Timothy Olyphant’s comments are taken from an interview conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike.
Justified: City Primeval star Timothy Olyphant was up for the role of Captain Kirk in Star Trek‘s Kelvin Timeline, and in a new interview, the actor reflected on losing the role.
Back in 2009, J.J. Abrams rebooted Star Trek with a new film starring Chris Pine as Captain James T. Kirk, the role originally played by William Shatner. Pine went on to reprise the role in two sequels, respectively released in 2013 and 2016. More recently, Olyphant spoke about his near-casting for the role in an interview with Josh Horowitz for the Happy Sad Confused podcast, revealing that he probably would’ve been cast if he were about ten years younger.
“I went in and auditioned, not for Captain Kirk, but I remember reading with J.J. Abrams, and he’s just a lovely, lovely guy, and [it was] just a lovely audition process,” Olyphant explained, revealing how he’d originally read for Karl Urban’s role. “I was auditioning for Doc, [and Abram was] like, ‘I already got a guy for Doc, so I don’t need you for that. But I don’t have a Kirk.'”
Timothy Olyphant Was a Decade Older Than What Producers Wanted
Olyphant would go on to share his belief that he was very close to getting cast, but it was his age that was holding him back. He clarified that Abrams was having some difficulties finding the right actor for Kirk in that age range, and that led to the filmmaker seriously considering putting Olyphant in that role. However, Pine, who’s about 13 years younger than Olyphant, came into the picture soon after and secured the role. Olyphant believes the right choice was made in the end, showing his support for Pine’s casting.
“Somewhere along the line, J.J. called and said, ‘I found a guy younger, who’s really good,'” Olyphant explained. “I have since then met Chris Pine, and I am a huge fan of him, both on and off-screen. I love that guy. He is a good dude.”
In the Happy Sad Confused interview, Olyphant also addressed his near-casting as Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Robert Downey Jr. famously played the role of Iron Man for many years, but before his casting, Jon Favreau had spoken with Olyphant about the possibility of playing Tony Stark. That casting didn’t work out with Downey being born to play Iron Man, though Favreau would wind bring Olyphant into the Star Wars universe years later with a role in the Disney+ series The Mandalorian.
Olyphant can currently be seen in the Justified revival series, Justified: City Primeval, which has been airing on FX. He is also set to appear in the upcoming film Havoc alongside Tom Hardy, but the Gareth Evans-helmed action flick doesn’t yet have a release date.
Source: Happy Sad Confused