Paramount Plus’ Yellowstone prequel 1923 has no shortage of star-power with A-listers like Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford, but it also has its fair share of hard-working supporting stars.
One such supporting actor is Brian Konowal, who plays the intriguing character Clyde in the series, which follows the Dutton family as they try to retain control of their sprawling ranch.
Clyde is not a Dutton, though we first met him in Season 1 when he applied to be one of the Livestock Agency’s new lawmen to stop cattle thieves.
While Cara Dutton (Helen Mirren) seemed hesitant, Sheriff William McDowell (Robert Patrick) was impressed enough with his background as a Chicago cop to give him a badge.
What neither Cara nor Sheriff McDowell knew is that Clyde is actually a spy, feeding intel on the Duttons to his real bosses – Banner Creighton (Jerome Flynn) and Donald Whitfield (Timothy Dalton).
In an interview with DailyMail.com, Konowal discussed working with the iconic cast, winters in Montana and much more an an exclusive interview.
Paramount Plus’ Yellowstone prequel 1923 has no shortage of star-power with A-listers like Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford , but it also has its fair share of hard-working supporting stars
One such supporting actor is Brian Konowal, who plays the intriguing character Clyde in the series, which follows the Dutton family as they try to retain control of their sprawling ranch.
Clyde is not a Dutton, though we first met him in Season 1 when he applied to be one of the Livestock Agency’s new lawmen to stop cattle thieves
Daily Mail was able to speak with Konowal over the phone about this role, working with the iconic cast, winters in Montana and much more an an exclusive interview
The Philadelphia native has had credits on everything from Spike Lee’s Clockers to iCarly, The Newsroom, indie films like Bloodsucking Bastards and much more.
He revealed that he originally auditioned for both the flagship Yellowstone series and the first prequel 1883, before becoming Clyde in 1923.
‘You know, I’ve auditioned for Yellowstone, and I auditioned for 1883, but I auditioned for a really nice part in 1883, and, you know, you hope you know how it goes. I thought it went well, so you don’t know. I hope maybe that helped down the road, because the team is the same and they see your tape,’ he said.
‘That’s my guess. I hope it helped. And then, 1883 finished, and they’re not doing a Season 2, and then when 1923 came, I was like, I’ve gotta track this. I love this writing, I love this show, please, I gotta get on there,’ Konowal continued.
He added there was ‘at least a year’ between his 1883 audition and sending in his tape for 1923, revealing he was about to start watching another show with his wife when he got the call about landing his Clyde role.
‘I auditioned, I want to say, maybe late May or June, and I didn’t get the word that I got the gig until later in July, because I didn’t go up to Montana before August. I remember the day. I remember we were actually sitting down to watch the first episode of Severance, strangely, me and the wife, when I got the call. Then it was like, “Oh my God, I’ve got to pack a bag and get on a plane.” It was chaos. So Severance got delayed a bit and now we’re catching up on that,’ he added.
While many shows have quite the drawn-out audition process, Konowal revealed that for 1923, it was just an audition tape he sent in, which was ultimately given the seal of approval by Yellowstone franchise creator Taylor Sheridan.
‘For 1923, I think it was just the initial tape. We did a few tapes, give them some options, but no, I didn’t have to audition with Taylor. I know that he watches all the tapes and all that, which is a real testament to how much trust, how much he knows actors, I think. He just kept writing more stuff for me,’ Konowal admitted.
The Philadelphia native has had credits on everything from Spike Lee’s Clockers to iCarly, The Newsroom, indie films like Bloodsucking Bastards and much more
He added there was ‘at least a year’ between his 1883 audition and sending in his tape for 1923, revealing he was about to start watching another show with his wife when he got the call about landing his Clyde role
‘When I first auditioned, I think it was, you know, two episodes, possibly recurring, and you’re like, “Ooh, possibly.” And then, you know, I got to do a great scene with Helen (Mirren). Basically, all my scenes are with, you know, legends, so that’s been amazing,’ the actor said.
While Clyde appeared briefly in the third and fourth episodes of Season 1, his big scene came in the sixth episode, when he was interviewing for Cara and the Sheriff, two of the legends he’s referring to, with Helen Mirren and Robert Patrick.
Creator Taylor Sheridan writes or co-writes all of the episodes, though he hasn’t directed any of the 1923 episodes, ceding that duty mainly to Ben Richardson, though Konowal revealed his ‘stamp’ is on everything.
‘He was there early. I know he was there for the cowboy camp in Season 1 and came and said hello to everybody. I was not there yet, and I think he just checks in, you know. He’s got (director and executive producer) Ben Richardson, who’s also amazing. I think everybody is amazing. Ben is just great. You know, he just trusts Ben so much and I know they’re in communication all the time, but Taylor wasn’t there during my stuff,’ Konowal said.
He added, ‘I know, even when we’re doing costumes, Gaby Acosta, who does costumes, we’re taking pictures, doing things, and she’s texting and I say, “Gaby, who are you texting?” She says, “Taylor!” I said, “Oh, you check in with Taylor?” She said, “Yeah, he checks everything out.” He’s really detail-oriented. I mean, his stamp is on everything, from what I understand, so that’s awesome.’
Clyde appears in two more episodes of Season 1, where fans ultimately learn that he’s spying on the Dutton family for Banner and Donald.
This is solidified even further in the second episode of Season 2, where he waits out a storm in a saloon with Banner.
