‘Yellowstone’ universe actors to shoot Western ‘The Rescue’ in Georgia
Paramount is planning to shoot a modern day Western in Georgia starting next month called “The Rescue,” starring two actors from the “Yellowstone” universe.
According to Deadline, Hassie Harrison, who played recurring character Laramie in seasons 3 through 5 on “Yellowstone,” will star alongside Brandon Sklenar, who starred for two seasons in the “Yellowstone” prequel “1923″ with Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford.
The production dates in Georgia are Feb. 9 to March 28 and the film’s home base will be in Alpharetta, according to IATSE 479, the union representing most crew members in the state.
Paramount has not released a detailed description of the movie. Deadline, gleaning information from the studio, dubs it a modern Western thriller where a rodeo cowboy’s skills are put to the test outside the arena. On movie and TV show database IMDb, the plot is described as “a rodeo cowboy and his dog search for his missing daughter.”
John Fusco, the writer for “The Rescue,” has plenty of Western-themed bona fides on his resume including 1988’s “Young Guns,” 1992’s “Thunderheart” and the 2002 animated film “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.”
There have not been many TV shows or movies with a Western theme shot in Georgia over the years because producers would rather shoot in states like Arizona, California or New Mexico for more realistic vistas.
Back in 1980, “The Long Riders” transformed the town of Parrott into a 19th-century Western town for filming. The movie featured four sets of brothers: Stacy and James Keach; David, Keith and Robert Carradine; Dennis and Randy Quaid; and Christopher and Nicholas Guest.
“Cowboy Dreams,” a micro-drama featuring 47 two-minute episodes, shot primarily at GB’s Stables, a horse boarding facility in Cobb County. It was released on Vigloo late in 2024.
Savannah gets a bit of ‘Road House 2′
“Road House 2,” a sequel to the 2024 Amazon film, is currently shooting some scenes in Savannah.
The movie is expected to shoot in the city through the end of the month. Producers shot at Forsyth Park Tuesday (where Forrest Gump’s bench camped out for the movie more than three decades ago but is now in a museum) and are expected on be on River Street Wednesday evening.
The film has been shooting in the United Kingdom since November, according to Screen Daily. Deadline said the movie is also expected to shoot in Malta.
In the sequel, Jake Gyllenhaal returns as UFC fighter turned bouncer Dalton. Actors Dave Bautista and Aldis Hodge have joined the cast.
The original 1989 “Road House” starring Patrick Swayze was not a major box office hit but became a cult classic via video rental stores and cable TV repeats.
The 2024 version became Amazon MGM Studios’ most popular original movie on Prime Video, attracting 50 million worldwide views in its first two weekends of release.
Savannah has seen the film business largely dry up since the 2023 entertainment strikes as producers have gone to Canada, the U.K. and Eastern Europe where production costs are cheaper. The city has amped up its tax credits on top of the existing state film tax credit in hopes of attracting more productions.
— AJC Savannah correspondent Adam Van Brimmer contributed to this story.
About the Author
Rodney Ho writes about entertainment for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution including TV, radio, film, comedy and all things in between. A native New Yorker, he has covered education at The Virginian-Pilot, small business for The Wall Street Journal and a host of beats at the AJC over 20-plus years. He loves tennis, pop culture & seeing live events.
