Kelly Reilly on shifting gears from ‘Yellowstone’ to new film ‘Little Wing’

The coming-of-age film Little Wing is now on Paramount+.

In it, Yellowstone fans will see a different side of that hit show’s resident firecracker Kelly Reilly: She plays a detective and single mom, Maddie, whose daughter, Brooklynn Prince‘s Kaitlyn, is on the wrong track.

Kaitlyn and her best friend hope to solve her mother’s financial woes by stealing a valuable racing pigeon, but instead she forms an unlikely bond with its owner Jaan, played by Succession Emmy winner Brian Cox.

“I knew I had one day with him and that was enough for me to get on board,” the English actress tells ABC Audio.

“I grew up watching his work and he was very warm and playful in the scene we had,” she enthuses.

She added, “We both are used to being driving forces in other roles, and to come together to essentially support this young, brilliant talent that is Brooklynn was lovely.”

Reilly added she and Cox “both got to lean into something a lot gentler” than fans are used to seeing them play.

She said “powerhouse” Prince was “honestly just very easy to love,” adding they tried to “be with each other fully in the scenes and … a delicate bond was formed authentically.”

As for her character’s “practical” wardrobe in the film versus that of Yellowstone‘s Beth Dutton, Reilly says, “I just wanted her to look real, and like a woman who had no interest in clothes, no time. What was happening in her life, trying to hold her family together was all that mattered.”

She continues, “She is a cop and is always either coming home from work or going. I wanted nothing form fitting or self-aware.”

“You could say [it was] a relief,” Reilly admits.

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