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- [00:06]
Jen Landon
Hey everyone. Welcome back to the official Yellowstone Podcast. I'm Jen Landon and I am joined by my podcast partner and fellow Yellowstone Cowboy, Mr. Jefferson White.
- [00:17]
Jefferson White
Hey, Jen, it's an incredible gift to be here with you as always. We've got a very, very fun show on tap for you today. We feel incredibly lucky to have with us the stunt coordinator of Yellowstone. He's been with us since the very beginning. We've got Jason Rodriguez, J Rod, the legend himself. Just, I hate to say it before we start, I'm going to have to run into the other room. I'm going to have to grab a cup of coffee and then I'm going to be right back. So hang tight, we're going to dive right in.
- [00:58]
Jen Landon
Jeff, do you have your coffee?
- [01:01]
Jefferson White
Yes. Thank you for your patience with me. I had a late night. Yeah, it was a late night. I stayed up late to watch the return of 1923. Couldn't wait. It was one of those funny moments where me and my fiance are sitting there and it's this moment of like, ah, fuck, we really should go to bed. But I couldn't. I couldn't sleep. I knew I wasn't gonna be able to sleep until I watched it. You know what I mean? Like, I have this thing where if other people have seen it and I haven't, I can't. I can't.
- [01:28]
Jen Landon
Isn't there a word for that that the young people use? Or it's like a. What is it? Fomo.
- [01:33]
Jefferson White
Fomo.
- [01:34]
Jen Landon
Fear of missing out.
- [01:35]
Jefferson White
Fear of missing out.
- [01:37]
Jen Landon
I didn't catch 23 last night, but I was up really late doing something oddly Yellowstone related, which was I drank too much coffee and then drank a monster energy and then decided that I had never listened to the anthology of Yellowstone music on Spotify.
- [01:54]
Jason Rodriguez
Whoa.
- [01:55]
Jen Landon
And then proceeded to do that until 2:30 in the morning. And then after I finished listening, I impulse bought a pair of sneakers.
- [02:04]
Jefferson White
How'd you wind up with sneakers? It wasn't even cowboy boots after all that. That's one of these funny things. You work on a show like this, you wind up with way more pairs of cowboy boots than you could ever use. I don't know how to say I can't. I went through a real phase early in Yellowstone and now I probably have like nine pairs of boots just taking up my very limited space in my tiny little Brooklyn apartment.
- [02:25]
Jen Landon
I know that you have recently moved, but I saw your last place and I do have to say that the boots seem to take up an insane amount of space in your apartment.
- [02:37]
Jefferson White
It's mostly boots. Yeah. My apartment is mostly boots and hats.
- [02:41]
Jen Landon
Yeah, well, the hats are big.
- [02:44]
Jefferson White
This is why you gotta have a ranch. If you're a cowboy, you gotta have a ranch because you need space to put your boots, your hats, your spurs, your various paraphernalia. It does not. This is why it's hard to be a Brooklyn cowboy, is that most of my apartment is taken up by hat boxes.
- [02:59]
Jen Landon
I've gotta say, it's hard to just fly with only a carry on.
- [03:02]
Jefferson White
As a cowboy, what do you do with the hat?
- [03:05]
Jen Landon
What do you do with it?
- [03:06]
Jefferson White
This is constant crisis.
- [03:07]
Jen Landon
The spurs are considered a weapon potentially. And for anybody who, you know, buys, you know, or you're gifted some custom spurs, that is not something that you want to have taken away from you.
- [03:20]
Jefferson White
Yeah, those are precious. They're the. They're an incredibly expensive, tiny little piece of metal that it's hard to travel with all this stuff. Which I guess is why these guys, you know, when we talked to Mo Brinks plenty last week, he was driving across the entire country. I guess that's why cowboys end up spending a lot of time driving horse trailers, huh?
- [03:39]
Jen Landon
Yeah, I mean, I would. I find myself driving to Texas half the time now. Even if it's for a couple days, I just, I get in the car instead of flying.
- [03:48]
Jefferson White
I think that's a really. That's a romantic image. You know, barreling across the American Southwest nothing but your spurs and your hat. Well, it's. It's funny you should mention, you know, the difficulty of flying with spurs that might be perceived as weapons because this weekend we're talking about fights. And forgive me out there, if you're already familiar with this phenomenon, the world of stunts, there's some specific compartmentalization. So stunts encompasses a lot of different things. If you think about it, some TV shows are all about gunfights, Some are all about car crashes. Some are all about helicopters, planes, tanks, military style stunts. Yellowstone really runs the gamut. We've got gunfights, we've got car crashes, sometimes in the same sequence. We've got gunfights, car crashes, horse races, lassoing, rodeo. If you think about the history of Hollywood. Yeah, Westerns are a huge part of, like, the origins of stunt technology, Right. Like early blockbuster movies. A lot of that is these iconic American westerns. And from the very beginning, that involves falling off of horses, jumping from horse to horse, getting shot. So a lot of the, you know, tradition and origins of stunt work and filmmaking stunts also dovetails with the western world, with riding and Rodeoing and roping.
