Welcome back to the Official Yellowstone Podcast. I'm Jefferson. Why, I am joined as always by Jen Landon, and we have a fun show on tap for you today with a guest that we've been talking about for the past couple of episodes.
Yeah, Jeff, I don't know if I could be more excited than I am about today's episode. And I feel like we all have crushes on our guest that we're going to be speaking too soon, which is the amazing Brandon Splenard, who plays Spencer Dutton.
Yeah, it took him six months, he had to cross several oceans, and now we've got him in the studio today. I am so excited to talk with Brandon. He's one of my favorite actors in nineteen twenty three. It's one of my favorite characters in nineteen twenty three. And like we've been watching this show. We've seen seven episodes of this now. I'm a huge, huge fan of the show and I can't wait to hear about his experience. It's working on it right after this quick break.
Okay, so I'm really excited to talk to Brandon in a little bit. But the last time you and I spoke, Jeff, we were on episode four, and a lot has happened since then. So home, the home that the Spencer characters returning to, looks very different than it did. Well, let's say at the beginning of episode four, certainly.
Yeah, it's been it's been a transformative season for the Dutton ranch itself. You know, Spencer's been on this epic journey all around the world trying to reach home, and the real question is is there going to be anything left by the time he gets there. So when we last spoke about nineteen twenty three, Jacob had been shot. John Dutton had been killed. It was a really like low moment for the ranch.
Does is Spencer aware that his brother has been shot and killed in that letter? I can't remember.
I don't think so. I think, oh, yes, yes, Alex reads him that letter. Yeah, and that's it feels like, what is the final straw that summons him home. It feels like he's been resisting coming home. Kara has been sort of trying to get in touch with him, and then it feels like this attack, this sort of savage attack on the Duttons and his family is what finally spurs him into motion to head home. Jacob is wounded. Jack is like bloodthirsty that the journey that Jack has
been on is fascinating and I get it right. His father was killed, his mother dies. He is on this kind of this personal he seems, and Kara says this to him over and over again, like, you know your vision, You've gotta come back to reality. This sort of revenge fantasy, this like bloodthirst that you're feeling is not what we need. This is not constructive. It's a kind of maze that
he's lost in. And then there's this beautiful moment when he finally sort of the haze clears because Elizabeth, his fiance, is going to leave him. She says, all right, get me out of here. If all you are is a killer, if all you can think about is revenge, then we're done. And that's the sort of final straw that thankfully pierces through that fugue state he's in, so he comes back to reality and accepts his responsibility. You know it. Really
he has his own version. We've seen Spencer's struggle with this death drive, this kind of in the wake of the tragedy that Spencer has witnessed and faced, he's been almost trying to get himself killed big game hunting. We've seen Jack experience his own version of the same thing in the wake of the death of his father. You know, Jacob being shot, feeling so helpless an impotent. We almost
see him driving towards his own death senselessly. And it makes me think of a moment where that a thing that Rip says to Jimmy, and like season two of Yellowstone, Jimmy wants to just get up and go and attack the men that killed his grandfather, and Rips like, no, no, no, I'm gonna show you how to get rid of problems so they don't become bigger problems. And it feels this whole time like Kara is saying Jack, calm down. We've
got to be logical. We have to take care of this in a way that isn't going to create a bigger issue for us or kick the hornet's nest. We have to do this the right way, or they are going to win. If we rise to this drive for revenge, we're gonna be overpowered and killed. That's not gonna work. That tactic isn't valid.
On that front. And again we can ask Brandon this, but do we think that Spencer's motivation for coming home is to take care of his family, protect his family, or this vengeance that seems to kind of permeate through the Dutton line.
That's a great question, and I bet it's that motive is changing over time as he himself kind of comes back to life in his love for Alex. You know, like we've seen his death drive evolve. We've seen him sort of wake up in some ways to the possibilities of life, the sort of beauty of life through this epic journey he's having alongside Alex, which is another to me, I got to say, another sort of Rip and Casey parallel.
These characters who have been sort of taken all the way up to the edge of despair, been taken all the way up to the edge of the sort of cliff of misery, and are brought back to life by the women they love, by their families, by a sort of sense of responsibility to the people they love. I feel like we've watched Spencer go through that journey, and we've watched Jack go through that journey, and even Jacob.
