'Ransom Canyon': Minka Kelly, Josh Duhamel on filming romance drama in Albuquerque, New Mexico

Yahoo

17-04-2025

A new Western romance drama has landed on Netflix, Ransom Canyon, created, written and executive produced by April Blair. Set in a close-knit community in Texas, the series is about ranching families protecting their legacy, while also having their own love stories along the way.
Josh Duhamel and Minka Kelly spoke to Yahoo Canada about the grief that Duhamel's character, Staten Kirkland, has after the loss of his son, shortly after the death of his wife. And Kelly talked about filming the show in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a place connected to her upbringing, documented in her memoir "Tell Me Everything."
In Ransom Canyon.
Everyone's running from something.
We're running to something.
Josh, I want to start with you because your character faces, I think, like one of the most devastating losses.
I think losing a child is like number one on the list of like traumatic potential events.
Um, and because you're a father yourself, what's it like to have to put yourself into that headspace of someone who has to kind of carry that grief.
It's a great question.
Wow, um, you know, I, I, it is, it, it's, and you have to kind of go there to to really sort of Pull this off and um but I will say that it is also cathartic in a lot of ways because as an actor you have to go to places you wouldn't otherwise go and I think that to work through some of those things and to like deal with it and try to you know put yourself gives you perspective on it in some way having I mean without having to actually go through it you have to.
Try to put yourself into that position which I think makes you a little bit more empathetic, uh, and in a scene it makes you sort of there and you're kind of working from that place and I think I didn't want the whole character to be working from that place he's covering for it.
But it was a great place, I think, to start.
Mina for you, um, you, I have to say, gave us like the most brilliant memoir ever.
It's one of my favorites, but um, as someone who read it and for all of us who read it and loved it, what was it like to be able to go back to Albuquerque and to actually work there in that capacity?
Thank you for asking that.
It was pretty surreal to go back there in this way.
I, I'd gone back a couple of times and it was pretty emotional and so going back for 6 months to live was a little intimidating, I will say, but you know, being there again and seeing it through adult eyes I was able to see it really isn't the boogeyman I thought it would be and it was such a beautiful way to sort of.
You know, after the book then this happens and then to just really be able to put a bow on that whole story was, was really magical and uh uh like you know a real real evidence of, you know, when they, when they say the stars all align it just was.
Do you have a better perspective on on Albuquerque now than you did.
Before you went there to shoot this.
Oh gosh, you know, you're just like, wow, you're able to see like this place is so beautiful.
The sunsets are so beautiful, the mountains and the food.
I was so excited to eat that hatch green chili again it took me right back to like the happiest parts of my childhood.
I think obviously the kind of will they will they romances and where your character is gonna go is a big part of the story, but I think what I really loved is the friendship that she has, and you get to see the kind of evolution of her female friendships and what it's like to be in a professional setting and have to work together and have to survive.
What was it like to be in a project that kind of gave breath to that part of her story?
It wasn't necessarily all about what was happening to her romantically, even though we loved watching that too.
I love that, yeah, no way.
That's what, you know, I think.
That's one of the great things about April Blair at the helm is just making sure that it's a full in real experience and and it is important to show female friendships and work dynamics and supporting each other and you know giving each other grace and.
Supporting each other and loving each other as opposed to having to be in competition with each other or you know it doesn't, you know, female characters on shows don't always have to be in conflict.
They can they can love each other and take care of each other and I love that.
All of that while still secretly pining over statin.
Or not so secretly.