Spencer Dutton’s Brandon Sklenar and Alexandra’s Julia Schlaepfer performed one of 1923’s best, most heart-pounding stunts.
In this new glimpse behind the scenes of Yellowstone prequel, stunt coordinator Jason Rodriguez explains how the harrowing elephant sequence of 1923 Season 1, Episode 3 came to be.
“it was a real mix of live animals, VFX, and even puppeteering,” Rodriguez smiles from the set in new footage released by Paramount.
In the episode, Alexandra (Julia Schlaepfer) experiences the wilds of Africa after escaping her old life to run away with Spencer Dutton (Brandon Sklenar). Alex, as Spencer decides to call her, jokes about a marriage proposal, then gets one from Spencer in his own unique way.
But all of Africa is an unforgiving place, and their romantic 1923 journey is interrupted by a charging bull elephant. He comes at them head-on (as elephants often will), turning their car over multiple times. They are intruders in this space, and the bull is not having it.
‘Any time that you can actually put your actors in these stunt spots, that’s the icing on the cake’
“A lot of the shots were with live elephants,” Rodriguez reveals. “We had them chasing the vehicle, so we could tie that in to a puppeteered elephant that hits the car and flips it over.”
That car, of course, has Spencer and Alex inside:
Stunt Coordinator Jason Rodriguez explains how this death-defying scene was created.
Amazingly, this stunt was 100% shot with both Sklenar and Schlaepfer in the action.
“We were able to build a rig to where we could actually see the actors inside the car getting flipped,” Rodriguez says in the Paramount footage. “Any time that you can actually put your actors in these stunt spots, that’s the icing on the cake.”
It’s unclear how or where 1923 sourced their elephant actors, however. We hope these magnificent beasts were treated as fairly as possible.
But in the episode, Spencer is forced to shoot the bull, and their vehicle is ruined as it lie next to the giant carcass. So he and Alex must climb a tree for some semblance of safety.
“We need to get in that tree,” Spencer tells her.
“Don’t you think it’d be safer to stay in the truck?” Alex replies.
“Darling, there is nothing safe about this truck,” he growls.
And sure enough, a pride of lions come for the elephant carcass in the night.
1923 Season 1, Episode 3 is the series at its best
Spencer and Alex watch from the tree as the pride consumes the dead bull. But before long, the horrible laughter of hyenas enters. Dozens surround the pride. A rivalry as old as time ensues, causing Alex to scream. As she does, a lioness spots her, but Spencer shoots it just in time.
“It’s going to be this all night,” he tells her as he wards off further lions with his rifle. During their struggle, a fateful caravan of vehicles appears out of the darkness, and they’re able to exit the tree. But Alex has now experienced death as Spencer described to her in their first meeting (1923 Episode 2). And she was not a fan.
It’s a glorious, pulse-pounding episode for audiences, however, and easily the best of the season.
Alex: I looked death in the eye and I didn’t feel alive, Spencer. I only felt horror.
Spencer: But you felt. I never said it was going to be fun. I just said you’d feel.
Alex: I don’t want to feel like that, do you understand me? I don’t ever want to feel like that again.
Spencer: For a long time that was the only way I could feel. Until I met you. And I don’t ever want to feel that way again, either.
1923 will return with a Season 2, hopefully in 2024.
