Michelle Randolph is now a veteran of the Taylor Sheridan-verse.
The young actress first appeared in “1923,” the phenomenally popular “Yellowstone” prequel that premiered back in 2022. She played Liz Strafford, soon Dutton, the fiancée of Jack Dutton (Darren Mann) and the possible grandmother of John Dutton (Kevin Costner) on the flagship series. (Randolph swears she still doesn’t know.)
She now stars a completely different character for the prolific showrunner as Ainsley, the bratty daughter of Billy Bob Thornton and Ali Larter on “Landman,” the Paramount+ drama based on a Texas Monthly podcast “Boomtown” about the state’s volatile oil business. The characters, besides a certain flintiness, couldn’t be further apart.
Randolph said that she first heard rumblings about “Landman” when they were shooting the first season of “1923” (it returns for Season 2 in February). She had assumed there was no way that she could do “Landman” because, as originally planned, it would be shooting concurrently with the second season of “1923.” “And then one day, I looked down at my phone and Taylor Sheridan was calling me, and this is midway through ‘1923’ coming out, and he’s like, ‘Michelle, there’s a character.’ And I was like, ‘Actually, I know who you’re talking about,’” Randolph said. Sheridan asked her to put herself on tape and get it to him by the next morning — all 18 pages of the script. “I felt immediately like it was mine to lose,” Randolph said. Sheridan called her the next day to tell her she had booked it.
Here’s How ‘Yellowstone’ Ended
And while “Landman” hasn’t yet finished its first season, it has already achieved a level of viral notoriety that is usually reserved for beloved series well into their run. In particular, there’s a moment in the series premiere where Randolph as Ainsley explains a “rule” she has with her dimwitted boyfriend. Thornton, exasperated, asks what it is. And she explains that, when they’re having sex, he can’t finish inside her but he can anywhere on her. The dialogue was written by Sheridan, with some on X (formerly Twitter) wondering if this is what happens to a man who is currently writing or cowriting a half-dozen shows on television and streaming.
When we asked if she had seen the clip floating around, she fired back, “How could you not? I knew. You knew. I just thought to myself, ‘How am I going to say this with a straight face, looking into Billy’s eyes?’ I was Ainsley in that moment. I was not Michelle. And as Michelle, I will never be saying that to my father. Let’s be clear.”
Randolph said that, while filming the scene, “there was definitely a point where my face turned bright red and we started laughing, because I just couldn’t help it.” Adding to the hilarity was the fact that they were at a real football game. “There’s people watching, and I’m like, they don’t know anything about the show. They don’t know the scripts. They don’t know the premise, and if they can overhear this one line, what do they think that we’re filming?” Randolph said.
Once the internet started sharing the scene, Randolph said, “I just disassociated.”
Randolph said she was drawn to the character because she had such an excellent experience on “1923” and because they were so different. “I think it’s hard to always be challenged as an actor, especially if you start to get typecast,” Randolph said. “I was just excited to play someone who’s also so different than myself, because Ainsley is nothing like me.”
While the thought of playing opposite Thornton might be daunting to some young performers, it was par for the course for Randolph. “I had just come off working with Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford so I was like, ‘If Billy Bob’s next, I think I’m just going to pass out before work every day anyways. I might as well try to work with Billy every day.’” She said the second she met Thornton, “we just connected.” She, Thornton and Larter “became a real family,” especially since they were in Texas for six months shooting the show together.
To prepare for her role, Randolph said that she initially listened to the original podcast, which like “Landman” was co-created by Christian Wallace. “I was really trying to learn all about the oil industry and fracking and all these different techniques. And then I was like, What am I doing? This is actually so unhelpful for my character. I don’t need to know anything about oil. I need to enter the high school football romance world,” Randolph said. She rewatched the “Friday Night Lights” TV series. She looked at the early work of Jane Fonda – “Barefoot in the Park.” She also pulled from an unexpected source in Alexander Payne’s “Sideways.” “I think the tone of that movie is something I thought a lot about while filming,” Randolph said.
She worked with a dialect coach to get that specific Texas twang (at one point she said, “I don’t have a southern accent now, right?”) and worked to connect with her inner 17-year-old. “I just had to really find a way to understand why someone would be this candid – she’s so unbridled and free spirited and confident, I just had to really tap into that every single day on set, and it was challenging, but it was so fun to just kind of go into her mindset,” Randolph said. “I wish I was more unfiltered as a person.” Also: she started to wonder if the crew thought she was actually 17.
Randolph said she also had access to Sheridan more than she thought she would, as the show was delayed by the strike, so they got to discuss the character more. And he was on set, directing the first two episodes of “Landman.” “I did get to know Taylor a lot better, because he didn’t direct ‘1923.’ And I love working with him. He knows exactly what he wants and you have such a peace of mind on set with him,” Randolph said.
At times, Randolph said, she felt like she was shooting an entirely different show, she was so sequestered in her bubbly family comedy. “I could come to set the next day and be on the soundstage in my bathing suit like, ‘Let’s go. It’s a great day,’” Randolph said. “And everyone’s like, ‘You have no idea. We just saw people on fire yesterday.’”
Now, with the release of the second (and final) season of “1923” right around the corner, she’s started thinking more about Liz Dutton. Initially, there was a scenario where they were going to be shot at the same time (“I told Taylor, ‘I can do it,’” she said) but because of the strike and the way the schedule worked out, she had about a month-and-a-half between the shows. Enough time for her to shake that accent, at least.
“We had taken two years off of the show, so I was really curious how it would be to all come back together, and especially just having come off ‘Landman,’ ” Randolph said. “And as soon as we got to Montana and I walked onto the soundstage, you’re in costume next to Helen Mirren. It was just so exciting to step back into ‘1923’ and I genuinely think that it’s going to be worth the wait. The scripts are incredible. I have read them way too many times, and I still cry every time I read them.”
Not that she’s done with Ainsley. Thornton told TheWrap a few weeks ago that he’s in it for the long haul. So is Randolph. “Especially playing a character like Ainsley, who has so much room for growth. I’m excited to see who she becomes as a person, because she is young and there’s a lot for her to evolve,” Randolph said. Judging by the response to the first few episodes of “Landman,” she’s likely to get that chance. As a performer, she’s struck oil.
“Landman” streams new episodes Sundays on Paramount+. “1923” returns for Season 2 Feb. 23.
