When it comes to landing a prominent role on a highly-anticipated new series, a series that’s a prequel to Yellowstone, AKA the hottest thing on TV, you’d think one might have some stiff competition.
For Isabel May, the actress who plays Elsa Dutton on 1883, it was quite the opposite.
In fact, she didn’t even audition for the role… nobody did.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Isabel actually auditioned for Mayor Of Kingstown, another Taylor Sheridan series on Paramount+, but when Taylor saw that audition, he knew she’s be perfect for Elsa.
Without even trying, she got the job:
“Yes, I didn’t audition for her. I auditioned for a different project. Taylor was doing another project called Mayor of Kingstown, and in March 2021, something like that, he flew three girls out to Texas, including myself.
So I auditioned for that, and I was terribly wrong for it. So I don’t know what happened or what it was about myself or our interaction that sparked something in him, but Elsa came to life after our meeting. I take zero credit for it.
So he called two weeks later and said, ‘You’re Elsa Dutton. I want you to be Elsa Dutton. Please be Elsa Dutton.’ And I said, ‘Well, of course, I’ll be Elsa Dutton because you’re Taylor Sheridan and it’s my dream to work with you.’ So that’s what we did.”
And the rest of history.
Of course, Taylor nailed the casting since Elsa is pretty much the star of the show, as the narration runs through her, the story is framed through her eyes, and well… she’s probably been dealt the toughest hand so far with the death or Ennis, the cowboy that took her virginity and then pledged to marry her.
She also weighed in on working with Tim McGraw and Faith Hill:
“I think it’s been an absolute advantage. The fact that they have three daughters is an advantage as well. I have a little bit of a physical resemblance, but my personality also melds with their three daughters from what Faith has expressed to me.
So when you see some of the emotion that plays out, especially between Faith and Tim, it feels so real because how they feel about Elsa became so real. It became almost painfully real.
She became like a real daughter to them, I think, and they kind of became real parents to me as well. So I love them dearly, and the stars aligned perfectly. It was all meant to be.”
Episode 7 is set to premiere on Sunday, February 6th on Paramount+.
