Sumith Prasad
Paramount+’s Western series ‘1923’ follows the lives of the Duttons in the 1920s, the period in which Prohibition and the Great Depression affect the stability of life in the state of Montana. The Dutton patriarch Jacob Dutton and matriarch Cara Dutton lead the family as they confront several threats to their survival. Meanwhile, Spencer Dutton, the son of James Dutton, prefers to be in Africa, fighting a lion and a couple of leopards. In the first episode of the show, Spencer joins hands with two men from the local community to conquer the beasts that threaten the lives of humans. Intrigued by Spencer’s battle against the animals, we have set out to find out whether the lion and leopards are real. Well, here’s what we can share about the same!
Why Real Lions and Leopards Might Not Be in the Cards For 1923?
While the Duttons deal with the harsh realities of Prohibition and the Great Depression, World War I veteran Spencer chooses to remain in Africa, specifically in Kenya. In the African continent, he teams up with local men to kill the carnivores which leave the dense jungle to attack and eat humans. At the beginning of the first episode of the show, Spencer fights a lion and kills the beast before it could kill him. At the end of the same episode, he succeeds in killing a leopard, only to get attacked by another one as well. Since the stunts involving these animals are guaranteed to captivate the viewers, one must want to know whether the lion and leopards are real.
As of now, the creative heads behind the show haven’t revealed whether the lion and leopards are real or CGI. However, it is extremely unlikely that real man-eating animals were used in the production to perform stunts that would have become life-threatening for Brandon Sklenar, who plays Spencer. Usually, real animals are used in the production of films and television shows when they aren’t involved in any life-threatening stunts. Since the stunt scenes in the show depict Sklenar’s character physically fighting the two animals, they most likely aren’t real. The lion and leopards most likely were created using computer-generated imagery to ensure the safety of Sklenar and other crew members of the show.
Unlike dogs, lions and leopards are not animals that are easy to handle in a filming set. In addition, the rules and regulations that revolve around the use of such animals must have made using real animals more difficult. Since CGI has advanced beyond limits, it is understandable how graphically conceived animals replace real ones in the productions of films and TV shows. Over the years, several CGI animals have succeeded in astounding the viewers, which includes the fox in ‘Antichrist,’ the bear in ‘The Revenant,’ the animals in ‘Joe vs. Carole,’ Buck in ‘The Call of the Wild,’ etc.
Read More: Who is Jack Dutton? How is He Related to Kevin Costner’s John Dutton?
