{"id":140182,"date":"2025-08-12T17:10:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T17:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/140182\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T17:10:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T17:10:12","slug":"timothy-olyphant-talks-alien-earth-reboots-and-more-justified","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/140182\/","title":{"rendered":"Timothy Olyphant Talks ‘Alien Earth,’ Reboots and More ‘Justified’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cThis process is similar to my acting,\u201d says Timothy Olyphant<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s a little something I call winging it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 57-year-old, a cultural fixture since the late \u201990s who\u2019s claimed to have found the absolute \u201csweet spot\u201d of fame, is discussing his approach to ceramics at his Westside studio. And like that dig at his Hollywood career, he\u2019s being modest. Olyphant majored in Studio Art at USC. If you frequent Los Angeles galleries, you might have spotted him \u2014 likely in a cowboy hat. \u201cWhat a cry for attention,\u201d he jokes. \u201cThe guy that\u2019s played a cowboy most of his career wears a cowboy hat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter donning Western gear for lead roles in Deadwood<\/a>, Justified<\/a> and Fargo<\/a>, the guy just looks good in a wide brim. But Olyphant, who shares three grown children with his wife of 34 years, is more than just a cowboy and budding ceramicist. He just recurred as a villainous golfer on the Apple TV+ comedy Stick and signed on for the sequel to Quentin Tarantino\u2019s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood sequel (this one directed by David\u202fFincher).<\/p>\n

\n\tUp next: FX<\/a>\u2019s Alien: Earth<\/a>, out Aug.\u202f12, on which Olyphant reteams with Fargo\u2019s Noah Hawley<\/a> and goes about as far against type as possible. In fact, Hawley cast him as a dry, platinum blond robot in the ambitious TV take on the Ridley Scott films<\/a>. Over an hour in late July, he talked about the new role as well as his misunderstood relationship with Justified co-star Walton Goggins, the projects he passed on and his deep affection for reboots. Cynics be damned.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou\u2019ve played a lot of cowboys. In Alien: Earth, I\u2019d describe your role as \u201cdry, sassy android.\u201d This is a real left turn for you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tSpot on. In the script, as I recall, Noah wrote something to the effect of, \u201cKirsh, a dry, sassy android enters room.\u201d If that\u2019s how you describe it, that\u2019s what I\u2019ll give you.<\/p>\n

\n\tNoah said he gave you this role in return for making you play another lawman in Fargo. What\u2019s a type that Hollywood still hasn\u2019t asked you to play that interests you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tAt the risk of sounding a little bit unmotivated, more of the same. I like the jobs I\u2019ve had, and I like the people I\u2019ve been allowed to work with. I\u2019d be happy to just work with them again in whatever capacity they\u2019ll have me.<\/p>\n

\n\tHow have you handled the jobs you didn\u2019t like?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tWell, I\u2019ve been fired more than once, and I think at least one of those times I wanted to quit, but I refused to because I wanted to be paid. Well, maybe the polite way is I was \u201creplaced.\u201d I\u2019ve told those stories. I don\u2019t know if I want to dig \u2019em up right now. [For one, Olyphant was recast with Aidan Quinn in 1998\u2019s Practical Magic.]<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Maggie Shannon<\/p>\n

\n\tYou famously turned down the blockbuster role in Fast & Furious that eventually went to Vin Diesel. I understand why it might not have been appealing, but do you ever look at the box office returns when those sequels come out and think, \u201cDamn\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThe pitfall here is that it\u2019s very hard to answer that question without feeling like I\u2019m offending somebody. So, if I start saying, \u201cNo, it\u2019s never occurred to me,\u201d or \u201cNo, I\u2019ve never seen those movies,\u201d it just starts to sound like \u2026 ugh, let\u2019s say I didn\u2019t ever say that. I love those movies. I\u2019m thrilled that they worked for everybody involved.<\/p>\n