Even Jacob is listening to Kara and sort of tempering his own desire for revenge his own desire to sort of kick back at the men that wronged him. Kara really feels like the mediating impulse in all of it.
Yeah, basically, what Taylor's writing over and over again is that all men would just be dead essentially if there weren't women around to say, honey, chill out, have a drink, whatever you need, soften the heart, you know, don't kill yourself.
I think that's right, And Kara says, I think, Kara says to Banner himself. She says, men kill quickly, You're gonna wish that it was that easy. Women kill slowly. And it seems really clear to me that Kara's not It's not that she doesn't want vengeance. She wants vengeance as much as anybody else. Right, She her husband was shot right in front of her, her her nephew was killed. Like there's She's suffered as much as anybody else as
a result of this attack. So she wants vengeance. She just wants it in a sort of methodical, calculated way that's going to last.
Right, so that protection is still like maybe her bigger motivation in the long run that it might be deadlier to everybody else who is her enemy, but that it's primary motivators and vengeance.
But yeah, we've seen this across all of these shows. You know, if you take justice into your own hands, you're cutting off hydra heads, but two more grow back. You know, every sort of enemy that John Dutton has struck down in Yellowstone, they tend to come back more with new weapons, with new sort of forms. You know, rip kills what's his name, Oh, this is the ultimate
the ultimate humiliation is I've forgotten his name, Rorke. He kills Roork in the river with the snake happens a bigger batter snake shows up on a plane from New York City. Right, you take justice into your own hands, you don't build sustainable, lasting solutions. So part of what Kara's doing here is saying, no, no, no, don't just get on a horse and go shoot some more. Then they're gonna hire more guys. They're gonna come back over here,
and they're gonna kill more of us. She's saying, let's do this, right, let's do this, you know, legally, let's bring these institutions in to this justice such that it lasts and perseveres, so that you know, the next time she turns her head. She's not losing another precious member of her family. And you know who better to help than Spencer. Nothing right Spencer has You know what, I'm amazed by Spencer because he's got this kind of cool logic to him, even while he is an incredible and listen,
my man can kill. He's got that dog in him. He has killed pretty much every zoo animal. He's killed all my favorite zoo animals so far out of necessity, with respect, out of necessity. But he also has this kind of cool, methodical head in these moments, you know, when they're stuck on the capsized tugboat and you know, Alix, you know that like exposure kills you in the middle of the ocean real quick, you got the sun beating down on your dehydrated. He stays cool, he stays methodical.
He's a survivor. He's exactly the soldier that Karen needs. So obviously, Spencer, you know this, this vital soldier in the Dutton's effort to keep their ranches headed home, and he's heading home to face a multitude of threats. One of my favorite parts of nineteen twenty three has been
this really interesting cool villains. You know, we've seen Donald Whitfield right, this kind of big business robber Baron almost sort of circling representing one side of this equation that will of course play out again in Yellowstone, presenting big money representing industry, representing the desire to sort of pillage
this land to pull resources out of it. But then we also one of my favorite characters on the show who I'm just absolutely obsessed with because I love this actor too, is Banner, right, Jerome Flynn's character Banner Creighton, because I love seeing him sort of go through this journey, starting out as basically a sheepherder who is in a desperate position, somebody with very little one of many sheep herders sort of having to make this desperate play, banding
together his sort of compatriots and attacking the Duttons, the most powerful, richest institution in the valley, attacking them and in doing so also enriching himself immensely. I love the team up. I really do love the team up of Donald and Banner because they represent these two complete, deletely different sides of the coin. It's such a funny, odd couple, and I could endlessly watch Banners sort of walk through his brand new house, turning on the faucets, drinking champagne,
experiencing the other side of his life. You know, we're watching all these characters part of this. You know, one of the big kind of themes of the show is modernity, the steady march of modernity. There's all these questions about wait, is the railroad coming, is electricity coming? Is plumbing coming? Washing machines? Obviously, I get so excited about this stuff.
