Timothy Olyphant
Timothy Olyphant is back on the big screen with director Breck Eisner's remake of George A. Romero's cult classic The Crazies. Olyphant stars as the sheriff of Ogden Marsh, a small town whose citizens have become infected with a mysterious virus turning everyone into psychopathic killers. You might've seen him in similar roles before—as lawman Seth Bullock in "Deadwood"—and we'll get more of Olyphant flashing his badge this Spring in FX's "Justified." Here, we chat with the busy actor about The Crazies, George Romero and being mistaken for a certain Hollywood actor.
Q. How did you become attached to this project?
Olyphant: This was a non-audition situation -- always quite flattering, and at the same time a little bit unnerving. I think I read the script first, and then sat down and had a meeting with Breck. We discussed the movie at length. I think we also spent a great deal of time talking about the Clippers, which was a bad, bad first meeting. But clearly, we had things in common.
Are you a George Romero fan?
Olyphant: I remember seeing some of those Dead pictures when I was a kid. Those movies, you feel like you've seen them even if you haven't seen them. They're such a part of our culture. I'm not that familiar, but everything I read about the guy, I love.
Q. What was your first reaction to seeing the final virus progression of Crazies make-up?
Olyphant: Nasty! It makes you wince, it makes you kind of shudder…it's not good, you don't wanna catch that. Someone walks over to you with that on their face, you just think, "Oh my God! That's ****** up." It looks painful and awful. The whole thing was just quite frightening. When you [add in] the behavior of the people, that's when it really takes full flight.
Q. You play a lot of heroic characters. Is there anything that freaks you out?
Olyphant: Sharks will scare me. I went out to Malibu a couple of weeks ago. Beautiful, clear day, out in five feet of water, going to surf, and there was this big ol' freakin' leopard shark…I'm looking at him and I'm thinking, "OK, he won't hurt me."
Q. You have "Justified" coming out soon on T.V., where you play another lawman. Are you worried about being typecast?
Olyphant: No, I only have a fear of not being cast.
Q. Are you ever mistaken for anyone in Hollywood?
Olyphant: People come up all the time and they're like, "Hey, when's the new Transformers film coming out?" My mother was up at the Pebble Beach Celebrity [Challenge], saying, "Oh, this guy Josh Duhamel is in this. He's one of the celebrities." I said, "Look, when you see him, ask him if he's got the same problem." She calls me back and says, "Tim, he does! He looks just like you. He kind of walks like you." So far, that's one of my biggest problems. Otherwise, I live a pretty simple life.
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