{"id":815823,"date":"2024-12-30T04:21:46","date_gmt":"2024-12-30T10:21:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/30\/yellowstone-helped-luke-grimes-blow-up-what-now\/"},"modified":"2024-12-30T04:21:46","modified_gmt":"2024-12-30T10:21:46","slug":"yellowstone-helped-luke-grimes-blow-up-what-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/30\/yellowstone-helped-luke-grimes-blow-up-what-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Yellowstone<\/em> Helped Luke Grimes Blow Up. What Now?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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THERE ARE A <\/strong>lot of big stars and even bigger presences peppered throughout the five seasons of <\/em>Yellowstone<\/a><\/em>. Obviously, the Academy Award\u2013winning film legend Kevin Costner has always been the headliner, and he\u2019s been joined by performers like Kelly Reilly (who plays hot-headed fan favorite Beth Dutton) and Cole Hauser<\/a> (as cool-as-a-cucumber cowboy Rip), who have earned plenty of much-deserved praise. But at the end of the day, it\u2019s Luke Grimes, the 40-year-old actor who plays Kayce (pronounced \u201cCasey\u201d) Dutton, the youngest son of John (Costner) and his late wife Evelyn, who\u2019s proven to be the most vital piece of the series. <\/p>\n

From the very first episode, it was clear that Grimes was an inspired casting choice for the strong-willed but beleaguered Kayce. While he\u2019s got the rough-around-the-edges look of a traditional cowboy, he also comes with a pair of sad, soulful eyes that pop off the screen\u2014he just has one of those faces.<\/em> Torn between fulfilling his commitment to his wife and daughter and being brought back into the Dutton fold after years of estrangement, Kayce might be the ultimate fulcrum in the show\u2019s treatise on family and what honoring a legacy means. \u201cHe\u2019s really got to start making some decisions,\u201d Grimes says about Kayce\u2019s endgame arc. (Yellowstone<\/em>\u2019s possibly-series-but-definitely-season finale<\/a> aired on December 15.) \u201cThere\u2019s no more time to sit around and think about things. He just has to do, and that can be dangerous.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Grimes is more than just an actor who played a cowboy on one of TV\u2019s biggest shows. He also released his debut country music album earlier this year and is now refining his act as a live musician. Recently, he spent a brief stretch in New York City and put on a solo show at the famed Webster Hall<\/a>, where acts like Muse and Charli XCX cut their teeth. He also made his debut on The Tonight Show<\/em>, pulling double duty as an interviewed guest<\/a> and<\/em> the night\u2019s musical act<\/a>, which he says was a dream come true and a lot of work all at once. <\/p>\n

As if ending your tenure on one of television\u2019s most watched shows of the decade and <\/em>dropping an album weren\u2019t enough, Grimes is also fresh off shooting the latest Ari Aster<\/a> film, another western, called Eddington<\/em>. Naturally, details are under lock and key because, shit<\/em>, it\u2019s Ari Aster, a filmmaker who\u2019s had a Yellowstone<\/em>-style cultural impact of his own since Hereditary <\/em>hit theaters in<\/em> 2018. \u201cI think he could be one of the greats of our generation,\u201d Grimes says. \u201cIt was really cool I got to do that. And that was very, very, very<\/em> different from Yellowstone<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Yellowstone<\/em>\u2019s bombshell season 5 now complete, Men\u2019s Health<\/em> caught up with Grimes to talk about the lessons he learned doing the show, how Kayce blends modern and traditional masculinity, and why he never<\/em> wants to be in a superhero movie. <\/p>\n

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RUBEN CHAMARRO<\/span><\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

MEN\u2019S HEALTH: How was the trip to New York for your Webster Hall performance and appearance on The Tonight Show<\/em>? <\/strong><\/p>\n

LUKE GRIMES<\/strong>:<\/strong> It went really well, man! Honestly, I was a little nervous that no one was going to show up to the gig. You know, it\u2019s New York. It\u2019s not like I\u2019m in Nashville or something. We had a great turnout and people were pumped. I<\/em> was pumped.<\/p>\n

MH: By the end of <\/strong>Yellowstone<\/em><\/em><\/em><\/strong>, what has Kayce learned? <\/strong><\/p>\n