I could talk about it all day. I'm gonna spare you all that We're gonna take a quick break, and when we come back, we've got with us the incredible Brandon Spleinar. So stay right there. You know, we get the gift of talking to a lot of our friends on this show. We get the gift of talking to a lot of our workers. In this case, Jen and I feel incredibly lucky to talk to an actor that
we're just fans of. We've both been watching nineteen twenty three, We've been gushing to you this audience about it for weeks, and perhaps no character more than Spencer Dutton. So we feel incredibly lucky to have with us today an actor whom we admire very much. Brandon's Glennard, thank you so much for being here.
Man. Yeah, of course, Man, happy to be here, Brandon.
I'm just going to start at the very beginning, like what can you just tell us a little bit about how this role came to you, what that audition process was like, had you seen Yellowstone before, etc.
Yeah, Yeah, I I've been wanting to work with Taylor for a long time, a really long time since I saw Heller h Water years ago, and he was kind of at the top of my top of my list in terms of filmmakers and creators. And my manager called me and he was like, Hey, that nineteen twenty three project you've been tracking for a while, they want to read you. Perhapsideria. John Popsidi is a casting director on there.
He's a good friend and he's he's cast me in I think four or five projects and he's like pastes casting it, and uh you got a roll for you And I was like, oh shit, okay. Uh so he send it over and yeah, and I just immediately resonated with it just in the breakdown and on the page and felt I felt good about it, you know, I felt confident about it from the jumping Like I said, It just resonated with me in a way that I hadn't really felt before with anything I'd come across or an auditioned for.
And it was it was honestly out of anything I've ever done.
It was the quickest and most painless casting process.
It was so fast.
I mean sometimes these things drag out for three or four months and you're just losing your mind, you know.
So it was great.
Yeah, sometimes it's just right.
Man.
Jen and I were marveling before you got on at what exquisite casting this is. It really is an incredible energetic match. Will you talk a little bit about the experience of functionally sort of going on this personal journey, this kind of adventure.
Just there their creative process, Taylor's creative process, and just this whole sort of Yellowstone universe that he's created. And I can't speak to any of his other projects, but I imagine they're pretty similar. I mean they are so immersive, and you know, in terms of acting and having to create things for yourself for them to be real. I mean, they take care of so much, so many things for you. It just just really thrown you on that and my my, my personal journey as an actor and as a person
mirrored Spencer's in so many ways. Just it's kind of eerie, you know, and just just being out there in Africa and trying to make sense everything, and you know, being thrust into this role with all this responsibility to carry this thing, and that also mirroring his responsibility to to you know, take care Alex and to get home to his family, and and you know, always being out of his element, but also at the same time always being in his element, you know, so in his element being
out of his element, you know, he finds comfort in the uncomfortable. So it's this weird paradox that I definitely tapped into and just you know, live the entire time myself.
Do you think like, should this role have come into your life five years ago, that you would have been at a place too, like it would have been a match then, or do you think do you know what I mean?
I'm a I'm a firm believer in just a divine timing of life and things in general. And you know, I can pretty clearly track the trajectory of how things have evolved based on where I was at personally and what I was trying to do in my personal life. And I mean, I don't think that it could have happened at any other time because I wouldn't have been in a position to handle it the way that I was able to and bring that vibe to Spencer.
That he needed.
At any other point in my life if I was in my mid twenties versus my early thirties and having gone through what I've gone through personally in the last five years, and that shift, and yeah, there's no way.
There's just no way, And I wouldn't have wanted it.
It's a fascinating Yeah, you mentioned yourself. You feel as though working on the show has has changed you, You've grown from working on the show. By the time we find Spencer. When we first find Spencer, he has lived a long, difficult life. You know, he is a part of this generation of young men who were forced to age prematurely by participating in the horror that was World War One, Right, so he has seen some shit at a young age by the time we first find him,
and he is so clearly haunted by it. It's almost like he's after his life. It's like his life is over in some sense and he's almost hunting his own death. It feels to me, like doing what he's doing. He's going out there until one of these fucking lions brings him down. The only you know, he's almost looking for
the animal that's big enough to kill him back. And then over the course of these seven episodes, it's an amazing gift just watching this sort of life come back into him in part because of this relationship with Alex. So will you just talk a little about working with Julia, you know her, she also is coming into this with a tremendous amount of responsibility, and I know from being on set, your greatest gift is each other, your greatest
talk about immersive. Having a performance like that right across from you is the greatest gift in the world. Will you talk about your sort of shared process and how you found these characters together.
