Venus transformed into Montana town for Costner, 'Yellowstone' filming

Nov. 16—VENUS — On Sunday night, Kevin Costner graced the screens of televisions across America as the fifth season of "Yellowstone" aired. On Tuesday, he was in Venus tossing a football around during a filming break.

Crews and actors from Paramount Network were in town filming for a future episode of "Yellowstone" all day Tuesday.

Dewayne Good of Rio Vista was one of hundreds who came out to try to catch a glimpse of one of the show's celebrities.

"Beth," Good said with a laugh when asked who he hoped to see. "She's just bad ass. But no, I like them all."

After waiting anxiously all morning, everyone's hopes were answered as Costner, Gil Birmingham, Moses Brings Plenty and others took the stage, literally.

The scene Paramount was filming was of Costner, as Gov. John Dutton, giving a speech in Hardin, Montana.

On Friday, crews began moving in Montana vehicles and other gear needed for the shoot. They worked most of the weekend transforming the facades of buildings around the square to prepare.

"It's kind of cool weather like in Montana so I guess it fits," Burgess said Tuesday morning. "It'd been kind of hard if it was still 90 degrees."

Costner warmly greeted fans as he emerged from his movie trailer. He even took the time to toss the pigskin around with policemen working crowd control on break between takes.

Security was tight around the square, as more and more people began showing up to get an eyeful.

Mayor James Burgess had to throw out the mayor card to get on the square.

"They didn't really want to let me get in," he said with a laugh. "I told them I'm not going to get in their way, I just want to come down here and experience it and be part of it."

So just how did producers find Venus?

"[Paramount has] an advance team that goes out and scouts locations," he said. "They came and looked at Venus and said that they felt like it would fit their scene."

About a month ago, city officials received word that Venus was chosen for the filming.

"It's just a one-day shoot where some of previous ones have been three, four days or weeks," Burgess said. "I really don't expect this to be a major part of even the episode it's in, but it's exciting and it brings a lot of attention to our little, historic town."

This isn't the first time the town of Venus has been featured on the big screen.

"Back when I was just a kid, we had 'Bonnie and Clyde' with Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty," Burgess said. "They dressed up my uncle's building as a grocery store and he got to play the person who Clyde robbed."

In addition to that, "The Trip to Bountiful," "Born on the Fourth of July," episodes of "Walker, Texas Ranger" and several commercials and music videos have been filmed in the square.

A lot of the film companies like the old, rustic look the town has, Burgess said.

"It gives that appearance they want as the backdrop," he said.

Burgess said the downtown business owners seem excited about the filming, even though it might impede their normal business for a day or so.

"A lot of people don't even know Venus exists and the ones that do they pass by on the highway and never come down here to the square and see historic Venus," Burgess said. "Sometimes you have cities that just die downtown because the traffic passes them by. This is why I like 'Yellowstone.' It's so popular that it's creating such an interest and 'Yellowstone' being here brings attention to our town."

The city has been working on updating the square with new touches — a walking trail, benches, light poles, etc.

"Over the past few years we've really tried to put an emphasis on the square itself and now we're hoping to start partnering with some of these businesses downtown and doing some renovations on some of these buildings," he said.

The hope is to still keep that historic look as much as possible. The square is used for everything from Christmas and Trunk or Treats to farmer's market and Easter egg hunts.

A lifelong Venus resident, Burgess was on city council for 10 years and is in his 10th year as mayor.

"I graduated here in 1975, when we were still playing six-man football," he said. "They're 4A now. At the time we were Class B six-man.

"I've seen a lot of changes. When I graduated high school we had 419 people. Now we're at 6,000 and they're projected, depending on the economy, anywhere from 12 to 15,000 in the next five years."

City officials have visited with growing towns like theirs such as Melissa and Anna.

"Trying to get their experience so we kind of know what to prepare for it," he said. "It's a big challenge."

And that challenge may come sooner than later thanks to "Yellowstone."