LG<\/strong>:<\/strong> His big arc has been his father wanting him to step into his shoes and take over this massive ranch, which is, you know, impossible, and really the last thing on earth Kayce wants to do. He loves that way of life, but he wants a much simpler version of it. We\u2019ve seen him struggle between his personal family and then the legacy of his larger family. This last season, he\u2019s really had to take action, which can be uncomfortable for him.<\/p>\n

MH: But great to watch.<\/strong><\/p>\n

LG<\/strong>:<\/strong> Right.<\/p>\n

MH: Has playing Kayce changed how you approach anything in life? <\/strong><\/p>\n

LG<\/strong>:<\/strong> As much as I love Kayce, that\u2019s always been the frustrating part about playing him. Deep down he\u2019s a really good, pure soul. But the indecisiveness is incredibly frustrating for him and the people around him. Even up until last season, he spends a lot of time sitting on a porch talking about how he doesn\u2019t know where he belongs. <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t feel like that as a person at all. I\u2019ve always known what I wanted and been pretty focused. Since I was a kid, I\u2019ve known what I\u2019ve wanted, and I\u2019ve been lucky to get that. Kayce has found that getting things you think you want sometimes doesn\u2019t feel very good. And I\u2019m glad in my life I\u2019m not that way.<\/p>\n

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MH: Are you satisfied with where Kayce ends up after the finale?<\/strong><\/p>\n

LG<\/strong>:<\/strong> I am, I think. It\u2019s the perfect ending. I think anyone who cares about Kayce will be very, very pleased with how everything goes. Taylor [Sheridan, Yellowstone<\/em> co<\/em>creator and showrunner] is just such a good writer. He had the ending in mind from the very beginning. Sometimes it\u2019s like he starts from the end and figures out how to get there. <\/p>\n

MH: Kayce\u2019s caught between two worlds: his life with his wife and daughter and being brought back into the Dutton fold. There are modern and traditional ideas of masculinity at play with him. How important was it for you to explore that kind of thing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

LG<\/strong>:<\/strong> The great thing about Kayce is he isn\u2019t really into that old-school masculinity. He\u2019s the vulnerable one. If you\u2019re in a western, it\u2019s probably way more fun to be the cool guy who doesn\u2019t have emotions, constantly posturing, unbeatable in a fight, and all that kind of stuff. Kayce is destructible; he loses sometimes. That\u2019s the much more realistic modern version of masculinity. He goes to war, but he\u2019s not a war hero\u2014it ruins his life, and he comes back a completely different person, and he deals with this PTSD. <\/p>\n

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Emerson Miller<\/span><\/figcaption>

Grimes, left, plays Kayce Dutton in \u2019Yellowstone.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

It\u2019s not fun to go into that mentally, but I think it makes him a more well-rounded, more realistic character, and probably a better role model for people going through similar things in real life. And that goes back to Taylor. Taylor loves westerns, but he\u2019s also incredibly smart, so there\u2019s always a little more to everything. <\/p>\n

MH: I spent a year studying in Montana and loved it. What\u2019s it like when you\u2019re all out there making this show?<\/strong><\/p>\n

LG<\/strong>:<\/strong> We film in this place called Bitterroot Valley, and I actually moved there four years ago. I started falling in love with it little by little, and then I started noticing it felt weird to leave and go back to Los Angeles. It\u2019s like I slowly started switching gears. L.A. scared me to death, honestly. The big jump happened when my wife came up there with me when we did a season during the height of COVID. The options were \u201ccome the whole time or don\u2019t come at all.\u201d So she came; we rented a really nice house there. And we got so into it. We built<\/em> a house, and it\u2019s the best place I\u2019ve ever lived. <\/p>\n

I know how this sounds, but I think Montana is, in some ways, the biggest character in the show. It\u2019s about the land. It\u2019s about the ranch and the scenery. And that\u2019s probably why a lot of people fell in love with the show so much. We started to get a serious audience during COVID. It was a time where everyone was locked inside, and there was something so romantic about watching a show where everyone\u2019s on horseback looking at endless, beautiful vistas.<\/p>\n

