“Yeah, it was easy. That offer came in and it seemed like a no-brainer. One, you know what you’re signing up for and it’s probably gonna be a good time. And, I’ve never played that substantial a role in such a classic, great American popcorn movie. Then, it becomes a personal thing. It shoots here in L.A. I literally work for just a few weeks; seems like fun.”
Olyphant said his role is quite different from Alan Rickman’s character in the first “Die Hard” film. “I just started this week so we’re kind of feeling it out. But, it’s a cyber-terrorist plot based on this article that was in Wired magazine a few years ago saying that as horrific and sad as it was seeing a building come down, the real threat to the country was cyber-terrorism; if somebody were to hack into that infra-structure, they could cripple the country in a matter of days. This character is a guy who used to work for the government and warned them of this possibility and is now carrying it out. So, in its own right, it’s a different character, a different villain. There’s something that feels a little bit more unstable about a person who would do that kind of a thing. The ouch doesn’t really match the pinch. It was a guy whose career was ruined and is now saying ‘I told you so.'”
He stars with Kevin Smith in Catch and Release and they joined up again for the fourth “Die Hard” installment. “I went the first day and there’s Kevin. Disappointed.. no!” He added that Smith was making suggestions for lines. “He was throwing things out there on ‘Die Hard’ and not just for his character. Kevin’s funny.”
Olyphant said that he’s had talks about playing the title role in the adaptation of Eidos video game Hitman, but that it’s not confirmed. “I don’t think I’ve ever been officially attached to it contrary to the internet. It sounds fun. It sounds pretty cool. I’ve seen the pictures. I’ve never played the game but it looks cool. Lord knows what I’d look like when this hair comes off. It’s a major concern.”
Olyphant has Kimberly Peirce’s drama Stop-Loss coming up as well. “It’s about these soldiers that come back and think they’re finished with their tour of duty and they’re called back to the crisis in the Middle East. I play a Lieutenant Colonel who is essentially the guy who is saying ‘look, you’ve got to go back and there’s nothing we can do about it’. I’m sort of his last effort oh, he goes to a senator after me to try to fight it.. Ryan [Phillippe].”
Catch and Release opens on January 26, while Live Free or Die Hard hits on June 29. Stop-Loss is scheduled for release sometime this year.
