Jennifer Lawrence once went to Taylor Sheridan, the creator of Yellowstone,
for acting lessons, but he refused to teach her. The Sheridan and John Linson-created
series kicked off in 2018 and centers on the Dutton family, who own the largest ranch in present-day Montana.
The series features Kevin Costner as the family’s patriarch and includes Sheridan himself as one of many recurring guest stars. The neo-Western drama, currently in season 5, has earned a generally positive critical response as well as achieving high viewership numbers, and has already spawned several spinoffs.
During a panel at Deadline’s Contenders Film: Los Angeles event, an unexpected link between Sheridan and Lawrence came to light. Lawrence’s breakthrough role came with 2012’s The Hunger Games, though she starred prior to that film in several movies including X-
Men: First Class and Winter’s Bone. Outside her successful run in the four-film Hunger Games series, Lawrence has led an acclaimed career with impressive turns in films such as Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle, mother!, and Don’t Look Up, with her most recent project being AppleTV+’s Causeway. While promoting Causeway at the aforementioned panel, Lawrence reacts to the news that Yellowstone’s Sheridan had recalled refunding her for an acting class he used to give after realizing he had nothing to teach her, though she hadn’t realized until the panel that the teacher had been the Yellowstone creator:
According to the anecdote relayed at the panel, Lawrence went to Sheridan’s acting class before her first major role in 2010’s Winter’s Bone, during a time when Sheridan himself was teaching acting in order to supplement his income. Sheridan’s refusal to teach Lawrence and advice to her mother to stop putting her in classes displays just how bright Lawrence’s talents were very early in her career. Based on Lawrence’s thriving career in the decade since, Sheridan’s assessment of her skills was right on the money.
Likewise, Lawrence’s surprise and excitement over the realization that Sheridan was the acting coach she remembers shows that she’s very aware of Sheridan’s success and acclaim in the years since. Given that amusing history between Lawrence and Sheridan, and the respect each figure seems to have for the other’s talent, it’s natural to wonder whether they will work together in the future. Sheridan has a full slate of current projects, including Mayor of Kingstown, The Last Cowboy, Tulsa King, 1883, 1923, Finestkind, 6666, and Yellowstone.
The most likely candidates of Sheridan’s projects for Lawrence to get involved in would be Yellowstone prequel 1923, which has yet to premiere, Mayor of Kingstown season 2, Yellowstone spinoff 6666, or the next season of the flagship show. Yellowstone is one of Sheridan’s most popular projects, but it remains unlikely that Lawrence will appear in the neo-Western anytime soon, given her busy schedule and proclivity for film rather than television roles. However, Lawrence’s upcoming projects, which include film adaptations of the novels Mob Girl and Burial Rites, have shown an interest in crime dramas, which Sheridan also takes interest in, meaning that the pair could potentially reunite for a future film.