- [05:12]
Jen Landon
You know what? That made me just think we've been fortunate enough to have people on Yellowstone who actually were some of those stunt people at the very beginning of, you know, the Western TV film. I'm forgetting his last name, but Boots, for example, who I believe he got killed in season four.
- [05:34]
Jefferson White
Yeah, they invented a lot of this stuff. It's pretty amazing. Like, one of the cool things about filmmaking is it's this constant problem solving. And that's also true of ranching. That's also true of the sort of cowboy world. You got it. Every day is a new day and a new challenge. And you've got to invent the processes by which you solve those problems and surmount those challenges. So a lot of the guys working on Yellowstone and sort of around Yellowstone and in this world invented a lot of the techniques that the rest of, you know, Western filmmaking has employed for a long time. It's so cool. And learning from them has been such a remarkable gift. Speaking of stunts, listen, we can talk about this shit all day long. Luckily, we've got a real expert to inform us about it a little later. Can't wait to talk to J Rod. But in the meantime, Jen, let's. Let's dive into some of our favorite Yellowstone action sequences. Just now we've been talking about gunfights, car crashes, horse work. Let's dig into all of it. What's your favorite? Walk me through them. Putting you on the spot, Jeff.
- [06:40]
Jen Landon
I'm actually not 100% sure what my favorite action sequences are, and I would like.
- [06:43]
Jefferson White
Hard to pick.
- [06:44]
Jen Landon
I would like. Yes, they are. It's incredibly hard to pick also because my coffee hasn't set in completely. So I would sort of love if you answered that question first to get my brain working this morning.
- [06:56]
Jefferson White
Oh, don't worry, I'm buzzing. I'm going to talk for way too fucking long. So we've been talking about the incredible variety and versatility of our stunt performers and our stunt teams. One of my favorite stunts on Yellowstone that I think encompasses a lot of that is there's a sequence in, I want to say season three, maybe season two, where Casey ropes a guy out of a truck. Which is like, when you really think about what that involves, it's crazy. So we're talking about a stunt performer, probably Jordan Warrick, if I was going to guess. We all endeavor to do as much and as many of our stunts as is safe and responsible. But we also all know we're all smart enough to know when to tap out and Also just for the sake of, you know, safety and for the sake of letting the experts do their job. So I think that's Jordan Warrick in that sequence, who's also been with us since the very beginning of Yellowstone. Literally tossing a lasso into the cab of a truck and pulling. I think he pulls the guy out of the window. And when you think about, like, how many disciplines are involved in that, how many complicated factors are colliding or, you know, God willing, not colliding in this case, I just think that's a remarkably impressive thing. So I love that sequence.
- [08:23]
Jen Landon
I say this often, but when we were at the SAG Awards, for example, and we were nominated for Best ensemble, and they always play the clip, you know, before they announce who wins. So much of our clip was actually filled with stunt performers because so much of it was an action sequence. And the people who double us really are half of the performance a lot of the time, because so much of Yellowstone is about making it look authentic. And, I mean, as the seasons have gone on, we've been able to do more and more of our. Of our own stuff. But they help sort of craft what everybody. What everybody sees at home. They are, in ways, half that performance.
- [09:07]
Jefferson White
Absolutely, yeah. I mean, I love to say about my stunt double, Bobby Roberts, that he's played Jimmy for as long as I have, because my first day on set was the sequence in season one where Jimmy gets duct taped to a bucking horse. And Bobby was there, and Bobby did that sequence, you know, so me and Bobby, our first day was the same day. So he's played Jimmy as long as I have. And some of our performers, I mean, it's amazing. A guy like Jordan Warrick has doubled pretty much everybody on the show. Whenever they need to tag in a bad man to do an incredibly difficult task on the back of a horse, they go to Jordan Warwick and he does it.
- [09:44]
Jen Landon
You know, my favorite. I don't know if I've said this already on the show, but one of my favorite Bobby Roberts stories is that besides doubling you, Beth falls off a horse. I think, in season one. My. The gal who doubles me, Lindy Gorham, was doing that stunt. She fell off the horse. Her hand got broken that day. The horse stepped on it. She had to go to the emergency room. They needed to get the shot off. And they're looking around at a group of people, and the person who is most height and coloring appropriate is Bobby Roberts. So when Beth falls off the horse, I forget in whatever season that is, that is the same Person who doubles.
