Meanwhile, as the Yellowstone family tears itself apart from the inside out, the outside world moves on at a relatively slower pace, with nothing but reminiscing memories to survive on. One of those memories involves Wes Bentley and his breakout success story, American Beauty.

Wes Bentley Learns a Lesson From Chris Cooper

Yellowstone may have brought global and unparalleled success to Wes Bentley in the years since 2018, but fame came knocking at his door decades earlier in the form of Sam Mendes’ feature directorial debut, American Beauty.

In an interview held by Entertainment Weekly in 2023, Bentley, star of such projects as Hunger Games and American Horror Story, spoke out on the subject of his breakout film which premiered in 1999.

Recalling a particular day during filming that left a lasting impression on him and his career, Bentley said:

Chris Cooper – he played my father, the Colonel. The scene where he comes, bursts in and beats up Ricky, Chris was off in another room yelling in this worked up space, and I remember him off in that room yelling, and I was like, ‘Wow, this is amazing… and distracting.’

But then I remember that moment of thinking, ‘Oh, I need to use this.’ I listened to him do that and it was working for me. I was scared and I was intimidated and I was like, ‘I’m going to use this.’ So he came bursting through the door and I was able to take that. It was kind one of those moments when I realized, in acting, you gotta use everything. You can’t limit ideas.

Acting is not about comfort. It’s very uncomfortable. So, you know you’re doing it right when, at least in some roles and situations, it is uncomfortable.

Understandably, it was not the legendary Kaiser Soze but Chris Cooper, an icon in the acting world with more cult classic hits to his name than the rest of the cast combined, who was able to leave an impression on Wes Bentley, that would endure to this day in his career.

Alongside other heavy hitters like Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, and Peter Gallagher, the Yellowstone actor left a mark of his own in this powerful story which carried him down the road until he reached Taylor Sheridan’s doorstep.

American Beauty Was Not Kind to Wes Bentley

Taylor Sheridan has had as much luck with acting in Hollywood as water to a wet stone. But in Wes Bentley, he found a shared soul, in terms of how both aspired to be great in their respective art forms only to have their paths altered, leading to an even greater success story than they ever dreamed was possible.