Grieving becomes real for Michelle Pfeiffer in ‘The Madison'

The audience, she says, needs relief.

“It’s just too much raw emotion," Pfeiffer says. "That’s why the comedy is so beautiful.”

In the limited series, Pfeiffer plays a woman who goes to a family hunting cabin to discover what her late husband liked about it. The stay helps her flesh out the parts of his life and give her new purpose.

“It’s learning how to rebuild after everything you have known just falls apart,” she says.

Her husband (played by Kurt Russell) dies while on one of his getaways. She has to go there to identify his body and, with her children, decides to stay in the cabin.

Written by “Yellowstone’s” creator Taylor Sheridan, “The Madison” dissects the grief process and how people approach it.

“There’s this insatiable curiosity to discover this side of him she never knew,” Pfeiffer says of her character. “And it’s a lot about holding on to him.”

In flashbacks, the husband is seen interacting with family and friends and enjoying the rugged life in Montana.

“There’s a whole side to him that he was begging to share with her and their children,” Pfeiffer explains. “There’s a tremendous amount of regret working on her.”

To deal with the darkness, Pfeiffer forced herself to “let it go” at the end of each shooting day and the weekend.

“I tried not to give myself permission to actually live in it,” she says.

While there are moments that proved interesting, the Oscar nominee says she doesn’t know if she could live a rustic life. The cabin lacks indoor plumbing and boasts minimal electricity.

“I would definitely need a real bathroom … and some coffee,” she says.

Interestingly, Pfeiffer said yes to the project without reading a word of Sheridan’s script.

“As in television a lot of the times, the scripts come kind of close to shooting. And that was the case here. So there wasn’t a lot of time to do my typical preparing, which I think was a blessing," Pfeiffer says. "I was forced to work more instinctually. I try to plan things out, and there was just no room for that. It allowed me to show up and be present and trust the words … and let things happen.”

The weather — with 60 mph winds — became a challenge.

“Your hair was just all over the place,” Pfeiffer says. “All of that just becomes so distracting and also really stressful for everyone around trying to just do their job.”

Sheridan, she says, spoke passionately about her character and the family dynamics when he presented the series concept. Stacy Clyburn – the character she plays — “was someone I could relate to.”

Then, too, the series’ theme was compelling.

“When you get to my age, you’ve had enough people close to you pass away," she says. "And so you don’t have to look too far for inspiration for that, unfortunately.

“What’s really surprising is how much it affects men. Maybe it speaks to grief in a way that they’ve experienced but haven’t really been able to express. And maybe it takes them by surprise. People have lost their homes in a fire. People have lost jobs they expected to retire in. Loss is a really universal experience.”

Pfeiffer says working with Sheridan was a reason for her to return to television. But also, “the quality of the material that I’ve been seeing on television, I’ve been so envious of." she says. "And, for a while now, I’ve wanted very much to be a part of it.”