When Tim McGraw first started shooting for 1883, he didn’t know that he would have a wife in the show. So, when the time came to ask his real-life wife and fellow country star Faith Hill to join the legendary cast, he wasn’t sure how she would respond.
There was no doubt that McGraw knew his wife would be an outstanding actress for 1883, but as the couple stated in the past, they tended to shy away from any dual, husband-wife roles because so many directors have asked them to do this. Both stars have appeared in series and movies separately in the past. However, before 1883, they had yet to step onto a set together.
Already hooked on the show, McGraw was all in for his part as James Dutton. But when director Taylor Sheridan called to ask if Hill would be his counterpart, well, he was shaking in his cowboy boots.
Recently, on an episode of The Yellowstone Official Podcast, the 1883 actor detailed the moment he asked his wife to join the cast.
“Course I’m scared to death of my wife, so it took me a couple of days to even ask her,” McGraw joked. “So I asked Faith, I said, ‘You think you want – baby, you think you want to play my wife?’ And she goes, ‘Yeah, hell yeah, I’m in. Let’s do it.”
‘1883’ Star Has Become the Mom and the Mentor of the Set
Now that McGraw and Hill are officially co-stars, the actor behind James Dutton couldn’t be happier to have his wife by his side on the 1883 set. In fact, McGraw has even expressed how much he has learned from her by watching her perform.
“You know, honestly, I couldn’t imagine it ever happening without her. I couldn’t imagine doing this with anybody else,” McGraw explained in a December roundtable interview with Outsider. “I think the scenario, the writing, the era, everything was so perfect for us together that it was impossible for us to not want to do it together. More than anything I’m grateful that she wanted to do it.”
McGraw isn’t the only one thrilled to have Hill in the cast. Since becoming Margaret Dutton, everyone else on the 1883 set seems to regard Hill as their workday mom, according to her doting husband.
“I can tell you this — on set, she is like everyone’s mom, ” McGraw said. “She is the light on set for everybody. And she’s the light in my life for sure. But I’ve gotten to see everybody else experience what I know about her which is pretty spectacular.”
And, really, this isn’t too shocking of a revelation for fans of the country-star couple. Hill has always had a sunny disposition, and likely, she brings that to set with her every day.