- [10:29]
Jefferson White
Jeff, that's amazing. He also doubles Zane in 1923. A lot of our stunt team works across all of these shows. So Zane in 1923 is played by my dear friend Brian Garrity. We don't look so alike, but Bobby manages to look enough like both of us. Luckily, you don't have to listen to me and Jen in awe over this, talking about some of our personal heroes. We've got one of our personal heroes here with us right now right after this breakfast. We feel so lucky to have with us today a guy who is as much responsible for bringing you Yellowstone as anyone else. He's been on this thing since the beginning. He's been dealing with me and Jen's incompetence since the beginning, making sure we're safe, taking care of us. We feel so blessed to have with us today Jason Rodriguez. J Rod, thanks for being here. J Rod.
- [11:35]
Jason Rodriguez
Hey, good to see you guys. Jeff, Jen, thanks for having me.
- [11:39]
Jefferson White
J Rod, thank you so much for being with us today. Where in the world are you? What are you doing?
- [11:44]
Jason Rodriguez
I am in Weatherford, Texas right now, and I'm directing second unit on Civil War sequence for Bass reeves, the new TV show that 101 Studio is producing.
- [11:57]
Jefferson White
So we've heard whispers about Bass Reeves. I'm sort of as a fairy, as a huge fan, Taylor's. As a huge fan of this world, as a huge fan of yours specifically. What can you tell us? I think our whole audience is out here eager, eager for any tidbits you can give us.
- [12:14]
Jason Rodriguez
Well, I can only tell you just the overall show is about the real life Ranger, Bass Reeves, who was sheriff in the Oklahoma territories in the late 1800s. And he's credited with being like the inspiration for the Lone Ranger that we all know on television. And that's kind of what I know about the story. I'm kind of coming in just to do a specific sequence that's a Civil War that kind of opens up where Bass came from, where we find Bass and stuff like that.
- [12:59]
Jefferson White
This is fascinating because, you know, viewers of Yellowstone, people who've maybe seen 1883, seen 1923, are starting to get a sense of how diverse your skill set is. So in, for instance, season four, episode one of Yellowstone, we've got Casey with the assault rifle smashing an SUV into a panel van. And now you're describing to us shooting a Civil War sequence for Bass Reeves. So will you talk about what's the same? What's different?
- [13:32]
Jason Rodriguez
Yeah, I mean, I've been doing this for 30 years, Jeff. So, I mean, I know I look much younger than that, but.
- [13:40]
Jen Landon
You really do. I want for people who can't see.
- [13:43]
Jason Rodriguez
Him, but I've been around, man. Yeah. And so I've gathered all those different skill sets of, you know, being a stuntman and stunt coordinator so I can coordinate not just westerns, you know, driving sequences, gunfights and things like that. Which, by the way, that the episode one, that gunfight was one of my favorite still sequences to do of all the Yellowstone that we've done. It was really fun. And then just this last season, the. The. When they were trying to steal the wild horses and Casey and his crew come over with the helicopter and all the horses charging through there, that was. That was an amazing experience too. It was. It was fun. And that's what I love about Yellowstone is we do everything pretty much for real, in real time, and not a lot of. Not a lot of, I don't know, trickery. And we get the stuff, you know, real and gritty and how we're feeling, you know, how it's scripted.
- [14:50]
Jefferson White
There's only so much you can fake. Right? That's what I'm always amazed with on the show is like, you know, you use movie magic where you can. You fake it sometimes. But on Yellowstone, it does seem like we come across a lot of sequences where, ah, shit, the best way to do this is to just do it. And I'm thinking perhaps a little bit about the cowboy poker sequence. Do you remember this? I think it's season two, episode one. Will you talk about that a little?
- [15:16]
Jason Rodriguez
Yeah, that was. Those. Those were. That was an interesting time. When Taylor wrote that, the producers at the time came to me and go, so how are we going to do this, you know, and guarantee the safety of everybody involved? And I'm like, well, we really can't. I mean, we're just going to. We're just going to see what happens. And I'll hire the doubles for the actors that they'll all be familiar with bulls and bull riding and bullfighting. I had two really good bullfighters there. One in wardrobe, one standing to the side. And then the girl that took the hit from the bull was Duke Wemberly, who I originally used in season one to ride a bucking horse. And I brought her back to double that girl that gets hit. And Taylor, right before we went was said, hey, look, I don't need anybody to get, you know, just creamed by this bull. You know, we'll just. You just do it. We'll play it for Real. And then when, whenever it's done, then I'll just rewrite whatever and Bill, we'll make the story, work around it. And I said, okay. So I get the stunt court the stunt people together, and I tell them all that. And Duke looks me right in the face and goes, no, it says in the script that the girl gets run over. And I go, I know it says that, but I'm telling you that whatever happens, it's going to be great. She goes, nah, I'm a letter. I'm going to let it hit me. So I said, okay, fine. Just do whatever you want. I don't care. Like, you know, don't die. So she went out. So she sat there, teeth gritted the entire time, head down, back to the bowl, and he came and made a beeline for her and ran the absolute length of her. And she got up, ran to the fence, Everything was fine, and we got a really good sequence out of it. But that's kind of how we do stuff on this show, you know, it's just kind of like they'll look at me, how are we gonna do it? And I go, I guess we're just gonna do it for real and see what happens.
