Untamed, 2024
Telluride, Colorado
Established in 1885, the saloon at the
New Sheridan in Telluride, Colorado
plays to the lore of the loosely governed
Wild West. A great deal has gone on in
this building over the last 140 years and
I sense that not much of it would have
earned the participants an easy stairway
to heaven. The irony is, that given the bar
sits at an altitude of 9200 feet, the alleged
climb would be considerably shorter than
most. The saloon has the whiff of vice and
is probably all the better for it. It was a
place where only four generations ago,
saloon girls and grizzly gold prospectors
bettered each other’s lives night after
night.
In 1889, just one building down from the
New Sheridan saloon, Butch Cassidy
staged his first bank robbery. He and
three mates ran off with $31,000 from the
San Miguel Valley Bank - a load of cash
in those days. There were no lawmen in
sight, it was very much The Wild West.
In my giddy western revisionism, I always
demand strong faces and this tableau
is a narrow smorgasbord of Western
archetypes. The calculus involved in the
casting and then the composition of that
cast in a single vignette is vital if we are to
pay effective homage to famous saloons
such as the New Sheridan. It is a good
canvas on which to tell stories.
Attention to detail in placing cast
members is the epicentre of what we do
and I think we have learnt from our many
mistakes over the years. Everyone in this
photograph has earned their place at the
table and what a good dinner table that
would be. There would be little in the way
of moral compass, but there would be a
dogged determination and a pursuit of
the American dream. There is much to
applaud in those attributes.
This was my first time working with
Kelsey Asbille - a key cast member in the
iconic Yellowstone series and a delightful
and down to earth actress. She brought
great energy to the set as well as her
South Carolina charm and many stories
of the excellence of Taylor Sheridan’s
direction. I was keen not to be seen as a
regression and that was a tough order.
Kelsey knows the camera well and the
camera loves her. Her eyes were my single
point of focus and I asked her to look
untamed. She delivered that look for sure
as, indeed, did everyone else.
I want to thank Ray Farnsworth - the
proud owner of the New Sheridan Hotel
and its famous saloon - for hosting our
crew and looking after us all so well.
Do stay there: the staff are delightful;
the food is