Horizontal Montana: The Madison
If Landman is sunbaked, mechanical and kinetic, The Madison
is open, quiet and expansive. The series is centered around
Michelle Pfeiffer's cosmopolitan Stacy Clyburn, a wealthy
New Yorker who learns to embrace the American West after a
tragedy forces her to leave her upscale Manhattan lifestyle for
the Madison River Valley in central Montana.
Sheridan's first instruction was to clearly distinguish it from
Yellowstone, although both inhabit the same state. Yellowstone
is described as "vertical." Tall pines, close valleys and
mountains pressing ever-upward. Where The Madison stretches
horizontally. Rivers, ranches and distant wide-open ranges pull
the viewers' eye across the frame.
"Our main directive was: Find the most beautiful things you
can find. Full stop," Daniels says. "Doesn't matter where they
are … be it up on a mountain peak, or down in a valley where
the only access is by helicopter."
The central property, then known as Jumping Horse Stock
Ranch and now called Madison Ranch, sits on the Madison River.
The team scouted multiple rivers and ranches before Sheridan
saw the one he wanted. According to Daniels, the choice was
based on the location itself; its presence on the actual Madison
River was purely a "happy accident."
On screen, the location appears untouched, but that emptiness
is engineered. Base camp sat beyond a rise, unfortunately, near
the favored sun path, and had to be positioned and shuffled
out of view. Cranes, work trucks, support tents and hundreds
of crew members were arranged so the camera could turn
toward another direction the following day without revealing
a trampled landscape. Camera placement, cabin orientation
and the sun were considered in concert. What looks like luck at
sunset is planned and measured in degrees.
Cabins were designed and constructed to prioritize the
most beautiful landscape rather than search endlessly for
structures that met every story requirement. Practical interiors
allowed characters to move through doors and onto porches
or down to the water. Duplicate interiors were built on stages
in Texas, helping meet the state's incentive requirement that
some 60 percent of production had to remain in Texas, with the
additional benefit of providing cover when a scene did not need
the exterior geography.
The "Clyburn Family" gathers
