Additional reporting by Brandy Schaefer
This past summer, we watched Timothy Olyphant "Die Hard" alongside Bruce Willis; these days, the blockbuster baddie is working on bringing himself back to "Life."
"[It's about] four morphine addicts in 1983 who try to rob a bank," Olyphant said of "High Life," a black comedy he recently began filming. Based on a production of the same name by award-winning playwright Lee MacDougall, Olyphant's character Dick is an ex-con planning one last heist. Soon enough, he encounters catastrophically funny imperfections in his fool-proof plan, thanks to his incompetent partners played by Joe Anderson ("Across the Universe"), Stephen Eric McIntyre ("The Lookout"), and Rossif Sutherland ("Timeline").
Olyphant was quick to point out, however, that Canadian filmmaker Gary Yates has definitely not been making the "High Life" an easy life for his actors when it comes to the dialogue-heavy scenes. "We're only a couple days in, but last night we shot five pages of dialogue," the "Hitman" star marveled. "It was kind of great; I don't remember doing that in a while." Read more...
Over the last few years, Timothy Olyphant has ventured to the Old West in "Deadwood," the suburbs in "The Girl Next Door," and the corridors of power in "Live Free or Die Hard," but in a surprising admission, the actor confessed exclusively to MTV News that he almost boldly ventured where no man has gone before.
"I went in and met with J.J. Abrams about one of the characters," the 39-year-old actor revealed of a secret casting session with the director for the "Star Trek" reboot. "That led to a series of conversations and I was very flattered. Lots of emails exchanged between the two of us. Ultimately I think we both were aware that it just didn't make sense. It was a mutual thing."
Olyphant's confession raises more questions than it answers, of course, chief among them exactly what character he was supposedly up for. Based solely on the actors who eventually signed on, Olyphant would seem most like Karl Urban (Dr. McCoy) in age and temperament, but it's not outside the realm of possibility to think he might have been up for Nero or even Captain Kirk.
Regardless of who he was up for, though, Olyphant is certain Abrams made the right choice with who he eventually got. Read more...
I've been a huge fan of Timothy Olyphant since the days of "Go," so I'm psyched that he's getting his first-ever starring role in a major flick with "Hitman," the action yarn based on the bestselling video game. Below, check out an explosive sneak peek from the film -- which hits theaters November 21 -- or click here to see it in brilliant high-definition.
After he's finished tearing up the big-screen as John McClane's latest "Die Hard" nemesis, actor Timothy Olyphant will next tackle the Hollywood adaptation of the popular "Hitman" video game franchise. In the film, Olyphant plays Agent 47, a barcoded mercenary embroiled in a massive political conspiracy. See the trailer below, and for even more of the week's hottest trailers -- including Pixar's upcoming "Wall-E" -- click here.
