To get the best shot in the stunning mountains and valleys of Montana, actors often rough it on set.
This is especially true for Michelle Pfeiffer on the set of The Madison.
Harsh Filming Conditions
Pfeiffer appeared on the LA Times podcast, “In Conversation: The Madison.”
Starring as Stacy Clyburn in Taylor Sheridan’s The Madison, the actress opened up about the brutal filming conditions in Montana and Texas.
For the shots on open terrain? Pfeiffer said, “You may as well be in a tent because, you know, there is no bathroom.”
“Even the outhouse is not real. So there’s no AC, there’s no plumbing, there isn’t anything. But it is breathtakingly glorious. It took a while [to get used to] because they built that cabin. It was all a little bit rushed for everyone and so there weren’t certain accommodations set up,” she continued.
“We didn’t really have trailers there because they were shooting 360 [degrees]. So, they couldn’t have a bunch of trailers around. There was really no place for us to sit. … no bathroom nearby. There was no food. And in the winter, it was cold. It was like, ‘Could we have a heater?’”
Pfeiffer finished by saying, “And in the summer, it was like, ‘Could I get an umbrella because the sun’s really intense?’ It took us about halfway through to figure all of that out.”
Pfeiffer’s Character
Pfeiffer plays Stacy, the matriarch of a wealthy New York City family who suffers a devastating tragedy.
It forces them to make a life-changing decision, leaving Manhattan behind for the rural Madison River Valley region of Montana. There, they hope to recover from the loss and end up finding much more.
The series is Sheridan’s biggest-ever series launch, with the premiere episode reaching 8 million global streaming views in the first 10 days after debuting.
The show was renewed for a second season not long after the first ended.
Leap of Faith
During an interview with the Hollywood Reporter in March, Pfeiffer opened up about taking the role in The Madison.
It was a “big leap of faith” moment as Sheridan did not yet have a script for the series, opting to cast first and write later.
Pfeiffer shared, “[Taylor] wanted to know who Stacy was before he started writing. I wanted to know who Stacy is before I committed. And so we went back and forth like that for a little while, and it became clear to me I wasn’t going to win this battle.”
So, she went to someone who had filmed with Sheridan before: Helen Mirren, who starred in 1923.
When Pfeiffer asked, it was all positive. “And she just glowed; she couldn’t say enough nice things,” Pfeiffer explained.
“She said the scripts were great, the productions were perfect. She was having the time of her life; she loved Montana. So I took a big leap of faith, and I committed. I thought, ‘Well, the guy has a pretty darn good track record.'”