There are interviews, and then there are interviews with Timothy Olyphant. This reminder arrives rather quickly as we settle in for a discussion ostensibly centered on the acclaimed revival of his hit FX series Justified, subtitled City Primeval, and the Emmy buzz surrounding it and his performance. On this week’s Little Gold Men (listen or read below), Olyphant proves far less interested in campaign-friendly sound bites. He’d rather just shoot the shit a bit and see where the conversation takes us.
So that’s what we do. A veteran screen actor who broke out in HBO’s Emmy-winning Deadwood, Olyphant is coming off of an impressive doubleheader this season, between the welcome return of Raylan Givens in the new Justified and his expertly suave turn in Steven Soderbergh’s Max mystery, Full Circle. We chat about both shows. He’s speaking from Los Angeles, on a brief break from shooting Noah Hawley’s upcoming Alien series in Thailand. We chat about that too. Olyphant may joke that he’s reached his ceiling in terms of acting ability, but the fact is that as new kinds of opportunities come his way, the work is getting richer, weirder, and deeper.
In Thailand, Olyphant met up with his beloved Justified costar, Walton Goggins, who was in production out there on The White Lotus. He reminisces about that before responding to Goggins’s recent reveal that the two experienced a falling-out a decade or so ago. Like a lot of our interview, his insights on the matter are off-the-cuff, admirably candid, and in spikily good humor—important to note because, though it may not always read this way, he’s got a big smile on his face throughout. Because of the frank honesty that came before, when Olyphant says, “I’ve always adored that guy and I love working with him,” you believe him.
Vanity Fair: I hear you’re taking a little break from life in Thailand right now, where you’re shooting the new Alien series. I’m sure you cannot talk much about it, but—
Timothy Olyphant: I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. Go ahead, hit me.
Well, how’s it going, working with Noah Hawley and all that?
There’s nothing wrong with that. I don’t know if you’re familiar, but he’s very good at what he does. Very good.
We talk about him on this podcast from time to time.
Oh, really? He makes the Little Gold Men cut?
He makes some things that may or may not be in the Little Gold Men conversation, yes—as do you, by the way.
Well, that’s nice to hear.
I’ve been a fan of Justified for a long time. Since we’re already talking about the awards nature of this show, perhaps—I feel like this is a show that was often underrated in that regard.
David, I’m not going to argue with you. If you say it was underrated, I’m just going to take your word for it.
Let’s put it another way. The show had a great run initially. It was a critical hit. There were a lot of fans, obviously enough for it to come back so many years later. How did you observe its initial run? Did you feel like perhaps it wasn’t fully embraced in that part of the industry?
I thought we deserved a lot more awards and acclaim and popularity. [Pause] I’m just joking. [Laughs.]
Damn, and I was nodding too.
You were right there. You were right there with me, David! I love you. You know what? I don’t care what they say about you. I say you’re a good dude.
What are they saying about me?
Listen, that’s another podcast. When I think about the whole deal, I had a ball making [Justified]. It was a great gig. I was living and working in LA. It was a steady gig. It was a ton of fun. One of those gigs you can’t believe you’re getting paid for. I felt very lucky to do it as long as we did.
You’ve said that you always knew you’d bring Raylan back at some point. What about him felt like the kind of character who could live on TV in that way?
Elmore [Leonard] has got a timeless quality to his work and I felt there was a character that could age well, meaning he could come along for the ride with the times. You could keep revisiting him. I just thought there was a lot of room to play around with the genre—not unlike what they do when you see those Bond films and they keep doing them and they keep bringing them back. They have the luxury of bringing along with them the baggage they want and reinventing the parts they aren’t so proud of. I thought we could potentially play a similar game.