- [17:20]
Jefferson White
It's so funny. I'm reminded of when John Dutton turns to Rip, you know, they're trying to gather up a bunch of wild horses that have gotten out. And he goes, hey, what's the plan here? And Rip goes, you know, sir, I figured just kind of fuck it.
- [17:34]
Jason Rodriguez
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We have. That's kind of the attitude. Christian and Boris and I have this kind of inside joke where we'll set these things up, and then the helicopter will come up over the hill, and the guys will be charging after the loose horses. And then the thieves will do this, and we'll circle them around and we'll dump into the water. And then we both look at each other and go, all right, we ready? Yeah. No, it'll never work. This is going to be great. And then. And that's kind of our. Like, our good became our good luck charm now. We always just. Every time we're going to do something big and wild like that, she and I will just look at each other and go, it'll never work. And then it invariably does, because the quality of the cowboys and stuff and stunt guys that I hire always pull it off, and it goes great.
- [18:18]
Jen Landon
So, J Rod, I don't know if you know this, but when Taylor called me to talk to me about Teeter and sort of the inspiration for Teeter, Teeter was based on somebody that he knew growing up and Duke Wimberley. Yeah, that was the sort of hybrid because what she did that day was crazy.
- [18:39]
Jason Rodriguez
Yeah, Duke. Duke talks a lot like Teeter. She's very, very Texas. Very.
- [18:47]
Jen Landon
I gotta meet this girl.
- [18:48]
Jason Rodriguez
Oh, she's great. She's. She is the. She has the funniest like cowboy colloquialisms I've ever heard in my life. And I've heard a lot of them. And she's a. She's just, she's fun to talk to and she did a great job with that. And then in 1883, she played the drowning girl that pulls Faith off the horse and tussles with her under the water and everything. So we call her in for those kind of spots.
- [19:19]
Jen Landon
I. Can you talk a little bit? I know this, but can you talk a little bit about how you got into stunts and growing up doing rodeo and you know, your, your pops being in rodeo and he gave me my first roping lesson along with you.
- [19:37]
Jason Rodriguez
Oh, that's right. Yeah. Yeah. Well, for just. My background is I grew up on a. I grew up on a. In Paso Robles. My family, my grandfather owned a cattle ranch outside of Paso Robles, which we still own. My mom and my niece run it today. And my grandfather on my mother's side was. Is in the Pro Rodeo hall of Fame, several time world champion. And my dad is also in the Pro Rodeo hall of Fame. He's a several time team rope and world champion. And yeah, it's true. I had him out there working on the show doing a rodeo sequence. And Jen was there when I first met Jen and Jen was learning how to rope and I had her, I was kind of teaching her and I went, wait, I got. My dad's here. I'll just have him. I'll just have him teach her.
- [20:29]
Jefferson White
Let's cut out the middleman.
- [20:30]
Jason Rodriguez
Yeah, exactly. And so he kind of helped out. And then. So when I got how I got into stunts was I moved down to Los Angeles because I was doing some like local commercials and I was the talent and a lot of local commercials and stuff and. And I moved down to LA because I just wanted to try it in Los Angeles and, and got there, tried to be an actor for a couple years. Didn't really like being broke. It was the same reason I quit rodeo and because I hated not having money. I just hate it. And evidently I don't act very well, so I wasn't.
- [21:13]
Jen Landon
That is not true.
- [21:14]
Jason Rodriguez
I was doing a lot of. I was doing quite A few commercials. I was doing all right in commercials. But anyway, I started doing stunts on a show called Briscoe County Junior. I doubled Bruce Campbell, and that's kind of how I got my foot in the door as a stuntman. And then about a year or two later, I went down and worked on the Mascazorro, not doubling anybody. I was just working as a stuntman down there. But I was down there for about six months and met a lot of guys, and that kind of kicked my whole career off. After that, it kind of just took off from there. I was, you know, I started working really regularly and had some really good people, like Chris Howe, Freddie Heiss, that kind of took me under their wing, and the rest is history. Here I am.
