If “1923” had a breakout star, it was undeniably Brandon Sklenar.
As Spencer Dutton, the World War I-veteran-turned-big-game-hunter (and surrogate son to Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford’s Cara and Jacob Dutton), Sklenar felt like the biggest leading man you had never seen before. Everything he did felt effortless (and effortlessly cool) – he fell in love with an impossibly beautiful woman (Julia Schlaepfer’s Alexandra), he killed lions and he found trouble wherever he went, including on a luxury ocean liner they were taking back to America.
And that is where we meet Spencer Dutton at the beginning of Season 2 of “1923” – on that ocean liner, still trying to make it back to his family. And this time he has been separated from Alexandra too.
TheWrap talked to Sklenar, who in the time between “1923” seasons has become a legitimate movie star, having co-starred in “It Ends With Us” and with a number of exciting projects on the horizon (including a killer thriller called “Drop” that is premiering at South by Southwest Film Festival), about returning to the show, what was different this time around and what he has got coming next.
You can watch the Season 2 trailer below:
This was a pretty long break – you were in “It Ends With Us” and have “Drop” coming out this spring. What was it like coming back to “1923?”
I mean, I’m a different actor and a different dude in general. I’ve said it throughout these interviews, it was almost two years between Season 1 and Season 2, and I was 31 I think, when I did the first one, and I turned 34 during the second one. Those are some big years, just developmentally, for sure. You are going through a lot. And I definitely felt that. And then being fortunate enough to do some great projects in between. I grew a lot as an actor and as a dude, and I really felt it showing up, just more confident and knowing that character so well. We know the tone. And I feel like, universally on set, everyone in the crew was just so excited to do it and loves the show, like genuinely loves the show. You do not always have that on a set where people love to be there and love to work on it and they feel really good about what they are making. It was a really great vibe on set this season. It was so special and I had such a great time doing it, genuinely.
What was different about this time? You are still not back at the ranch.
I know it’s a journey, man. He does not make it easy on Spence. He does not make it easy on anybody. It’s a harrowing journey for everybody. I had those scripts for six months and they’re just a read each one. There are many scenes in this season in particular, that are just epic. What he came out with for all these characters, it’s so poetic and poignant and beautiful. And the emotional life of this season is right there under the surface. You really get to see Spencer open up a lot, and he opens up physically and becomes a physical force and a dangerous man. Then also, at the same time, his heart opens and he expresses himself in ways that he has not done ever before. The merging of those two things is the arc of that character. It’s so cool, and it’s such a joy.
You have a physical transformation for this season too.
I called Taylor, probably six months before he started filming, and I was like, “Hey, I think I’m going to show up and be visibly, way bigger.” And he was like, “Cool.” Because I wanted to feel like an animal and I wanted to feel scary and I wanted to look intimidating. It kind of works, I’ve been shoveling coal for four months. I mean, I don’t know if that would put on 20 pounds, but I wanted him to have a presence, a real presence, physically and just me as him, to feel like I was a force to be reckoned with.
If Taylor came back to you and said, “Screw it, let’s do Season 3,” would you say yes?
I mean, it’s the best character. I love this character so much. He’s such a part of me and I’m a part of him. And there is very little separation between the two at this point.
What’s next?
I mean, I’m just doing it right now. I’m doing this Paul Feig film “The Housemaid.” We are filming. I have two more days left, and I’ve never played any character like this – it’s kind of a Norman Bates meets Patrick Bateman from “American Psycho,” but turned up to 12. I hit every color in this movie. I’ve never played anything like it. And that’s been a challenge, but a super rewarding one, just to be able to go to really extreme places, emotionally and physically.
“1923” streams every Sunday on Paramount+.
