Fan-Favorite Actress Details Harrowing And ‘Breathtakingly Glorious’ Taylor Sheridan TV Set

Actress Michelle Pfeiffer detailed what she described as harrowing work conditions on the set of the Taylor Sheridan project “The Madison.”

The 68-year-old star discussed it during an appearance on the Los Angeles Times podcast, “In Conversation,” earlier this week.

“It was all a little bit rushed for everyone, and so there weren’t certain accommodations set up,” Pfeiffer said. “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.”

“We didn’t really have trailers there, because they were shooting 360, so they couldn’t have a bunch of trailers around. So there’s really no place for us to sit,” she went on. “There was no bathroom nearby. There was no food. And in the winter, it was cold. It was like, ‘Could we have a heater?’ And in the summer, it was like, ‘Could I get an umbrella because the sun’s really intense?’”

Pfeiffer stars in the Paramount+ neo-Western drama series “The Madison” along with Kurt Russell, Beau Garrett, Patrick J. Adams, Elle Chapman, Amiah Miller, Alaina Pollack, and Ben Schnetzer. The show’s description calls it, “a heartfelt study of grief and human connection following a New York City family in the Madison River Valley of Central Montana.” The show was filmed in Montana and Texas. 

She’s not the first professional working on a Sheridan project to speak on the extreme set conditions. Cole Hauser, who worked on Sheridan’s massively popular “Yellowstone” series in addition to the spinoff project “Dutton Ranch,” had some thoughts about the challenging conditions in the latter.

“Coming down there, it was just a totally different world,” he told Variety earlier this month. 

“The weather was different. We started in July and August, and that was painful. It was 118 degrees, and you’re in all black, sitting on a horse. The trailers aren’t 200 yards away — they’re miles away. So you’re out there in the elements. Getting into that and being able to survive the first couple of months was a feat in itself.”

“The Madison” premiered on March 14 and has generally positive reviews, with Pfeiffer in particular being praised for her performance.