- [22:02]
Jefferson White
I'm always amazed by how it's such a family affair, you know, and we found that, you know, that Yellowstone is about family. It's about this sort of generational family. You talk about how your father, your grandfather rodeoed, and also your family's on set too, right? Like your family's working alongside you on Yellowstone. I find that to be such a fun and just sort of lovely parallel between the rodeo world, the stunts world, our world on the show.
- [22:30]
Jason Rodriguez
That's what I love about Yellowstone. Not only the crew and the cast and the store, the show. But the first season, Wade Allen was the stunt coordinator. He had done Wind river for Taylor. And I was really happy that he asked me to come along on the first season. And I doubled Casey the first season. And that's another whole story. Because Taylor would always. Before I would do something, Taylor would joke on. I think he was joking, maybe he wasn't, but he would get on the walkie and go, all right, ready to go. And, hey, could tell J Rod to look younger and skinnier. That'd be great. So at any rate. But what I was saying is, when I got that show, I was able to take my family with me, and we packed up every horse and dog and everything and just moved it out. And that was great. And, you know, then my wife started doing stunt. She fell the horse when Gretchen Moll's character dies, and she did that. And then she's been working on the show, Double Deed and Brolin doing other stuff. And then this year, I got to have my son Boone out on the set in the branding sequence in the cattle drive.
- [23:50]
Jen Landon
That was the best. We got to hang out. Boone's my.
- [23:53]
Jason Rodriguez
Yeah. He wants to know when you're going to come play Mario Kart again with him.
- [23:57]
Jen Landon
I know we have we have a Boone and his youngest. Boone and Buck are J rod sons, and I play video games with them.
- [24:06]
Jefferson White
Well, was Buck born during season one? J Rod, remind me.
- [24:10]
Jason Rodriguez
Season two?
- [24:11]
Jefferson White
Season two, Buck was born. And I just think it's like, what a beautiful expression of the sort of family nature of this. Your younger son was born on Yellowstone, season two, and now he's along for the ride the whole way. I just think that's such an amazing thing.
- [24:24]
Jason Rodriguez
Yeah, no, it's wonderful. And, you know, Taylor's always promoted that kind of family atmosphere around there. You know, it's. It's just been. It's been a really. It's been a great time on so many levels on that show.
- [24:38]
Jefferson White
Well, and it's really interesting, I think, you know, people hear stunt sequences. There's this idea of this, like, separation of, you know, the show and then the stunt sequences. But I think Yellowstone, more than any show I've ever worked on, there's this incredible sort of blurring of those boundaries, you know, because we have in our cast, we have guys with a lot of stunt experience. And then a lot of our sort of stunt guys have been there from the very beginning and are as much a part of playing these characters as anyone. Part of what people respond when they think of Rip is Cole's just big, powerful physical presence. And something that's really fun to think about is there have been a lot of different stunt doubles who have also played that part over the years who have done specific, different sequences. Rip has been involved in about any kind of stunt you can think of. Driving stuff, gunfights, fist fights, horse stunts. A lot of different guys have stepped into those shoes and contributed to that character. That we all has become this sort of larger than life icon. The same is certainly true for Casey. The same is true for Jimmy. More than one person has come in and bucked a horse pretending to be Jimmy to save my little ass from getting broken half. And it's just like. It's such a cool sort of the community that brings this show to life is bigger. And I think that it's really. The whole thing is impossible without our stunt performers. Part of what people respond to about Yellowstone is how real it feels. How real it feels. These exciting sequences. It feels real. And those sequences look good because we have the best stunt performers and stunt coordinators in the world.
- [26:23]
Jason Rodriguez
Well, thanks. But I honestly got to hand it to you guys, because you guys have worked so hard to do is to get as good as you guys have on horses. I mean, we did those branding Sequences this last season, I think. I don't think I used a stunt person in any of those to drag calves and rope and do all that stuff. That was all. That was all cast members, you know, everybody was just dragging calves. And it was a really good. It was a really good time. And I mean. I mean, I remember first season when I picked you up, Jeff, to take you out to the cowboy camp in Utah. And I asked, so, Jeff, have you rode or you've been around horses or anything? And Jeff just cheerfully goes, nope. My first day. All right, cool.
- [27:08]
Jefferson White
No, my first rodeo. This is my first rodeo.
- [27:14]
Jason Rodriguez
I always love working with Jeff because he's the first one to go, hey, J Rod, I'm not feeling comfortable with what I'm doing right now. I'm not feeling. I'm like, it's going to be fine. Don't worry about it. It's going to be great. It's going to be all right. Well, cape is. Because I'm not really. I'm not super comfortable with this. And maybe we could just. No, no, no. It's going to be great. You're going to be fine.
- [27:33]
Jefferson White
J Rod, don't lie. Don't lie. You're always telling me, hey, Jeff, this looks a little too extreme. Maybe we should pull it back. And I'm saying, nah, J Rod, stand down. Tell Bobby to go smoke a cigarette. No problem.
