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EXCLUSIVE: Even with his hit Yellowstone origin series 1923 second season set to premiere next month, Brandon Sklenar looks to have already roped in another western as sources tell Deadline he is in talks to star in Skydance pic The Rescue. Old Henry director Potsy Ponciroli will helm the film from a screenplay by John Fusco. The plan is to begin shooting this summer.
Skydance’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Don Granger will produce alongside Ponciroli and his Hideout Pictures, Down Home and Cliff Roberts. Aimee Rivera will oversee the project for Skydance. The logline is being kept under wraps, but The Rescue is a modern day western, in which a rodeo cowboy’s skills are put to the test outside the arena.
For Sklenar, the project falls right into his wheelhouse after his star making performance in the first season of the hit Yellowstone prequel series 1923. The series also stars Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren, and follows another generation of John Dutton’s ancestors as they fight to keep their land. While Ford and Mirren earned strong reviews, it was Sklenar that came out of that first season a big winner not only showing the gruff action hero side but also showed his acting range and chemistry with his love interest Julia Schlaepfer.
Those romantic scenes would lead to Sklenar landing another major role in the Sony’s adaptation of the Colleen Hoover novel It Ends With Us as Atlas. The film was a massive hit over the summer and has only led to more star making roles for Sklenar.
Next up he has the Blumhouse pic The Drop opposite Meghan Fahay, which makes its world premiere at SXSW before it comes out this spring. He is also currently shooting the adaptation of the best-selling novel The Housemaid opposite Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried. He also recently attached to the highly-sought after package After Shock, which recently sold to Lionsgate in the first major sale of the new year.
Season two of 1923 bows on Feb. 23. He is repped by Neon Kite, WME and Carlos Goodman and Will Jacobson at Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson & Christopher
As for Ponciroli he is best known for the 2021 western Old Henry and the dark comedy Greedy People, starring Joseph Gordon Levitt and Lily James. Next up he has the thriller Motor City starring Alan Ritchson, Shailene Woodley, Ben McKenzie. He is repped by Verve, Range Media Partners and Ginsburg Daniels.
