Julia Schlaepfer

Photographed by Abby Linne

This last year has been a whirlwind for Julia Schlaepfer, ever since being cast as the brave and bold Alexandra in 1923, a prequel to the wildly popular Kevin Costner led Yellowstone.  Alongside Dutton nephew Spencer, (Brandon Sklenar) her character, who is deeply and relentlessly in love with him, has faced angry elephants in Africa, as well as escaping from a high-seas shipwreck.  But perhaps Alex’s most challenging journey is to get to Montana after an urgent “come home” telegram from Spencer’s aunt Cara Dutton, played by Academy Award winner Helen Mirren, pleading for help to save the family’s Yellowstone Ranch.  

All the while Schlaepfer and Sklenar were living out of suitcases exhausted by the globe-trotting the series demanded.  Starting in Salt Lake City, they traveled to South Africa, including filming in Cape Town, Kenya, and Zanzibar.  Next came Malta and Long Beach, California, and the Queen Mary where Alex’s privileged past finally caught up with her, before traveling to Montana to hopefully arrive at the Dutton’s Yellowstone Ranch.  “We were dirty and tired, and it took two sixteen-hour days of tough travel to get from Cape Town to Kenya,” Schlaepfer explains.

Created by Yellowstone phenom Taylor Sheridan, 1923 is a Yellowstone origin story, starring Mirren and Harrison Ford and introduces a new generation of the Dutton family as they explore the early twentieth century in the mountain west.

Julie Schlaepfer was born in Seattle, but spent much of her time growing up in the mountains of Colorado, which she calls her “happy place.”  Her goal was to convince her parents to move to the state, but that did not happen.  However, she spent lots of time skiing in the Beaver Creek—Avon area in the winter and dabbling in horseback riding during the summers.

“I would force my family to go to the rodeos there as often as possible and had the dream of becoming a Rodeo Queen,” says Schlaepfer.  “That was my one goal as a child and when we went to the Rodeo, I thought that the Rodeo Queens were the coolest girls who ever existed.  My family would do trail rides in the mountains, and I’ve always loved horses as both my parents grew up around them and dad’s family even had a farm.”

She moved on from the Rodeo Queen dream to ballet, but feels that perhaps landing the role of Alexandra was “kismet” as she gets to follow her cowgirl dream in a round-about way, learning riding skills at Sheridan’s ranch in Texas and getting to see Matt Mills train him for Cutting and Reining Horse competitions.  “I was able to ride one of his horses and try some beginning reining horse moves,” Schlaepfer explains.  “This was so fun and such an adrenalin rush.”

Schlaepfer confesses to never having watched Yellowstone before landing the role of Alexandra, but her parents were obsessed with the series, “and my brother and I would make fun of them.  When I got the audition for 1923, I was out in Colorado with them for the Fourth of July, and they were so excited, telling me I had to watch the show.  I immediately fell in love with the character of Alexandra, and she felt ‘right’ to me, loving how strong and feisty she was, and I quickly put the role on tape.

“Next came a screen test with Taylor, who has such a knack for writing female characters.  I learned that I had landed the role at the Jackson Hole airport when Taylor told me to put on my best ‘poker face’ as I’d landed the role of Alexandra.  Starting to cry, I crouched down at an abandoned airport desk and started to scream!”

Two weeks later, Schlaepfer was flying to Montana for two weeks to participate in Sheridan’s fabled “Cowboy Camp” before jetting off to Africa, which is where Alexandra and Spencer’s story begins.  “All the cast members fell in love with Montana and riding there,” she says.

During this time, the young actress spent every day riding with the other actors, including Sklenar, where they bonded immediately and even had all their meals together, calling the experience “summer camp for adults.” Working with noted wranglers, who helped them learn how to rope and work cattle, Schlaepfer was herding them at the end of camp.  “We were having so much fun that it didn’t matter that we were a bit battered.  It is really genius that Taylor created “Cowboy Camp,” she explains.  “Usually, you go right into a scene without knowing the other actors and it can make for some awkward moments.”

Even Dame Helen Mirren participated in the party learning how to drive a ranch wagon and Harrison Ford “kind of did his own thing, using his own tack, and possibly his own horse, riding around with the wranglers.” 

As far as the character of Alexandra goes, Schlaepfer deeply admires and respects her and wants to be more like her in the real world.  Alexandra is living in the 1920s and women were not given many options then, but she faced this world with a brave fierceness and left her royal life and duty to carry on the royal lineage in search of what brought her deep love and adventure.  She is of royal blood, but wears pants on safari with Spencer and is not afraid to climb trees in Africa.

“I truly believe that Alexandra is so brave and capable, coming to the set every day no matter how tired or insecure I was feeling, I had to show up and become this force of nature, not caring what other people thought about her,” she says.  “It was such a beautiful space to be in and brought so much joy to me as I was living with Alex for more than a month and got to travel the world as well.”

A favorite destination for Schlaepfer was Kenya, where they filmed the Zanzibar scenes, and she and Sklenar got to “play” for two days on one of the most beautiful beaches they had ever seen, and the characters were so deeply in love.  “We would get in trouble by the director who wanted to start shooting and all we wanted to do was play in the water,” she remembers.  “The whole crew got a mini vacation as well, and it was the one moment of respite that we got before the filming schedule got so hectic again.”

She believes that Sheridan is “a special kind of person,” being able to create such remarkable female characters who are both full of heart and very strong, believing that he has made them the backbone of the Dutton family.   Schlaepfer goes on to say that he has been “very protective during this process,” but he has also allowed her ,as an actor, to be able to make the role of Alexandra her own, placing trust in her decisions.  

To prepare for the role, who is decidedly British, Schlaepfer who is very much an American woman, trained at NYU, taking a full semester of speech, learning as many dialects and accents as possible.  So, she had a basic understanding of the modern British accent.  “One of my best friends is British,” she goes on to explain, “so I would speak with her and when I went in for my audition, didn’t realize at first that the director was British and knew what a good British accent was.  Once I got the role they hired Jessica Drake, an incredible dialect coach, and we worked very hard to get a version of a 1923 accent, which was before Queen Elizabeth’s time.  Taylor also wanted me to listen to the voices of both Princess Diana and Princess Margaret.”

Although Sheridan has given Schlaepfer great support and confidence in creating the character of Alexandra, two years earlier she worked with television creator and writer Ryan Murphy of Sex and the City and Glee, in the high-school dramedy The Politician starring Tony-award winning Ben Platt, who was also extremely collaborative.  

“I grew up loving Ryan Murphy’s shows and was a total ‘gleek’ and it was my dream to work with him,” says Schlaepfer. “So, when my audition came through, something about the project really clicked, and I instinctively knew the kind of character he was looking for.  I made a bold choice with the character of Alice, and it really worked!”

Schlaepfer goes on to say that Murphy and Sheridan are a bit alike, and both are geniuses, “having a view for these grand worlds, and both really take chances and see the potential in young, new actors.  It’s rare to find people in power in this industry who believe in lesser-knowns and want to help new talent find their full potential.” 

1923 has been given the “green-light” for a second season and Schlaepfer is excited to get back to work and see how Alexandra will be featured moving forward in upcoming shows.