Yellowstone’s Wes Bentley Opens Up On Struggles Of Disconnecting From Jamie Off Set: “Jamie’s Sadness Permeates My Life”

Wes Bentley Yellowstone

We’re officially at the midway point in Yellowstone Season Five.

Of course, we still have quite a few months to watch the second half of the season, considering it’s not dropping until the summertime, but nevertheless the show is in full force.

There’s one character in particular this season who is getting a ton of focus, and it’s no other than Jamie Dutton, the adopted son of John.

In this season, Jamie has a strong sense of jealousy towards his father after he got elected governor of Montana. Now, he’s getting close to (VERY close to) Sarah Atwood of Market Equities, and now they’re conspiring to impeach John.

But speaking of Jamie, Wes Bentley (who plays Jamie in Yellowstone), recently sat down for a candid interview with The New York Times to discuss his past struggles with substance abuse.

Bentley suffered from excessive use of heroin, cocaine, and alcohol, and ultimately got arrested in 2008 and pleaded guilty to possession of heroin and using a counterfeit $100 bill.

He admitted:

“The regrets are always going to be there.”

He has since turned his life around, and is not playing a pivotal role on the biggest show on television.

However, h also admitted that it hasn’t been easy playing the role of Jamie Dutton:

“He’s incredibly sad. I’ve always dealt with my sadness with things like comedy, or humor, or drugs at one point, or trying to just ignore it and finding another way out of it.

But you can’t do that when you’re trying to portray someone’s sadness. You have to let it be there. That’s been the hardest part of it all, and it’s weighed on my life a little bit.”

And sometimes, it’s difficult to leave that on set:

“I’ve prided myself for most of my career on leaving it at the door, or like an athlete would say, leaving it on the field, but Jamie’s sadness permeates my life, even though I’m not sad.

I’m very lucky to have a great family and be where I’m at in life, but he’s always there behind me, clawing at that, especially when I’m shooting.

He added that his wife will tell him when he lets the character invade his real life:

“You’re letting him come home now. Jamie’s coming home and we don’t want him here.”

Of course, we’ve seen a number of phenomenal actors intertwine their personal lives with the characters of their professional lives. Usually referred to as “method acting,” it can be a dark and destructive process depending on the character. It can also make the performance incredible.

Christian Bale, Joaquin Phoenix, Daniel Day Lewis, Robert De Niro, Charlize Theron and others have turned in impressive performances, pushing their minds and bodies to the brink to get into the mind and body of their characters. Of course, Heath Ledger’s Academy Award-winning performance of Joker in The Dark Knight has been regarded by many as a performance that may contributed to his death, however Ledger’s family has continuously disputed that speculation.

Nevertheless, it’s quite incredible what actors are willing to go through, physically, mentally, emotionally, to invest every part of their being into their characters. And while Wes Bentley isn’t method acting per se, it’s not hard to see how the sadness of Jamie’s character, and perpetually being the black sheep of the show can creep into his mind.

Yellowstone Season 5 will resume this summer.

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