1 of 5 | Matthew Fox stars in “The Madison,” premiering Saturday. Photo courtesy of Paramount+
Lost and Party of Five actor Matthew Fox says Paul Clyburn, the character he plays in Taylor Sheridan’s latest new-western, The Madison, finds solace in nature after a personal tragedy.
“Paul is a guy that has had some really intense loss in his life and I think finds himself on the Madison River because it’s a place where he can honor this person that he lost in the past by the way that he’s living his life,” Fox, 59, told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.
“Casting a fly rod is a really meditative experience,” he said. “I know that from experience… and there’s something about standing in rivers that feels healing. I love standing in the river, casting a fly rod. I feel really good when I’m doing it. And I think Paul needs that in his life to try to ease the thing that he carries around in the bottom of him.”
Set primarily in contemporary rural Montana, the Paramount+ series premieres Saturday.
It follows Paul, his brother Preston (Kurt Russell), Preston’s wife Stacy (Michelle Pfeiffer), their grown daughters and granddaughters.
“I loved the character from the moment Taylor started talking to me about him,” Fox said about Paul.
“The scripts are beautiful and that relationship between Paul and Preston just made so much sense to me in the way that brothers deal with each other. I just loved it and I felt almost like I didn’t make a decision to be a part of the project,” he recalled. “I was just like, ‘OK, you’re going to do this.’ And it was a great experience, top to bottom. I just feel very fortunate to be a part of it.”
When the story opens, Preston is enjoying a low-key visit with Paul on his rustic ranch while Preston’s pampered family carries on with their hectic lives in New York City.
“I love the dynamic that was on the page between Preston and Paul. The reality is that Paul, in the past, lived in New York City. He worked in the financial world, much like Preston. He was a killer,” Fox explained.
“He made a ton of money. He was doing incredibly well in that measure of success and, then, this really random event happens, and he loses this person,that’s the most important person in the world to him and I think that fundamentally just completely changes him. He’s the one who’s really deeply attached to the Madison and to this place and he’s constantly trying to pull Preston in there more.”
Although he occasionally interacts with his neighbors, Paul generally lives a solitary life.
“Preston is one of the only people in the world that he feels he can be himself with. He can kind of let his guard down a little bit around his older brother,” Fox said.
Fox, who grew up in nearby Wyoming, said he prefers acting roles that keep him outside.
“Even though they do an amazing job of building sets, this is a natural set, and everything feels completely real,” he said.
“The whole night-fishing sequence? We were shooting that until 3 or 4 in the morning,” Fox added. “It was pretty cold and I love that you can see our breath in some of the shots and I love that because there’s an authenticity to it, to where you don’t have to do as much as an actor.
“You just have to be in it. Be in the right emotional place or the emotional place that you feel like you need to start from and then it just has an organic quality to it.”
Beau Garrett, Patrick J. Adams, Kevin Zegers, Ben Schnetzer, Will Arnett and Rebecca Spence co-star.
Kurt Russell turns 74: a look back
Goldie Hawn (L) and longtime partner Kurt Russell attend the opening night party for the revival production of the Broadway musical “Little Me” in New York City on November 12, 1998. The couple, who have been in a relationship since 1983 but never married, have one child together. They reflected on their relationship in 2020. Photo by Ezio Petersen/UPI | License Photo
