Riley Green has Luke Grimes to thank for his appearance in the new TV show, Marshals. The show, a spin-off of the Yellowstone series, features Green as Garrett, a troubled former Navy SEAL. Green makes his acting debut in the show, which Grimes now reveals is because of him.
“Riley and I were doing a write together,” Grimes recalls on SiriusXM‘s The Highway. “He was talking about wanting to act, and this was right when Marshals was sort of coming together. I thought, ‘Man, that’d be kind of cool if he was in my show.’ I knew what it was going to be, and I knew we were getting into that Navy SEAL stuff. I was like, ‘He could be like an old team buddy or something. He’s got that look to him, like he could be a team guy.'”
Grimes, an actor and musician, jokes that getting Green onto Marshals wasn’t exactly the best for him, all things considered.
“I knew I wasn’t doing myself any favors. Who wants to stand next to him on screen?” Grimes quips. “He’s 6’4″ and pretty darn handsome. … So I brought it up with the showrunner. He loved the idea. He was very aware of who Riley was, and wrote him a great part.”
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Why Riley Green Had to Audition For His Role on ‘Marshals’
Green might be one of the most famous people in country music right now, but he isn’t quite a household name. In fact, Grimes recalls telling Green he had to audition to be in the TV show.
“The funny thing was, CBS didn’t know who he was as much as we did,” Grimes says. “We’re talking about CBS people in LA that don’t know country music that well. They made him audition, and I was like, ‘You’re going to make Riley Green audition for this? … We wrote him a part, give it to him.’ They’re like, ‘No, we want to make sure that he can act a little bit.'”
Undeterred, Green flew to Utah for the audition, working alongside Grimes.
“We read together, and I just thought it was the funniest thing ever that he had to audition for something,” Grimes says.
What Luke Grimes Says About Riley Green’s Acting Skills
Marshals might be Green’s acting debut for a TV show, but he is no stranger to being in front of the camera, thanks to his numerous videos. Grimes boasts that, not surprisingly, Green excelled in the role as Garrett.
“He’s great,” Grimes praises. “I mean, he’s a really talented guy. I think talent’s talent, and you can figure it out at any level. But he did better than any of us expected that he would do. First time ever on a set like that, never acted before—he crushed it.”
Grimes helped Green with his acting, but the advice goes both ways. Grimes, who just released his sophomore Redbird album, says he also looks to Green for guidance as well.
“I think the thing you learn from Riley is how some people are just so good at handling the entertainment business as a personality, and the way he moves through it so effortlessly,” Grimes says. “There’s a lot to learn there. I don’t think that guy gets nervous. So for a nervous Nancy like me, I’m just like, ‘Yeah, that’s cool.’ You can just do all this and not care. Not that he doesn’t care, but not think too much about the pressure of what you’re doing. That’s sort of what I’ve learned from watching him move around the world a little bit.”