Michelle Pfeiffer Called Helen Mirren Before Signing Onto Taylor Sheridan’s ‘The Madison’

When Michelle Pfeiffer was first approached about starring in “The Madison,” Taylor Sheridan’s new series about a woman whose life is turned upside down by an unspeakable tragedy, he only provided her with loose details. It would be a part of the larger “Yellowstone” universe (an idea that was ultimately dropped, or at the very least sidelined).

“He explained, conceptually, the arc of the story and my character. And I was really intrigued by this rich socialite New York family going to Montana and trying to figure that out,” Pfeiffer explained. “Then I went away and thought about it and realized I wasn’t going to get anything on paper. I was going to have to, sight unseen, commit or not. It was a big leap of faith.”

Before she made her decision, she made a phone call.

“I reached out to Helen Mirren, not because I know her, but because I figured maybe I could get to her through certain people. I thought she’ll have a good idea on and be really truthful with me about the experience,” Pfeiffer said about Mirren starring on Sheridan’s “1923” for two seasons. “And she did. She couldn’t have been more complimentary. She said, ‘The scripts are perfect, the production is perfect. I’m having the time of my life.’”

“I asked Harrison and he said ‘Run, don’t walk, get away from this thing fast,’” Kurt Russell, who plays Pfeiffer’s husband in “The Madison,” joked. (Ford starred alongside Mirren in “1923.”)

Russell had spoken to Sheridan years ago about an unrelated project. But “The Madison” popped up while the actor was already committed to “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” for Apple TV and Legendary.

“There was no way that we’re going to be able to do it, scheduling-wise, but I knew Michelle was going to play Stacy, so I had that in mind when I was able to read four episodes,” Russell explained. “They were just so good and was an opportunity for me, on a personal level, as an actor, to play something that is awfully close to myself, in terms of the familiarity that I could feel for what he was writing. It hit me hard. I just thought it would be a wonderful thing to be a part of and looked forward to really working with Michelle again. And it was no let down.”

Pfeiffer and Russell hadn’t worked together since 1988’s underrated crime film “Tequila Sunrise.” And for much of the first season of “The Madison” they are only glimpsed via phone conversations — with Russell at the Montana cabin he adores and Pfeiffer back in New York.

“She was talking to the wind when doing her part of the conversations. I saw her on the monitor,” Russell said. “And then I go in and do it with this script woman who was really very good.”

In fact, Pfeiffer said, Russell hadn’t been cast when they started shooting “The Madison.” In some of her scenes, she had no idea who she would be talking to. “I can’t remember if it was right before we started shooting or right when we started shooting, but there were other names bandied about and it was like, ‘OK yeah, I can see that.’ And then Kurt’s name came up, and it was, ‘That’s it, that is Preston. It has to be Kurt,In fact, Pfeiffer said, Russell hadn’t been cast when they started shooting “The Madison.” In some of her scenes, she had no idea who she would be talking to. “I can’t remember if it was right before we started shooting or right when we started shooting, but there were other names bandied about and it was like, ‘OK yeah, I can see that.’ And then Kurt’s name came up, and it was, ‘That’s it, that is Preston. It has to be Kurt,’ ” said Pfeiffer. “Then he had a scheduling problem and I kept hearing, ‘Well, it’s dead in the water.’ And then Taylor would say, ‘No, it’s not, he’s going to do it.’ And he did. Taylor was right, because he gets what he wants.”

The one scene in Season 1 where the two actors are together was actually filmed for Season 2.

“We shot all of his stuff. We didn’t have him at all for Season 1. Anything with us together we shot in Season 2,” Pfeiffer said.

Russell said he hadn’t spent a lot of time with Pfeiffer since filming “Tequila Sunrise,” besides bumping into her at industry events. But their personal lives had had interesting parallels that they could easily draw on for “The Madison” — particularly in their long-term relationships with their partners. (Pfeiffer has been married to prolific television writer and producer David E. Kelley since 1993; Russell has been with Goldie Hawn since 1983.)

“Because of our long-term relationships with our partners, we have some core understandings of what took place here for these two characters,” Russell said. Still, when he was filming his side of the conversations, he insisted on seeing the footage that Pfeiffer had already shot. “I need to match timing. When I’m practicing my lines, I’m practicing with Michelle. It was perfect.”

According to Russell, it was very apparent that Sheridan was writing for Pfeiffer and Russell — even if they had to wait for the stars to align and schedules to permit.

“It’s pretty clear who Taylor Sheridan’s writing for. Yes, he wanted to meet Michelle to make sure that she would do it, that he’d be able to write it for her. Recently, he started writing it with me very much in mind, and when I read it, it was like, Yeah, well, that’s more than having somebody in mind. Were you a fly on the wall during that conversation I had with Goldie? How do you know that?” Russell explained. “You know what I mean, it’s a little bit like that. He was dead on it, and it made it obviously very easy for me to have fun and do what I would have done with Michelle.”

As for Season 2, Pfeiffer promises “a surprising amount of laughs and comical relief,” while Russell asserts that the follow-up season is “more painful, because of the sweetness, that exists that you’re now beginning to fully just accept.”

“I think that in the first season it goes in between sorrow and grief and denial and trying to be stoic, and all of those confusing feelings when you’ve had a traumatic loss in your life,” Pfeiffer concedes. “And so Season 2, I think it’s a little more raw and more in sinking in.”

And don’t rule out an eventual “Yellowstone” crossover — they haven’t filmed anything yet but Russell feels like it’s bound to happen. And Pfeiffer still described “The Madison” as being a part of the “universe.”

“I’m not going to bet a lot of money, but I’ll put my quarter about it’ll be interesting to see if somewhere down the road , if it continues, where it might connect some dots,” Russell said.

The first three episodes of “The Madison” are now streaming on Paramount+, with the final three episodes streaming next Saturday.

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