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In the first four episodes of 1923, Brandon Sklenar’s character Spencer Dutton lives in Africa, working as a hunter for hire. Spencer kills big game that is plaguing nearby human settlements. His work is a lot different than that of today’s hunters who kill big game for sport, and Sklenar thinks that Spencer wouldn’t be too fond of them.
Spencer Dutton hunts big game in Africa in ‘1923’
Prior to the start of 1923, Spencer Dutton served in WWI. After the war ended, he decided to live in Africa, hunting big game that is a problem for human settlements. His new job and refusal to return home come from the damage he endures during the war.
“When it comes to fighting, death, and war, he’s been so numbed through overstimulation that he needs those interactions to feel alive,” Brandon Sklenar explained to The Hollywood Reporter.
“There’s a line he has in the bar about it being the most alive you’ll ever feel, and that’s true for him. His senses have been so beat down that he needs that, and he’s also not afraid if he lives or dies. He’s just doing what he has to do, day to day.”
Brandon Sklenar thinks Spencer would disapprove of hunting for sport
Back in 1923, Spencer’s work as a hunter for hire is born out of necessity, not sport. The WWI veteran only kills big game that is causing a problem for human settlements. He has no interest in the fame that it eventually brings him. While speaking with THR, Sklenar explained that he believes Spencer would “want to hunt the hunters that are big-game hunting now.”
“It was a necessity back then because those cats were killing hundreds of men,” the actor continued. “In [the non-fiction book] The Man-Eaters of Tsavo, two lions killed something like [135] workers around that same time, so it was a necessity. Spencer is not happy about it, but it’s a job that must be done.”
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When Spencer first meets Alexandra, she is with a group of women who gush excitedly over Spencer’s fame. One woman is even convinced that Spencer killed the Man-Eaters of Tsavo. However, he tells her he was only five years old when that happened.
The Man-Eaters of Tsavo were a pair of lions that attacked and killed men working on the Kenya-Uganda Railway in 1898. Lieutenant-Colonel John Henry Patterson finally managed to take down the animals.
According to The Washington Post, Craig Packer, a professor of ecology, evolution, and behavior at the University of Minnesota, believes the lions hunted humans due for two reasons. These reasons were a lack of prey because of the cattle plague and the arrival of a new food source — humans working on the railroad.
Spencer Dutton is not a trophy hunter
It’s clear in 1923 that Spencer Dutton is far from a trophy hunter. He takes no pleasure in killing animals and doesn’t show them off as tokens. “He would be completely against hunting for sport,” Sklenar said of his character to THR.
“His love for animals and for the land supersedes your average wealthy guy who’s trying to score some big game. Spencer is rooted in the land and in nature.”
1923 premieres Sunday, December 18, 2022, on Paramount+.