Yeah, you know, that's great that you're perceiving all that from that from the show, because that was all the intentions.
I'm happy about that. That's great.
Yeah, you know, we we got really lucky. You know, Taylor didn't do a chemistry read for the role of Alex at all, and neither of us have really been in this position before in terms of a role that significant in a show.
That is such a following and sort of this built in viewership.
Even though it's the first season of you know, the show itself, there's so much going into it that you know you're going to have those eyes.
And I think we bonded in a.
Lot of ways, and especially in that way, you know, just sort of entering this new arena in our careers and his actors together, and we were fortunate enough to get along really well and just kind of have an instant rapport.
Just the echoes are so apparent, right you're talking about your experience of working on the show. Okay, I'm going to leave my family behind. I'm going to leave my friends behind. I'm going to go into the middle of nowhere and put my trust in these other actors, put my trust in this crew. And that's very much what the character's doing too, Right, He's in the middle of fucking nowhere, far from everything he's ever known or loved, and he finds this person to trust, which is such
a fascinating journey to watch. So you get cast on a show starring Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren and then all of a sudden, your characters on the other side of the world. What did you do so much of the poll for Spencer is getting home, getting home to this life, this responsibility, this duty. How did you approach in your own mind and imagination developing a relationship to these characters that you're not working with, you're on the
other side of the world. What did you do with those other you know, your your your siblings on the show, these other characters, so you have a rich relationship to How did you build that bond with Montana and the Dutton ranch such that we can feel Spencer's pain being separated from it?
Yeah, I know, I I it's a similar I you know, I did a similar thing with the war, just just you know, you just build memory, you know, and then just meditating with them, sitting with them until until they feel real.
So he's such an internal.
Character, so you know, you got to do that Otherwise, just there's nothing going on.
We're gonna take a break really quick, and when we come back, we're gonna keep talking to Brandon because there's a lot more to talk about.
Keep talking.
I'm gonna I have a question that I need to ask before I forget, because I will forget. And it is a specific moment and we were talking a little bit earlier about loading things with memory. When the Julia character makes the decision to come after Spencer, to come after you and runs to the car and she gets in the car and she yells to him, find somebody who loves you. You got you were emotional in that moment. I remember noticing that, and it was it really struck me.
And if I don't know, I don't know if you remember that moment, I don't know if you can talk a little bit about that. It struck me because it felt very much like something that was so deeply tied to the character, but it also felt to me like something that was tied that existed between, like that great thing that can happen with actors where you're like, I don't know. It felt like it had both. It felt like it had the actor's connection and the character's connection in it.
It's tough, it's it's it's tough to delineate what's what's a Spencer thing and what's a brand and thing it really is when, especially when you're when you're in it.
Those lines are hard to see.
But I do I can speak from from Spencer's point of view that you know he's had such a such a barrier up for such a long time, I mean years and years, such a strong barrier, and no one's ever crossed that barrier. And I think he's just overwhelmed by this person he doesn't even know, who's just so see something in him to the point where where she's just like steam rolls through that that fucking thing so and it hits him hard. You know, there's that level
of just blind faith. And I want to say love, but I think it is love at that point, even though it's so early on. You see something in him, and I think it just catches him off guard and it just hits him right in the art. You know, my here's this person. He doesn't even know me, and he doesn't think very highly of himself. So I think it just it just, you know, starts to just fill
his cup a little bit. I think it's it's the first few drops in that in that cup, you know that's been empty for a long time, and I think I think that's what it is.
One of the things that Jeff and I experience on Yellowstone is that the shoots can be a bit grueling because we're often doing what we're what it appears we're doing or sometimes it feels like we're shooting a doc and that's part of what makes the job so great.
And I was wondering if there were days on this show that stood out in your mind, is like a particularly adventurous shoot day or or a challenging one, because so many of the sequences that you're in are beautiful and epic and and riveting, and wondering what was sort of the stand adults for you.
Yeah, I mean, it was just all the swimming episode six, all that swimming, man, that was that was that was tough.
That was only the toughest thing I've.
