Yellowstone Star Kevin Costner Once Used His Cowboy Skills to Teach a Newcomer About Horse Riding

Movies in Hollywood are no strangers to horses and their usage in various scenes. Therefore, when an actor once lied in his resume about his various skills, including horseriding, it is to get a job sooner than later in the industry. However, ironically, the latter skill came back to haunt him during an acting role that required him to ride a horse. Already in troubled waters then, the actor was rescued from his predicament by the director of the project. Bobby Cannavale, of ‘The Watcher’ fame, once narrated this incident about how his lie about riding a horse like an equestrian almost got him in trouble.

Bobby Cannavale visited the sets of Late Night With Seth Meyers in 2020 and talked about how his director once taught him to ride a horse. Interestingly, the director was none other than the star of the Paramount Network show ‘Yellowstone’, Kevin Costner.

Kevin Costner’s lifelong horseriding experience came to the rescue

Kevin Costner has been riding a horse for most of his life. The majority of his experiences come from doing several movies that are American Westerns. From Jake in Silverado to Lieutenant John J. Dunbar in his Oscar-winning film Dances With Wolves to Wyatt Earp in the titular role, Kevin Costner has covered the whole gamut of playing a ‘Westerner on Horseback’. Therefore, it wasn’t a big deal for him to impart such skills to Bobby Cannavale when they first met professionally.

Bobby Cannavale caught a lucky break with his lie when, coincidentally, the director of the project was Kevin Costner. Cannavale told Myers that when the horse was first brought to him, he just stared at it. It created a very awkward moment until Costner stepped in. Although he wouldn’t name the project, after his lie got caught, he came out with a brand new skill, courtesy of the Yellowstone actor.

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Such expert skills and cowboy experiences are what made Kevin Costner a perfect choice for the role of the patriarch John Dutton in Taylor Sheridan’s Western series Yellowstone.

His experiences with Westerns and horses made him apt as John Dutton

Taylor Sheridan, who wrote, directed, and created the show, also happens to be an expert horse rider and breeder. Having been a rancher and cowboy all his life, Sheridan once explained the importance of horses and ranching in the American lifestyle. Part of the reason he created the show was to depict the way people of his kind still live in the West. Costner plays the head of the Dutton family, a tough homesteader, and a devoted father to his children, whose way of living in the region starts to clash with other parties who eye his land in the ranch.

The plot of the show revolves around the namesake National Park that expands through Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. It involves a lot of horses and horseback riding, for which most actors had to undergo horseriding boot camp. But Kevin Costner skipped it, given his expertise in the area. Yellowstone ran for 5 seasons and is available to watch on Paramount Network.

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