They say an Olyphant never forgets. That’s why Timothy Olyphant is willing to talk about losing out on the role of Captain Kirk for J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek movies.
The Justified actor, 55, said on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast that the role ultimately went to Chris Pine, 42, because he was younger.
“Here’s what I can tell you about Star Trek: 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 just a lovely, lovely audition process,” Olyphant said. “Somewhere in there, I was auditioning for Doc, he’s like, ‘I already got a guy for Doc, so I don’t need you for that. But I don’t have a Kirk.’”
Olyphant said it was a near miss.
“I believe it was one of those things where it’s like, they might have been prepared to hire me, but they wanted somebody younger, and [Abrams] was having a hard time finding somebody younger,” he said. “And somewhere along the line, J.J. called and said, ‘I found a guy, younger, who’s really good.’”
Pine was Kirk in Abrams’ 2007 film, Star Trek, as well its sequels, 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness and 2016’s Star Trek Beyond.
Olyphant maintained it was nothing personal.
“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’s a good dude.”
He added, “This sounds very show business-y, but I had the honor, we’re going to say honor, to go to the Golden Globes one year… and I spent most of the evening at the bar with Chris Pine. Just really adored him. What a good guy. I really like his work. He’s one of those guys who makes it look simple and easy.”
Abrams was reviewed positively as well.
“Auditioning sucks,” Olyphant said, “and the fact that I remember the audition process fondly says a lot about J.J. Abrams and what a wonderful man that guy is.”