Done, uh, on a on a on a project, hands down, I mean, one of the toughest things I've done in general. And I'm I'm I'm in pretty decent shape. And we swam a lot going into that and it was it was hard because the water was cold, it was ocean water, and it was pretty chilly outside. And what ends up being in the show, as you guys know, it's you know, a few minutes in the show, but we did for four days, so you're you're you know, I'm watching it and I'm like, oh, that's it.
That's all for it.
Yeah, but it's like, yeah, we were, we were you know, we were out there and Guy Ferland, our director. I remember we'd come in off the off the water and Julian and I would be to and shaken to the to the bones and uh, you know, soaking wet in the wind, and.
I would be like was He's like, oh, it's amazing. You look like you're really struggling out there.
I was like, yeah, Guy, yeah we are. Uh it's uh yeah that that that that that was.
That was a trip. That was. That was great.
I mean it's it's you know, they're they're tough days, but you love those days because you don't have there's no acting, you know, and anytime you can cut out the acting, it's great.
So I'm i'm i'm I'm I'm.
Grateful for those days. I love those days. But those were those were hard days.
Brandon. This is not the most highbrow question, but because everybody's obsessed with Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford and for whatever reason, it's given me some Indiana Jones vibes. Has has anyone else said this to you?
Yeah, no, I've I've heard a lot of the Indiana Jones h vibe comparison talks. Yeah, it's it's you know, it's the same color palette.
Hey, it's more than that, don't dumb it. It's more than that.
You know, Brandy, They tell me the same thing. I've been dealing with this for five seasons now. Everybody looks at me and says, Indiana Jones.
You know Indiana Jones.
Yeah, you get sick of it, right, It's kind of it gets old being compared to one of the most iconic characters and performances in history.
Yeah, you know, taicular, leave it. It's it's a burden.
You got a bear. No, it's it's it's it's.
A good Yeah, you know, you hope to not get any comparisons, but it's human nature to get comparisons, and it's it's a hell of a comparison.
So I'll take it.
But yeah, it's it's I mean, if I were watching it, I compare myself to it as well, just based on Harrison being in the show. And then, like I said, is the same we both carry around. India doesn't carry a rope, but he used he uses a whip.
I go the other direction. I was watching Indiana Jones the other day and I was kind of like, damn, this is a bit of a Spencer Dutton outfit.
Yeah, there you go.
My man's kind of Spencer dut lately. Oh we got the girl, Spencer Dutton vibes.
Spencer Dunn vibes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, No, we haven't seen Spencer's whip yet, but he's he's going in that bag.
He's very resourceful, bro. Because you're also saying, you know, it's a dangerous journey home, but also, let's be honest, home is pretty fucking dangerous too. The shift that's going down at the dust like, it's I'm very excited and listen, I don't know what I don't know what happens after episode seven. I don't know what happens in episode eight. I don't know what happens in I hope there's a
million more episodes to come. But I'm extremely excited for the you know, to see Spencer Dutton reunited God, you know, God willing on the ranch, putting these skills to work, you know, on if he can if he can kill an elephant, if he can kill a lion, surely he can kill these like scruffy sheep herding guys.
Right, Oh yeah, yeah, I mean, I don't think that there's really an obstacle that he can't face. I mean, he is one of the most capable characters there are, I think, far more capable than I am. Yeah, now I'm I'm excited for him to get back to the range.
Brandon, thanks so much, man. Honestly, we're just fans. Yeah, it is unsurprising that in real life you're basically Spencer Dutton. I'm not surprised, and so it is a It's a great honor to meet you as a fan of your work, as a fan of the show. Thank you for taking the time to talk with us. What a gift.
Thanks man, I appreciate that so much. I'm happy you guys are digging it, and I'm excited if you're to see the rest.
Of it for sure.
Same, It's amazing and you really are incredible.
Thanks Brandon, Thank you guys so much. Appreciate you guys.
The Official Yellowstone Podcast is a production of one oh one Studios and Paramount. This episode was produced by Scott Stone. Brandon Goetchis is the head of audio for one oh one Studios. Steve Razis is the executive vice president of the Paramount Global Podcast Group. Special thanks to Megan Marcus, Jeremy Westfall, Ainsley Rosito, Andrew Sarnow, Jason Red and Whitney Baxter from Paramount, and of course, David Glasser, David Huckin and Michelle Newman from one oh one Studios