Faith Hill has been all the buzz lately thanks to her role on the Yellowstone prequel series, 1883. Hill plays the role of Dutton ancestor and matriarch Margaret. And just as noteworthy is the fact that Hill stars beside her husband in real life, Tim McGraw.
Despite what fans may believe, Hill wasn’t willing to agree to the part just because she would be working with her husband. In fact, the country star has always been hesitant to appear on-screen with McGraw. So many directors and producers in the past had already proposed the same acquisition. Because of that, Hill wanted to be sure that 1883 was unlike any other show.
And then she got the script.
“Upon reading the first couple of episodes, wow. Holy cow, is this amazing. So I said I was very interested. This sounds like it could be it. And the episodes just kept coming in, and I just had never read anything like it, to be honest. And then, the perspective from Elsa’s voice, that she carries this show and how it’s seen through her eyes and her voice,” Hill shared with Deadline.
Hill also has a unique perspective of the writing for fellow 1883 actress Isabel May, who plays her on-screen daughter, Elsa. As a mom in real life, Hill admired the depth that May’s character already has. Rather than just serving as a female prop, Elsa became alive with the same complexity and vibrancy as her counterparts like James Dutton.
“As a woman, as a mom with three daughters, I just thought, ‘My God, this is extraordinary writing for anyone, but for a young woman, it’s really extraordinary.’ And I just felt the characters were great. They were colorful. They were intense. There’s tragedy. There’s passion,” the 1883 matriarch gushed. “I just thought, this may be the time that we could actually do this together. I was just blown away by the writing, and by the writing for Isabel just floored me.”
‘1883’ Star Explains Why Her Role Is ‘Physically and Mentally’ Challenging
While Hill is thankful she took the plunge into the Yellowstone spinoff, she admitted that, at first, she heavily “underestimated” the demands of her part in 1883. The country star-turned actress explained that neither she nor her husband is afraid of hard work. However, their time on set is unlike anything they’ve ever experienced before.
“It was hard, physically and mentally challenging, but we were trained by the best of the best, the wranglers, the stunt men and women,” the 1883 star shared. “Guns and armory, the set, the costuming, everything just put us there in that place, in that time. So it was harder than we thought including driving that wagon, but I learned to love it. And better on the wagon than I am on a horse.”
