6 minute read
Jennifer Landon Interview / The Bunkhouse Boys
from Bridle & Bit Horse Magazine September 2020 Edition - Special Yellowstone Bunk House Boys Interviews
by Bridle & Bit
Photos Courtesy of the Paramount Network
Jennifer Landon “Teeter”
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Q) How did you get on the show?
A) My agent had me audition, and I did not hear back for 8 months! Taylor Sheridan called me personally to tell me the news. I was so excited and joy filled to get this opportunity! Taylor is different, he does it different. He treats you like a whole person. Taylor writes my lines phonetically. I read the lines like he writes them and that is how Teeter’s vernacular was created. I go with it, and he writes it like I make it sound - Taylor created Teeter.
Q) What was your first horse experience?
A) As a little kid we rode horses all the time. My Mom took a bad fall off a horse and became afraid, so we had not ridden since then. So until now, it has been a long time since I had ridden a horse. I have a great stunt woman, she makes me look very good. I hope someday I can hold my own on a horse! My father passed when I was little, but he told me, “Don’t be full of shit, be better as a human being” I remember that clearly. My character Teeter, she bypasses all the crap, Teeter does not have that much personally, but she is honorable. She does not have that much screen time, but Taylor wrote such a gift, he created this huge story-arch for Teeter.
Q) The “Bunkhouse Boys” rose in popularity, how do you feel about the new-found fame?
A) It is a 100% catapult job. My Mom loves the show, and she has never “Loved” my other work as much as she loves this! I have over 500 episodes on TV under my belt on other work that I have done and she loves this more than anything else I have ever done. The other day, she watched a Teeter scene for 20 minutes, over and over and was just laughing. She is my biggest critic and Teeter is her favorite.
Q) How has your role evolved in the show?
A) For me I definitely felt she was an outsider and then became one with the group. There are so many parts, they flush her out out as a real person. Teeter is incredibly loyal, hard working, not afraid to do anything asked of her, she wants to work. She was
Q) How did you get on the show?
A) I got onto Yellowstone pretty much through the same process that every actor goes through, which is a few auditions and the producers call back! I found out about Yellowstone because of a film that I was working on previously called Chickasaw Rancher when one of the fellow actors had mentioned that one of his good friends was getting ready to create, write and direct this new show and that I should definitely get my reps to reach out and see if I could get an opportunity to audition… And the rest was history.
Q) What was your first horse experience?
a loner type, but we learn she has so many dimensions. At first she may come off as one dimensional, but this character is certainly not one dimension.
Q) Rip rules the roost, how has it been working with Cole Hauser?
A) I love Cole Hauser! Teeter loves Rip! He is fun, funny and a phenomenal actor. We have an amazing group of people. A A) I’ve had several horse experiences. However, there has never been a horse experience quite like the experience that I’ve had with horses on Yellowstone, which has been absolutely amazing! I would say one of the most unique horse experiences that I’ve had was during this last season, which is season three, where we ran 200 wild horses over several acres in a field! And that is something that I never thought I would get an opportunity to do let alone getting an opportunity to do it on television.
Q) The “Bunkhouse Boys” rose in popularity, how do you feel about the new-found fame?
huge part of this is picking the right people, Taylor has a real sense for it. He writes with so much heart, and we pick up on that energy. He does not write a normal script just to get one out there. The horses are such soulful creatures and they give so much back. They change the way you are and who you are when you ride. When you ride a horse, it changes you forever!
Teeter on 'Yellowstone,' is Michael Landon's Daughter
In season 3, Yellowstone shook up the bunkhouse with the addition of the rough and daring new ranch hand, Teeter, played by actress Jennifer Landon. Landon was definitely ready for the challenges she would face working on the Dutton family ranch; she had been trained on soap operas after all, which are basically a boot camp for actors.
As the daughter of the beloved TV actor Michael Landon, Landon was destined to end up a TV star. She grew up in the prestigious Brentwood neighborhood of Los
Angeles, California and her first acting gig was playing a little girl on her father's show Highway to Heaven after he had already made a name for himself starring in Little House On The Prairie and Bonanza. Though her father passed away when she was only eight years old, she continued acting. She even studied at the prestigious New York University in New York City before returning to make a name for herself in Hollywood.
Landon went on to win three consecutive Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Gwen Norbeck Munson in the CBS soap As The World Turns. She also went on to play Heather Stevens on The Young and the Restless and made appearances on House, Days of Our Lives, Banshee, Chicago Med and Animal Kingdom.
But there is no doubt that Landon will be known for her current role on the Paramount Network's hit TV show Yellowstone opposite incredible actors, such as Kevin Costner, Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser. Teeter was a quick fan favorite as soon as she first appeared on the Dutton Ranch. As Landon tells Decider, it's unclear if she'll ever top the role.
"Yellowstone's amazing. I'm a lunchbox actor. Each job is a job fought for and a job got. So after all that hard work, to get something like Yellowstone and to get to work Taylor Sheridan, who I have tremendous respect for, and with actors of this caliber, it's a no-brainer. Plus, I don't know if I'll ever audition for a part as cool as Teeter for the rest of my life. And I'm kind of okay with that."
Unfortunately, Landon didn't get to learn the ways of the west at "Cowboy Camp" like most of her castmates, but that didn't stop creator Taylor Sheridan from getting her adequate training before (quite literally) throwing her out there with horses and cows.
"Since I joined in episode two, I did not have the luxury of going to the wonderful cowboy camp. Taylor hooked me up with his horse guy out in L.A. Then, when I got out to set, I worked with one of our wranglers, and she got me somewhat comfortable on a horse. I was on a real roping horse! It was a quick learning curve, but the days that I learned the most oddly were the days that you're on set and they yell, "Action," and you just have to go and there's no thinking about it anymore. You're like, "I need to keep this job," and so you just go."