- [27:47]
Jason Rodriguez
Yeah, keep my double away from me. I do all my.
- [27:49]
Jefferson White
Yeah, don't worry about that. Take a break, Bobby.
- [27:52]
Jen Landon
Hey, Jeff, Speaking of a break, we gotta take a break.
- [27:57]
Jefferson White
Oh, my God, Jen. With the transition, that was incredible.
- [28:00]
Jen Landon
We gotta take a break. But when we come back, we're gonna talk to J Rod more about stunts. I'm curious about times you've actually maybe been afraid on set and how Yellowstone compares to other things you've worked on in terms of how much we push the envelope. So we'll be right back. Okay. Welcome back, guys. One. I don't know, Jeff. Have I told the story before about how I cried during the branding sequence?
- [28:38]
Jefferson White
Oh, I'm not sure if I told it.
- [28:40]
Jen Landon
Boring. We don't have to tell it. But I call it my there's no Crying in Baseball moment from A League of Their Own. I was supposed to heal during the branding sequence, and I'd only headed calves before, and I couldn't do it. And I was so mad. And we broke for lunch, and J Rod was like, all right, Jen, it's like, lunch, you can go. And I'm like, no, I'm good. And I was Just, like, staying on the horse. And I kept trying, and I kept missing. And I knew that if I got off the horse and looked J Rod in the eye, I was gonna start sobbing. So he's just talking to me, and I've got my hat down, and I'm, like, shaking my head, and I look up, and I catch eye contact with him because J Rod's a friend, and I start crying like the girl in A League of Their Own. And it wasn't that bad. It was. And here's the thing. Sorry, J Rod. If you have, like, a real strong, masculine identity, you need to uphold, instead of pulling a Tom Hanks and being like, there's no crying in baseball, J Rod, like, tear it up a little. Cause he's never seen me. He's never seen me. You've probably never seen me cry or be upset. I'm sort of, like an emotion. I don't really have emotions. You know, I'm sort of dead inside. So I think it just caught him off guard.
- [29:55]
Jason Rodriguez
It did. It really did catch me off guard. And by the way, I was told by you to keep this. I was sworn to secrecy on this. And so now you're bringing it out into the open, but none of the.
- [30:09]
Jen Landon
Stunt guys are gonna listen to this show.
- [30:10]
Jason Rodriguez
You know, I could. Honestly, I could. You are such a good. You are such a friend, and. And. And I could feel your frustration, and I. It just. It. It made me. You know, it made me feel bad that you were feeling so bad. And, yeah, I don't care. I'm an emotional guy. What the hell? I'm 50 something years old. I don't got to make any excuses for anything. So. And it just. It moved me that you were so passionate and so frustrated in the moment that you cared so much that, I mean, because a lot of actors would just, like, miss them and then go, oh, well, that's where my stunt double takes care. And they don't. They don't care. But you just, like, wanted to do it so well, and then.
- [30:51]
Jen Landon
And then we hung in there, and then it worked.
- [30:54]
Jason Rodriguez
Yeah, it worked. You got one, and you drug it. And I was behind. I was behind them. I was behind the monitor with Christina. And when you caught one and you're dragging it to the fire, I was, like, jumping up and down. Like, I was so happy for you to have the success that you did, and I knew it would turn out good. But, yeah, it was definitely a bonding experience between Jen and I.
- [31:22]
Jefferson White
See, this is funny, because when I broke down and cried, J Rod slapped me in the face. He put me in a headlock and gave me a noogie for 15 minutes. Production, we had to go on a break because Jason gave me a noogie for 15 minutes.
- [31:39]
Jen Landon
J Rod, I don't know if you can answer this question. Have there ever been moments on set, like, has there been or is there a distinct moment where you got worried, where you went where I mean, or that might just be a permanent state, but have you had moments that, again, are out of our control because we do take calculated risk? Um, yeah.
- [32:01]
Jason Rodriguez
I mean, I can't. Anytime we do something big like that, there's a sequence where they chase buffalo at night. And that, that sequence worried me just because it was night through this pasture and we couldn't, you know, the devils are chasing this buffalo and they run fast. I mean, when you're chasing a buffalo, you're at. You're going as fast as your horse can pack you. And that kind of made me that, that made me nervous. The, again, the wild horse sequence that we did this season always kind of makes me nervous. I always have a Jordan work my right hand man, and he's out here running, coordinating Bass Reeves and doing a really great job. I always tell him I will always look at him sometimes when I'm nervous and I'll go, here's where I see my career flash before my eyes. And Jordan, he always look at me and go, I hate it when you say that.