\n\tI don\u2019t think it\u2019s bad not to have seen a movie. I imagine you\u2019ve not seen some of your own.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s true. So, no, I\u2019ve never had a moment. I love attention as much as the next guy in the Screen Actors Guild. Hell, I\u2019m talking to you right now. But mostly \u2014 and let me stress mostly \u2014 I\u2019ve thought to myself, \u201cThank God I am not any more famous than I am.\u201d I just think it would be bad for everybody involved.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat do you like about your level of fame?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI don\u2019t have famous people problems, and yet I get to work with you name them. It\u2019s a sweet spot, and I may finally be ruining it with these next couple gigs. But at this point in my life? Fuck it.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo when did you get into the sweet spot? Because I\u2019d imagine, before you find it, there\u2019s a long period of aspiration and struggle.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tOn the Deadwood set. I was like, \u201cThis is all I need. I\u2019m just going to show up and work for this man [David Milch] and marvel at the opportunity to be with these actors. It was a thrilling experience. And there were opportunities around that time where it was like, \u201cOh, look at this bright shiny object!\u201d And those opportunities, some of which I took, were not nearly as satisfying as showing up for Deadwood. Justified was the same situation, and I was able to live at home and go to all of my kids\u2019 tennis and music lessons. I just just felt like, \u201cI can\u2019t believe I\u2019m getting away with this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs someone who has revisited several roles, do you ever worry about the risk of diminished returns? You\u2019ve already reprised Justified\u2019s Raylan Givens<\/a>, and you\u2019ve said you\u2019re open to doing it again.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tEvery experience I\u2019ve had revisiting characters or working with the same people again, I\u2019m batting a thousand in terms of it being really gratifying. I highly recommend it. And I don\u2019t have a problem with people remaking or rebooting things. I mean, everybody goes to Broadway to see the same couple plays every few years. It\u2019s such a dumb, shallow argument to say Hollywood has no new ideas just because they\u2019re rebooting things.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tOlyphant in his latest role as a dry (possibly evil) robot on FX\u2019s Alien: Earth <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPatrick Brown\/FX<\/p>\n

\n\tTo your point, nobody ever questions it when they roll out Glengarry Glen Ross with a new cast every couple of years.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tRalph Fiennes is doing Hamlet again? Hasn\u2019t that been done? (Laughs.) I\u2019m not comparing what we\u2019re doing on the Disney lot with Hamlet, but why not revisit stories? If someone wants to redo something, God bless \u2019em. Just do something new with it. If I\u2019m not mistaken, that Luke Skywalker guy is reminiscent of a Bible story that everybody likes. I think Iron Man went into a cave and came out reborn, too. I wonder if that\u2019s why it works so well? You know what? If we do another Raylan story, I\u2019m putting that fucker in a cave and he\u2019s coming out reborn.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter Justified, you know better than most about how Walton Goggins works. I\u2019m curious what your take was on all that press \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tShoot. (Laughs.) Don\u2019t even write \u201cOlyphant laughs.\u201d That\u2019s not fair. (Laughs again.)<\/p>\n

\n\tYou\u2019re laughing!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tNo, I\u2019m not. That was a performance. Let me tell you something: Walt Goggins is one of my favorite actors I\u2019ve ever worked with. I love him. I would even say I have a deep friendship with that man, and so I only care about the things that he and I say directly to each other.<\/p>\n

\n\tOK, you\u2019re talking about the alleged feud that you\u2019ve both publicly denied several times. I was talking about how his press for The White Lotus<\/a> focused on how he can get into a really dark headspace<\/a> while filming. You probably knew about this before a lot of people.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, I know. God bless him. There are a lot of different ways of [doing this job], and he has his. We were in Bangkok for Alien when he was in Ko Samui for The White Lotus. My wife and I went down specifically to hang out with him. Anytime you see a friend on the other side of the world, it\u2019s like, \u201cHey, look at us!\u201d He seemed to be having a good time to me.<\/p>\n

\n\tI like to fact-check weird Wikipedia mentions. Are you really a descendant of the Vanderbilt family? And, if so, have you met Gloria\u2019s son, Anderson Cooper?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tYou\u2019re goddamn right I am, and somebody owes me money. (Laughs.) It\u2019s on my to-do list to head to upstate New York and see if I can get the keys to the house. I\u2019ve never met Anderson. I assume that\u2019s just because I keep missing the family reunions due to work and the kids. But now that I\u2019m an empty-nester, I hope we\u2019ll be having drinks soon.<\/p>\n

\n\tBefore I let you go, why ceramics?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI don\u2019t know if you know this, but the future is in ceramics.<\/p>\n

\n\tSeth Rogen\u2019s had a lot of success with ceramics. He\u2019s selling ashtrays.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tCase in point. And I am riding that man\u2019s coattails. So, that\u2019s where all my chips are. Any young people out there [reading], jump on the train now, before it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThis process is similar to my acting,\u201d says Timothy Olyphant. \u201cIt\u2019s a little something I call winging it.\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":140183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[55461,185,83752,171,12560,23442,37741,55462,83753,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-140182","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-alien-earth","9":"tag-celebrities","10":"tag-deadwood","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-fx","13":"tag-fargo","14":"tag-justified","15":"tag-noah-hawley","16":"tag-timothy-olyphant","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115016907067586298","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}