‘Yellowstone’ Star Luke Grimes Shares the Serious Reason He Likes to Clown Around on Set
Yellowstone is one of the most intense shows on television, but the cast of the show still have fun between takes. Kelsey Asbille (Monica Dutton) says her co-star Luke Grimes (Kayce Dutton) is the funniest cast member, but in a new interview, he says there's actually a serious reason he likes to keep things light when the cameras aren't rolling.
In an interview to promote Season 4 of the hit show, Asbille tells Taste of Country that there are plenty of fun moments that viewers don't get to see.
"They should do a reel, honestly," she says with a laugh. "There is a lot of laughter that you would not expect, especially with Luke (Grimes, who plays her TV husband). Luke can get the whole crew laughing very easily. So yeah, I would say a lot of our outtakes ... we have fun, despite the circumstances."
Grimes tells us that there's a serious purpose behind his on-set antics.
"There's a lot of sit around and wait that goes on on a set," he shares. "I get pretty, I tend to have a lot of nerves going on when I do what I do, just 'cause I care, and I want it to be good. And I think to combat that, sometimes, in those waiting periods, I like to have a good time, kinda get my mind off of it until I need to put it back in there, you know."
Grimes tells ToC that it's better for everyone that way.
"Otherwise, I'd sit around all day and kind of stew in it, and that would be no fun for nobody," he adds.
Grimes admits that it can be difficult to separate himself from some of his character's darker plotlines when he's not working.
"Yeah, and not on purpose ... I wish that I could just have the concentration that I felt like I needed to do justice to this part and then be able to flip a switch and go home and just go straight into my regular life. But it's a hard transition," he admits.
"I get better at it as I get older. I used to be really terrible at it, and tried a bunch of things that didn't work," he adds ruefully.
"And now it's just more about kinda ... I just know when we're shooting that that's going to be in the back of my mind at all times, if it's not in the front of my mind. It's there. You know, he's kind of at an arm's reach at any moment in the months when we're shooting, and even when we're on hiatus ... it's hard not to get obsessed with this story to begin with, and especially when you're having to play a Dutton."
The storyline involving Kayce, Monica and their son Tate (Brecken Merrill) is a significant arc in Season 4 of Yellowstone. Tune in to Yellowstone every Sunday night at 8PM ET on the Paramount Network to keep track of the latest, and stay tuned to Taste of Country as we provide week-to-week coverage of Yellowstone and the first season of the upcoming prequel 1883, including episode analysis, news on the shows, cast interviews and more.
As part of our comprehensive coverage, check out the new Dutton Rules podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
1883 is set to premiere on Dec. 19 and will air exclusively on Paramount+. Subscribe to the streaming service to make sure you don't miss out.