Who Said ‘No’ To ‘Yellowstone’ Creator Taylor Sheridan?
Currently, there is no bigger Hollywood showrunner than Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan. But, he had to bang down a lot of doors to get to his current success.
Originally an actor, the Sons Of Anarchy star had grown tired of low pay and being the sixth man on the daily call sheet. Once he started to write about what he knew, his life changed. Now, everyone wants to work with Sheridan.
However, he went through a lot of “no” answers before he achieved his success.
Originally Taylor Sheridan Was Making Yellowstone An HBO Movie
According to Taylor Sheridan’s recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Yellowstone almost was an HBO project. This was way before the prolific writer created the entire Dutton universe that contained such spinoff prequels as 1883, and 1923. Sheridan just wanted to make a Yellowstone movie. Moreover, he wanted Kevin Costner to star.
Unfortunately, the HBO executives were opposed to Costner and he recalls “didn’t see it.” Instead, he revealed that they told him, “We want Robert Redford.” Then, they promised him that if he could convince the Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid star to play John Dutton, they would “greenlight the pilot.”
Sheridan hopped over to Sundance and quickly got Redford on board. His next move was a call to those HBO executives. Speaking to the vice president in charge of productions, Sheridan revealed that he made it happen, now he needed confirmation that the show was ready to go.
However, it did not exactly go that way. The executive claimed they wanted a “Robert Redford type.” Thankfully, Sheridan was able to take his IP and shop it around, turning that “no” into a “yes” with Paramount. Furthermore, he got the star he wanted, Kevin Costner.
HBO Didn’t Like Beth Dutton
Not only did HBO want to nix any idea of Kevin Costner starring as John Dutton, they told Taylor Sheridan That they did not like the character of Beth Dutton.
The showrunner quoted what the folks at HBO said, along with his objection to their negative response. “‘We think she’s too abrasive. We want to tone her down. Women won’t like her.’ They were wrong, because Beth says the quiet part out loud every time. When someone’s rude to you in a restaurant, or cuts you off in the parking lot, Beth says the thing you wish you’d said.”
Next, Sheridan asked the execs on the phone if anyone currently had a scripted television show. None of them spoke. Then he hung up the phone and never heard from them. Sounds like Taylor Sheridan has a little Beth Dutton in him too!
Did Kevin Costner Say ‘No’ To Taylor Sheridan?
Some may say that Kevin Costner has said “no” to Taylor Sheridan. The star is no longer portraying John Dutton on the Paramount series.
In one light, it does seem that Costner has rejected Sheridan by making his schedule so limited this season. However, he is working on his own passion project Horizon.
This has been something he has worked on for three decades. Now, Kevin got a lot of negative answers until recently. As for Sheridan, he seems to be understanding.
His movie seems to be a great priority to him and he wants to shift focus. I sure hope [the movie is] worth it–and that it’s a good one.
Yellowstone fans, what do you think of Taylor Sheridan’s resilience and all of the negative comments he got about the top television show?
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