s John Dutton
Q&A
The Dish on the Duttons
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Like dangerous father, like dangerous son. Prosperous ranching patriarch John Dutton and his loyal youngest, former Navy SEAL Kayce (Kevin Costner and Luke Grimes, above), closed Yellowstone‘s second season by killing the city-slicker brothers who had kidnapped Kayce’s boy and sabotaged Yellowstone Ranch.
Oscar winner Costner previews even more trouble ahead for the Montana family, which also includes John’s other kids, badass Beth (Kelly Reilly) and lawyer Jamie (Wes Bentley).
Will there be fallout from last season’s bloodshed?
Kevin Costner: John comes from generations fighting for the ranch. What is his is so ingrained. He’s desperate to protect it. But in this day and time, it looks an awful lot like murder. That’s a crime with a cost.
The Duttons now face a new foe, hedge fund manager/developer Roarke Morris (Lost‘s Josh Holloway).
He’s a threat. Beth is going to be dealing with him. There are a lot of ways to get land—bureaucratically, environmentally, politically. The walls are closing in and it becomes more difficult to deal with as a family.
(Paramount Network)
Do you bring any of your own father to John?
Yeah. My dad was a fistfighting, single-minded tough guy coming out of the Dust Bowl in the Great Depression. He wanted a job and never let it be taken away from him. The [Winchester] .30-30 gun I use in the show was his; when I put it up to my cheek, my dad’s right there. I know what it’s like to be a person that’s kind of a John Dutton—minus the murder.
Your band Modern West has a new album, Tales From Yellowstone, inspired by the show. What does it reveal about John?
“Won’t Stop Loving You” is about his inability to let go of his [late] wife. “Better Let Somebody Love You” is his hope for man-eater Beth. That music all has to do with either characters or how I was feeling while I was there. My trailer is right on the property. To look at the same mountains that Lewis and Clark came down—that’s never lost on me. There’s times when it’s so hot, the pine needles are bouncing on the ground. When the wind blows, there’s that smell. It never leaves you.
Yellowstone, Season 3 Premiere, Sunday, June 21, 9/8c, Paramount Network
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