Taylor Sheridan is arguably one of the biggest names in streaming. He’s not a famous actor (well, he tried to be), but a writer, director, and producer responsible for television shows that amass billions of minutes watched. He’s mostly known for creating the Sheridan-verse, which consists of “Yellowstone” and its prequels, “1883” and “1923”. The first prequel in particular, “1883”, surged in viewership when it hit Netflix.
Before Taylor Sheridan was creating high-profile TV shows, he wrote the screenplay for one of the best films of 2015 — “Sicario.” It’s a tense, neo-western thriller about the harsh realities of the drug war along the U.S.-Mexico border, as seen through the eyes of an FBI agent named Kate Macer (Emily Blunt). The film also stars Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin. If you are a fan, or even mildly interested in Sheridan’s work, it’s worth checking out his debut as a screenwriter on Netflix.
Sheridan is especially loved on Paramount+, where his dramas, including the Sylvester Stallone-starring “Tulsa King,” the Jeremy Renner-starring “Mayor of Kingstown”, and “Special Ops: Lioness” with Zoe Saldana, have been major hits. Now, he’s leaving Paramount and heading to NBCUniversal in a deal that could reach $1 billion, according to Deadline. So saying that Sheridan is on a roll would not be an understatement.
The gripping crime thriller was praised by critics
In “Sicario,” Kate becomes part of a joint task force with the CIA, and her team is sent to take down a dangerous Mexican drug cartel operating around the border between the U.S. and Mexico. Kate has a strong moral compass and some pretty idealistic views about the rule of law, but all that gets challenged when she’s thrust into the middle of the drug war. With a team that operates in the gray, something that’s against her nature, she must make some tough choices to survive.
Taylor Sheridan penned the movie after being unsatisfied with his acting career and desiring to tell his own stories (as opposed to someone else’s). He decided to sell everything he owned, buckled up, and started writing what would become “Sicario.” Sheridan chose to center the story around the U.S.-Mexico drug war because he felt it was a largely ignored topic, even in news media, with interesting themes he could explore.
All that time writing and researching paid off when the film was released to glowing critical reviews, scoring 91% on Rotten Tomatoes. The critic consensus reads, “Led by outstanding work from Emily Blunt and Benicio del Toro, ‘Sicario‘ is a taut, tightly wound thriller with much more on its mind than attention-getting set pieces.” It went on to gross $84 million against a $30 million budget. It also has a sequel titled “Sicario: Day of the Soldado,” also written by Sheridan.