MH: I\u2019ve shown pictures to friends who\u2019ve said, \u201cCome on, that\u2019s fake, man.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

LG<\/strong>:<\/strong> Right. It\u2019s like, nothing looks like that in real life<\/em>. Or so I thought. <\/p>\n

MH: I remember driving one time to get to the next town over, which was two and a half hours away<\/strong>\u2014because it\u2019s Montana, after all. Along the way, there were stops and memorials at these sites, what they call \u201cbattlefields,\u201d where Native Americans were killed. It\u2019s something the state doesn\u2019t seem to shy away from. Kayce has a throughline to that through his wife, Monica, right?<\/strong><\/p>\n

LG<\/strong>:<\/strong> Yeah, exactly. It\u2019s another reason he feels he\u2019s between a rock and a hard place: His father isn\u2019t very pleased that he married a Native girl. Those things are hard to touch on, even on scripted TV. There\u2019s obviously some tribalism and racism, but Kayce doesn\u2019t see in those terms. He just loves who he loves.<\/p>\n

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RUBEN CHAMARRO<\/span><\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

MH: It\u2019s beautiful, but it makes things difficult.<\/strong><\/p>\n

LG<\/strong>:<\/strong> Exactly. There\u2019s that line in the very first episode of the show where Monica\u2019s grandfather comes to him and says, \u201cUntil they find a cure for human nature, a man must stand with his people. And we are not your people.\u201d So he doesn’t belong on the reservation. He doesn’t belong on his family\u2019s ranch. A huge part of our arc is dealing with the difference and the problems that were created hundreds of years ago. It\u2019s heartbreaking. <\/p>\n

MH: I know it\u2019s being kept super secret, but you filmed a new Ari Aster movie recently, too. <\/strong><\/p>\n

LG<\/strong>:<\/strong> Man, he\u2019s one of my favorite directors. I\u2019m coming off this big TV show, so I have a bit of the luxury of like, Hey, I\u2019ve never explored that before<\/em>. Just see what\u2019s out there. It might be working with a certain actor, or cast, or a director. Acting-wise, my heart\u2019s open, mind\u2019s open. I\u2019m just looking for the next thing that excites me. <\/p>\n

MH: I remember talking to Ari Aster on the <\/strong>Midsommar<\/a><\/em><\/strong> circuit, and I asked if it felt weird to already be treated like such a big deal only two films into his career and to have those kinds of expectations lingering. He said, \u201cAll the time.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

LG<\/strong>:<\/strong> Right, and the weirdest thing on Eddington<\/em> was it didn\u2019t<\/em> feel weird. I look over on one side and there\u2019s Ari, and over on the other side there\u2019s Joaquin Phoenix. And I\u2019m like, \u201cThis should feel crazy to me!\u201d Yellowstone<\/em> is a huge production now. You\u2019ve got wranglers and hundreds of cows. <\/p>\n

MH: Hundreds of cows?<\/strong><\/p>\n

LG<\/strong>:<\/strong> Hundreds. The base camp has gotten massive. And with Ari, it was like I was doing an indie movie. It was a lot more intimate. <\/p>\n

MH: Knowing Ari Aster, I\u2019m assuming it\u2019s a very different kind of western compared to <\/strong>Yellowstone<\/em><\/strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

LG<\/strong>:<\/strong> Absolutely. It takes place in a small town in New Mexico. Joaquin Phoenix is the sheriff of this town, but it\u2019s set in modern day. It actually takes place during COVID, so it\u2019s not a western in the traditional sense.<\/p>\n

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Erika Goldring<\/span><\/figcaption>

Grimes performing at Tennessee’s Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival in September 2023.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

MH: Do you have any routines to preserve your mental and physical health when you\u2019re on the road? You mentioned that things like talk shows stress you out. <\/strong><\/p>\n

LG<\/strong>:<\/strong> The touring thing is new. I\u2019m still working it out. It\u2019s hard to eat right when you\u2019re on a bus, and you\u2019re hitting cities you\u2019ve never been to, and you\u2019re only there for a few hours before you have to get back on the bus. It\u2019s a totally new process I\u2019m still learning. I will say, whenever I get a gig and I\u2019m going to a new city, my first thing is always \u201cI need to get a routine.\u201d That\u2019s what really helps me. I very quickly try to find a couple places I like to eat where I feel comfortable. I find a gym and really embrace the routine<\/a> from day one. <\/p>\n

