Thank you so much to Kim for typing this out!
BOLD ITALICS = WILLIAM FICHTNER
NORMAL = TIM OLYPHANT
Jane Magazine
William Fichtner talked to his "Go" costar Tim Olyphant at length about esoteric acting intricacies and other silly stuff. We edited out that first part.
I love to watch talent; it's always the most joy to watch someone make interesting choices right in the moment. And when an actor has the confidence to funnel all of this through who he is, then you want him to work a lot because you want to see him do it again and again. And that's why I'm really curious about what Tim Olyphant is doing next. So I can see it again and again and again.
William: What is Tim Olyphant doing next?
Tim: Well, right now I'm working on that big Jerry Bruckheimer movie "Gone in 60 Seconds", with, uh...it's like, Nic Cage and Robert Duvall, Delroy Lindo, Giovanni Ribisi, Angelina Jolie - I mean it's a huge cast.
W: So this is kind of a quiet, emotional movie?
T: Yeah [laughs] I said to the director the other day, "Y'know, if we wrap up in time, we could get into Sundance." He got a kick out of that.
W: Is this the first what you'd call, like, mega-budget film you've worked on ?
T: Yeah, and I'm always reminded I'm in something really big when I sit around all day in my trailer waiting for the shot to be set up.
W: That makes you like, "I'll bring two books tomorrow."
T: Now you understand why these big superstars insist on having huge trailers and the weight rooms and all that, 'cause those movies just have so much downtime. My goal is to be the first big action-movie-star that insists on a pool next to his trailer. I want one of those above-ground...
W: On a flatbed. That's the ticket. Hey, I've got some great stuff to ask you here, questions that were handed over in our little FedEx from Jane, thank you very much. Y'know, I've always been curious about...what's your favorite beer? [our questions were meant to be be fecetious by the way.]
T: Y'know what the danger of these questions are?
W: Hey, are you single?
T: I'm single in a married...
W: Tim, boxers or briefs?
T: Depends on the occasion. It's never briefs. Yeah, all these questions are...I'm married with child, so that kind of takes out the single part.
W: Now, where do you call home?
T: Well, here, now - Los Angeles. But my wife and I just moved here in November, from New York. Which I miss terribly.
W: It must be a little easier when, y'know, for you, you came out, and your wife...there's a whole life shift.
T: Yeah, yeah - that's true. This whole thing was sort of like, "Let's have a baby, let's move to California, let's be a little bit more comfortable, let's enjoy the sunshine and make big movies," y'know...so that's exactly what we've done [laughs].
W: What was your first film?
T: The First Wives Club. I did a day with Goldie Hawn. Thank God we were sitting, I was so nervous. And thank God there was blocking, because I'd never done anything where there was actually, y'know, the colored tape on the ground [that marks where you stand]. I did a pilot with Scott Bakula, and the way he went from mark to mark and could hold things up right for the camera, y'know, and still know his lines, I was like, "Wow...how'd you do that? How does he hold all that information?"
W: I didn't take that course...
T: I was like," I've never done that." It was nice that big-budget-movie producer Scott Rudin had come to see a play I'd been in and offered me the part based on what he saw.
W: That's a good feeling.
T: So good. Y'know, you're always being told about the "big thing," getting in the "big thing," and I can't tell you how many times I've gotten opportunities because of small things, y'know. And it's amazing to me that more people don't return to that, when that is what made them so exciting to being with. I mean, a film like Go ... [We're going to spare you the next 8152 words of shop talk...] Did you miss anything from that list?
W: Movies, music...we didn't ask any of their questions.
T: We didn't ask any of this stuff, yeah. So y'know, I've been married for almost, like, eight years now.
W: Married eight years - forget it, ladies. Boxers or briefs?
T: I'm pretty much committed.
W: Dog or cat lover?
T: You know what? I'm a big dog lover, but I own cats. And I happen to love my cats, but they were sort of forced upon me. My wife just brought them home one day.
W: There you go. We are getting into personal things here.
T: I wanted to call them Fucking Shit for a start. I was really not a cat fan. But I've learned to love them. They're my buddies.
W: High school geek or superstar?
T: I'm sure I was somewhere in between. A superstar is a bit overrated. I think these ladies' magazines feel compelled now to put super in front of things, y'know, 'cause of models. The whole supermodel notion makes no sense to me. It's just model or not a model.
W: You only have two supers: it's either supermarket or Superman.
T: Exactly. There's no supermodel.
W: No, no, no.
T: 'Cause there's no, there's no super-movie-stars. And thank God, too, right? Because then there would be that whole division where, "You're just a movie star, but are you a Super-movie-star?"
W: No, you're just a...
T: You're just an actor.