When asked if we find out what parts of his life that he revealed in his interview with Cara and the Sheriff are fiction, he simply said, ‘I know what you’re going to ask.’
‘When I first auditioned, I think it was, you know, two episodes, possibly recurring, and you’re like, “Ooh, possibly.” And then, you know, I got to do a great scene with Helen (Mirren). Basically, all my scenes are with, you know, legends, so that’s been amazing,’ the actor said
He added, ‘I know, even when we’re doing costumes, Gaby Acosta, who does costumes, we’re taking pictures, doing things, and she’s texting and I say, “Gaby, who are you texting?” She says, “Taylor!” I said, “Oh, you check in with Taylor?” She said, “Yeah, he checks everything out.” He’s really detail-oriented. I mean, his stamp is on everything, from what I understand, so that’s awesome’
‘I think that’s left to the viewers to decide. Is Clyde spinning a yarn that they’ve come up with? Or did Clyde have this other life, you know? And as an actor, you get the pages and you go, “OK, how can I play it?’ I had said, we knew that he wanted to be charming. He needs to get this job, and if he didn’t get this job, God knows what happens to Clyde, because he’s answering to Banner and then Whitfield , so Clyde did his homework and was ready to dazzle,’ Konowal revealed.
When asked about creating a backstory for Clyde that may not be seen on the screen, Konowal thought, ‘he’s had a rough-and-tumble background, probably got out of Scotland, Banner probably said it’s time to go and he made the whole voyage, because he’s loyal to Banner. You can see him, in the beginning, he’s not afraid to sort of question banner, at least in Season 1, but, when people ask me, I also say he’s, you know, a little caught between a rock and a hard place.’
‘Originally, he’s like, “Let’s get out of town,” and Banner is like, “No, we’re staying.” Clyde doesn’t ride out, he stays with him, and by this season, I like to think Clyde is starting to enjoy the ride a little bit. He gets the badge and yeah. I want there to be a prequel between Season 1 and Season 2 where you just see, you know, Clyde doesn’t have to do much, he’s enjoying the badge, he’s riding around town, you know. Him and Alex are living it up. Alex is Colt Brown, my buddy,’ Konowal added.
The series is shot in various parts of Montana, with Konowal adding he had never been to the state before filming started, adding it was, ‘a dream’ and ‘amazing.’
‘I spent time in Bozeman, Butte and Missoula this second season, we did some stuff in Missoula. It’s just beautiful. We made some trips. We went up to Glacier (National Park) when we didn’t have work, which was beautiful. We did a cold plunge up there. It was the coldest,’ he added.
‘It was beautiful when we caught the end of the summer in the first part and then it turns cold quick in Montana. I’m not exaggerating when I say it starts snowing and an hour, hour and a half later, there’s a foot of snow on the ground. But it’s beautiful, and the people in Butte, Montana are just so great. They welcomed us, so any time we grabbed dinner or something, they loved the show and were really supportive. It’s great up there,’ he said.
Konowal has an extensive background in improv comedy, cutting his teeth at Improv Olympic West in Hollywood, and while he revealed there is no improvising one of Taylor’s scripts, the skills he learned there do come in handy.
‘Yeah, I was wondering if you were gonna bring that up, the old iO days, years and years of improv. I think the improv helps in everything. I think having that ability, if you have to… there’s not a lot of improvising with Taylor, at least on this, I’ve been told, maybe on some other stuff, but it’s super tight,’ he said.
When asked about creating a backstory for Clyde that may not be seen on the screen, Konowal thought, ‘he’s had a rough-and-tumble background, probably got out of Scotland, Banner probably said it’s time to go and he made the whole voyage, because he’s loyal to Banner. You can see him, in the beginning, he’s not afraid to sort of question banner, at least in Season 1, but, when people ask me, I also say he’s, you know, a little caught between a rock and a hard place.’
Konowal has an extensive background in improv comedy, cutting his teeth at Improv Olympic West in Hollywood, and while he revealed there is no improvising one of Taylor’s scripts, the skills he learned there do come in handy.
Most of his work in Season 2 is with Jerome Flynn’s Banner Creighton, best known as playing Bronn in Game of Thrones, describing him as a ‘dialed-in actor.’
While the Pennsylvania native is no stranger to cold, Konowal admitted, ‘It’s pretty cold in Philly, but this was a different kind of cold’
‘It comes in even if it doesn’t mean you have to be improvising and saying all this new information, it helps in your head to have that reaction so that you’re present, so that when you’re doing a scene with Helen or Robert or Jerome, who is fantastic, it comes off in the moment, and it might be a little different each time. You don’t know what they’re gonna do, so you don’t want to be so set in stone that you can’t react honestly, so any kind of improv training is going to help with that, on some level,’ he said.
He also shared a humorous story about a memorable moment with Timothy Dalton as the rehearsed in the bitter Montana cold.
‘I had a funny rehearsal in the snow with Timothy Dalton, even though it was a little scene, it was nice. He goes, “Brian, do you want to rehearse?” I go, “I’d love to rehearse, Tim.” And we did the lines a few times and he looked at me and I thought he was going to say something about the scene and he said, “It’s so cold!” I said, “It is! It’s freezing out here!” He said, “I’ve never experienced cold like this!”’ Konowal said with a laugh.
Brian Konowal’s Clyde returns in the fifth episode of 1923, where he helps with the now-infamous ‘train station’ of Yellowstone lore, which is currently streaming on Paramount Plus.
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