Gyms, for me, are more about the mental aspect of it than making sure I look good with my shirt off or whatever. I mean, of course, I\u2019d like to look good with my shirt off, but we all would. If I go a couple weeks without working out, I start to get real dark. So I have to\u2014I just have to. I\u2019m 40 years old now, so I know I have to get it done.<\/p>\n

MH: Yeah. Our bodies betray us every day.<\/strong><\/p>\n

LG<\/strong>:<\/strong> Oh my god, yes, and it\u2019s just so much easier to be unhealthy. It seems like the cards are stacked against us in modern life a little bit. <\/p>\n

MH: What does it feel like when things get dark?<\/strong><\/p>\n

LG<\/strong>:<\/strong> It feels like I\u2019m taking a test. I do love self-help books. I always feel really inspired when I read things like that. I\u2019ve done therapy in the past; it\u2019s not something I do all the time, but I always know it\u2019s there. I\u2019ll admit that I\u2019m not great at meditating. It\u2019s really hard for me to sit and close my eyes for 20 minutes. I have a really short attention span. <\/p>\n

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RUBEN CHAMARRO<\/span><\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

MH: One of the biggest headlines for Yellowstone<\/em> this year was Kevin Costner leaving the show<\/a>, and then his character dying<\/a> and his reaction to that<\/a>. Are you in touch with him at all?<\/strong><\/p>\n

LG<\/strong>:<\/strong> No, I haven\u2019t talked to him since. It\u2019s not a case of any hard feelings or anything; it\u2019s just, he\u2019s Kevin Costner. [L<\/em>aughs<\/em>] He\u2019s a big deal. I do have his phone number\u2014I just don\u2019t feel like it\u2019s my place to reach out. He can reach out to me if he wants to.<\/p>\n

None of us saw it coming the way it did, and obviously there was news about possible blowups behind the scenes or whatever. But just like in life, man, these things happen, they happen fast, and they\u2019re not predictable. I lost my father a few years ago. It happened fast, and it was not the way that you would think that that would happen. In life, these things happen and then people have to start making decisions. And in our little Yellowstone<\/em> world, that helped ramp the show up into a boil.<\/p>\n

MH: You\u2019ve got this album, you\u2019ve got this big acclaimed series, an Ari Aster movie under your belt, major parts before in movies like American Sniper<\/em> and the Magnificent Seven<\/em> remake. Do you start to think about the superhero movie phone ringing at some point and locking in a Marvel<\/a> paycheck?<\/strong><\/p>\n

LG<\/strong>:<\/strong> No, man. That sounds like no fun to me at all<\/em>. No judgment whatsoever for anyone who does that, but I just don\u2019t know if I have the personality for it, to be honest. I\u2019m sure my agents are going to be really mad at me for saying that. But to wear tights in front of a green screen for a few months, and then travel all over the world doing the talk shows that make me nervous for a few months\u2014it kind of sounds like hell. <\/p>\n

I like writing songs. I like acting. I\u2019m going to try my best to just keep doing those things. And hopefully I\u2019m allowed to keep doing those things. I have a kid now [Grimes\u2019s first child, a boy, was born in October 2024<\/a>], so I\u2019m sure that at some point I\u2019ll have to do some things for money. I\u2019m just hoping and praying that I can continue to be in stuff that I\u2019m proud of.<\/p>\n

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. <\/em> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Gaylene Motsinger
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THERE ARE A lot of big stars and even bigger presences peppered throughout the five seasons of Yellowstone . Obviously, the Academy Award\u2013winning film legend Kevin Costner has always been the headliner, and he\u2019s been joined by performers like Kelly Reilly (who plays hot-headed fan favorite Beth Dutton) and Cole Hauser (as cool-as-a-cucumber cowboy Rip)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":815824,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1766,27833],"tags":[11229,10925],"class_list":{"0":"post-815823","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-helped","8":"category-yellowstone","9":"tag-helped","10":"tag-yellowstone"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}