Betty Gilpin is not one to complain.
She spent seven months in New Mexico making American Primeval, a gory Western set in the treacherous Utah Territory in 1857, now streaming on Netflix.
She filmed in the elements, often at night, with the most volatile co-stars of all: horses.
The long shoot was nearing completion when Hollywood went on strike in mid-2023, shutting down American Primeval for months. By the time the production resumed in early 2024, Gilpin was six months pregnant with her second child and no longer in a condition to mount a horse. So producers got her a robotic steed.
“It wasn’t the most easy,” is all she will grant.
But by any reasonable measure, making American Primeval was an ordeal. Thankfully, Gilpin had her husband, Cosmo Pfeil, and their daughter, Mary, now four, with her on location.