Faith Hill Reveals Why 1883 Was The First Project She And Tim McGraw Agreed To Do Together
Country music superstars Faith Hill and Tim McGraw have been married for 25 years. During that time, they have both dabbled in acting. McGraw has several high-profile films under his belt, including "Friday Night Lights," "The Blind Side," and "Tomorrowland," while Hill is still getting her feet wet. Although she has appeared in such films as the remake of "The Stepford Wives" and "Dixieland," Hill is taking on her biggest acting role yet in the upcoming Paramount+ "Yellowstone" prequel "1883," in which she stars alongside McGraw for the very first time.
In the "Yellowstone" origin story, which premieres on December 19, Hill and McGraw play the grandparents of John Dutton, who's portrayed by Kevin Costner on the wildly popular original series that airs on the Paramount Network. Together, they travel west on a wagon train through harsh environmental conditions, encountering hostile enemies at every turn, in order to acquire the land that will become the largest cattle ranch in the United States.
After all these years, why did Hill and McGraw pick "1883" to be their first acting project together? During a recent roundtable interview that included Looper, Hill revealed how it all happened.
Faith Hill and Tim McGraw couldn't pass up working with 1883 creator Taylor Sheridan
Hill admits that McGraw was the first to be offered a role on "1883," which was created by "Yellowstone" head honcho Taylor Sheridan.
"I don't recall exactly, but I would imagine he was first, because he had a relationship with Taylor," says Hill. "We had met Taylor, spent a little time with him, but Tim had spoken to him more. So, I'm pretty sure he probably knew first about it, and then I was asked if I would be interested. And the first thing I said was — which was a stupid thing to say for a Taylor Sheridan show — 'Can I read it?' Like, duh, it's going to be amazing!"
That personal connection with Sheridan, plus his track record of creating intricately layered films and TV shows, was what pushed Hill and McGraw over the edge to finally appear together on screen.
"Tim and I have been approached to do things together on film before, but it needed to be many things [for us to say yes]," says Hill. "And after reading the '1883' script it was just like, there's no way that we could ever pass this up. The writing is just so remarkable, and the strength. The character that Isabel May plays, our daughter Elsa on the show is ... wow. I just had never, ever read a female character so strong at such a young age during that time period. Any period really. So, yeah, we said yes. And I am so glad for it. We knew it was going to be hard — we were warned multiple times by Taylor — but it has most definitely been worth it."
"1883" will debut its premiere episode on both the Paramount Network and Paramount+ on December 19. After the first episode is released, Paramount+ will become the exclusive home of "1883."