- [33:00]
Jen Landon
For people who don't know about horses and the things involved with that, like, one of the things that I've come to have my own healthy fear about that I didn't have before. And what has often felt to me to be the most dangerous part of the show is running is even just loping a horse through a field that is thick and brush that has holes that we might not see. That seems to be the thing that I always. Because the rest of it I feel like we can control and choreograph and we obviously check those fields.
- [33:32]
Jason Rodriguez
But yeah, I mean, we check. We check them and do and do our due diligence to make it absolutely safe for the horses and the riders and everything. But still, yeah, those are the times. Those are the times that I just get a little worried about it. But ultimately, I trust our prep and I trust our actors and stuntmen and just kind of don't worry about it.
- [34:00]
Jen Landon
My favorite stunt that we did together, J Rod, was it'll probably always be the season three biker sequence.
- [34:10]
Jason Rodriguez
Oh, yeah.
- [34:12]
Jen Landon
I was on cloud nine by the end of that day. I mean, I was tired. We had done it so many times, but that was so fun. And I got to work with your brother, who I love who he looks, you guys, he looks like J Rod, but, like, parallel universe J Rod. Like, the eyes are the same, but nothing else's.
- [34:36]
Jason Rodriguez
You got to bite him, right? You did in that fight.
- [34:40]
Jen Landon
Yeah, yeah.
- [34:42]
Jason Rodriguez
That's good. Yeah, yeah, it was fun. That was a. That was a fun sequence. And Jen. That was Jen's first season. So I got her a double. I had. I had a double for her just standing by because I didn't know, you know, I didn't know Jen yet and everything. And those guys. And I remember denim and Ian going, hey, where the hell's our devil? I go, I know, you guys. You'll be fine. Like. And Ian's going, I hate getting slammed around and stuff like that. And I go, you'll be fine. Suck it up. Get in there. And my stunt guys beat the hell out of them. And they had no doubles. And Jen's double standing over there. And I knew once I got to really know Jen and I saw her that day, I go, now we're gonna have to double it for this stuff again, because she just loves it and thinks it's the greatest thing ever.
- [35:27]
Jen Landon
I get so mad when I don't have enough fight stuff. I'm like, no, I live for this.
- [35:33]
Jason Rodriguez
You scarily get into the fighting way too enthusiastically. Like, the bar fight, this secret. The bar fight. This year, Jen was like. She's running around in the rehearsals and, like, as she dispatched with her guys, she'd grab somebody else on the floor and smack him in the back of the head. And, I mean, she owns it.
- [35:57]
Jen Landon
J Rod does. And I want you to lie about this if the answer is no, but does Yellowstone push the envelope more than other shows that you've worked on in this sort of horse stunt area? Do we do more than other people? And if the answer is no, I want you to lie.
- [36:21]
Jason Rodriguez
No, no, no. I don't have to lie. Believe this is it's it. The scripts that Taylor writes require more. I don't know what you want to say. Balls, husband. Whatever you want to say. Yeah. To accomplish the. And the thing of it is, it's not like, when you look at it, it's not like you think of huge action stuff. It's like Marvel movies and Michael Bay and stuff like that. That stuff is very rehearsed, very calculated, very, you know, all the bugs are worked out of that before the performers even come on and start to do it. It's very specific. Like I said, with our stuff, it's like we just. We just do it. We just, you know, throw 20 Buffalo in the field and tell the guys to go chase them, you know.
- [37:15]
Jen Landon
Yeah.
- [37:16]
Jason Rodriguez
Or we are. We, you know, just all that stuff is, you know, like, it's calculated in a way that I know the horses, I know the elements, I know everything. And I've. And I've worked out every possible scenario in my head of what could possibly go wrong and then eliminated that. And so it's. It's safe in that regard. But ultimately it's. Yeah. I mean, when I first started on the show, there was a lot of, like, we're really going to do this, huh? This is. You know, and now I kind of. I kind of just relax into it and know that you guys have been trained enough. And then the stunt guys that I hire are going to be perfect and everything's going to be great.
- [38:03]
Jen Landon
On that front. Jared, just because you actually are such a good director, did you pick up or just start thinking like a director when you started coordinating stunt things and just innately started thinking about it from, like, a camera standpoint, you had to almost think about the scene as a whole in order to know, like, where you were gonna put things, et cetera?
