1923’s Marley Shelton Recalls Bonding With Helen Mirren Over Buggy Driving – Looper

In December of 2022, Emma Dutton-portrayer Marley Shelton, alongside her co-star (and on-screen husband) James Badge Dale, spoke with Decider about their characters’ arcs and their experience working on “1923.” During the discussion, Shelton described what it was like to work with Helen Mirren.

Noting that they met during “cowboy camp,” Shelton said, “She came floating in during breakfast and came up to our table before our morning ride. She said, ‘You must be the actors’ and asked if she could sit down. We were all pretty star-struck, and she just immediately put everybody at ease as she does. She has such a great sense of humor. Like that, we were just off to the races.”

After their first meeting at breakfast, Shelton and Mirren had the same task: learning how to drive a buggy. Naturally, they connected over the experience. Shelton said, “Both Helen and I had to learn how to drive a buggy, so we bonded over the challenges of buggy driving. She was so game and ready to dive in. She set the tone really for everybody on set just by her amazing work ethic and playfulness.”

Describing what the bonding experience looked like from the outside, Dale chimed in, “We’d be at Cowboy Camp, just hanging with the wranglers and horses, and you’d see Marley and Helen going 60 miles an hour on a buggy. It was wild!”