- [38:29]
Jason Rodriguez
Yeah. I mean, that's how I like to coordinate, and I have that background. And what's important to me, especially with Yellowstone, is not only like, serving the action, but serving the script and the. And the. The actor in their. In their character and the progression of whatever that is. So when, even in action sequences, to me, it's just an extension of the story. And if you don't put the story pieces in or if it rings false with what. If it rings faults with the character, it doesn't do any good to be the greatest action sequence ever and not. Not push. Not move the story forward. So I think a lot about that stuff. In fact, this season, one of my favorite things that we did was that fight between Beth and Summer, because I really got. We rehearsed it quite a bit, and I really got to work with Kelly and Piper, and we had these really cool talks about character and what Beth would do here and what Summer would do and how. And it was really a great. I enjoyed it immensely because it was this great collaboration of, you know, even if it was, you know, small stuff, when. When Rip comes out to break the fight up, Kelly goes, I want to get off of her. But I think Beth wouldn't just, like, Stand up. And I go, well, one. One really crappy thing is when you're in MMA fight and stuff it. When the bell rings, I go, you can push off of the. Push your. Push off the guy like he's helping. Like you're pushing off of him to stand up. And she goes, oh, that'd be. I go, so why don't you just grab Piper's face and just shove her, like, get up. Using her face to stand up. And Kelly was like, oh, my God, that's great. And so she did it and it was all, you know, it's. Then it's fun to see it that it worked in the final cut and they acted it so well. And I mean, those girls went at it for two nights. But it was. But again, it was back to. It was an ability in a scene like that to really serve their characters. Even though it's a big action, a.
- [40:41]
Jefferson White
Big fight, I think that really speaks to. That happens throughout the series because there are so many badasses on Yellowstone, but they all have a sort of distinct personality, and that translates into their style of violence, you know, which is a interesting thing to talk about. But it's like Rip fights different than Casey, fights different than Walker, fights different than Ben. And it's so cool to see their personalities and the. The circumstances their characters grew up in affect the way they engage in these sequences. I think that's part of what's so gratifying about season four, episode one of Yellowstone, when Casey just pops the off. Because you see the years that he spent engaged in special operations.
- [41:26]
Jason Rodriguez
Exactly.
- [41:27]
Jefferson White
You see it for the first time. You see that switch really flip and he goes into a completely different.
- [41:33]
Jason Rodriguez
No, yeah. You can absolutely see that he's been shot out for real. This isn't the first gunfight he's ever been in, you know.
- [41:39]
Jen Landon
Yeah.
- [41:40]
Jefferson White
And that's so different than, like, Rip, how Rip handles these things. You know, Rip kind of runs headlong into these conflicts, whereas Casey kind of turns into this well trained machine.
- [41:51]
Jason Rodriguez
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. It is a. That's not. That's what's fun about doing these sequences is you get to kind of think about that, you know, when. When Rip. I can't remember what episode is when Rip comes in and saves Beth from being raped by the Beck brothers. Bad guys and stuff is, you know, he just. The guy turns a gun on him and he just smashes through the window and just can. Continues forward and takes the gun, slams the guy through the floor. And I mean, it's just. That's just How Rip, where Casey would have probably, you know, came in and got a good angle on him and taken him out, you know, so it's.
- [42:28]
Jefferson White
Yeah, Rip's not very tactical. Rip is just kind of. He's the bull. He's the bull playing cowboy poker. He's going through you.
- [42:35]
Jason Rodriguez
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which is always, always fun to work with Cole and stuff like that. It's. It's. It's pretty fun.
- [42:44]
Jefferson White
My stunt, he's a monster.
- [42:45]
Jason Rodriguez
My stunt guys hate doing fights with Cole because he's so big and strong and doesn't. You know, when he. When I say, threw the guy through the floor, that was a stunt guy, Rick Moffatt. And I mean, when Rip. When Cole picked him up and slammed him onto the floor, the whole. Like, it felt like the whole second story shook. Like, it was. It was. It was not pleasant. Yeah.
- [43:12]
Jefferson White
Thanks for everything you do for us, obviously, for years and years now. We feel so lucky to have you with us, and thanks for taking the time today. You're a very busy man.
- [43:22]
Jason Rodriguez
Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. I miss you guys.
- [43:24]
Jen Landon
I miss you.
- [43:26]
Jason Rodriguez
All right.
- [43:28]
Jefferson White
It was an incredible gift to talk to J Rod, obviously, somebody that Jen and I admire very much. If you couldn't hear it in our voice, voices, we feel so, so lucky. We also feel incredibly lucky to have you, the listener, with us every week. Thank you so much for being here. It really means the world, and we'll see you real soon. The official Yellowstone podcast is a production of 101 Studios and Paramount. This episode was produced by Scott Stone. Brandon Gatches is the head of audio for 101 Studios. Steve Razis is the executive vice president of the Paramount Global Podcast Group. Special thanks to Megan Marcus, Jeremy Westfall, Ainsley Rosito, Andrew Sarnow, Jason Reed, and Whitney Baxter from Paramount. And of course, David Glasser, David Hutkin, and Michelle Newman from 101 Studios.