Timothy Olyphant appeared on the most recent episode of the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast and looked back at his failed audition for J.J. Abrams’ 2009 “Star Trek” reviv…
Throwing in the word “younger” seems unnecessarily rude on Abram’s part. If he had constructive notes for Olyphant, that’s one thing, but Olyphant can’t do anything about his age. I can’t help but think that it would have been kinder to leave age out of it.
I guess that’s the reality of Hollywood, but damn.
I don’t think Abrahams was blaming Olyphant for his age, just that Kirk’s role needed to be cast with a young actor. Olyphant doesn’t meet that requirement. How should he have said that?
A great deal of what we call “courtesy” involves not being completely honest at all times. Just because something is true doesn’t necessarily mean that it must be pointed out.
Olyphant would have been 40-41 when they were casting Star Trek (2009) and Chris Pine was 28-29. That’s a pretty meaningful age difference that comes off in both appearance and performance. It wasn’t just some minor detail— the actor who got cast had to play Kirk from the age of ~18-25, so it made a lot more sense to cast an actor much closer to that age. I don’t see the problem here or how explaining that is “mean”.
edit: in fact, Olyphant didn’t think it was mean at all:
FTA:
“Auditioning sucks,” Olyphant concluded, “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.”
Throwing in the word “younger” seems unnecessarily rude on Abram’s part. If he had constructive notes for Olyphant, that’s one thing, but Olyphant can’t do anything about his age. I can’t help but think that it would have been kinder to leave age out of it.
I guess that’s the reality of Hollywood, but damn.
I don’t think Abrahams was blaming Olyphant for his age, just that Kirk’s role needed to be cast with a young actor. Olyphant doesn’t meet that requirement. How should he have said that?
Maybe by not saying it at all?
wouldn’t that be dishonest?
A great deal of what we call “courtesy” involves not being completely honest at all times. Just because something is true doesn’t necessarily mean that it must be pointed out.
edit: what does this have to do with courtesy?
Olyphant would have been 40-41 when they were casting Star Trek (2009) and Chris Pine was 28-29. That’s a pretty meaningful age difference that comes off in both appearance and performance. It wasn’t just some minor detail— the actor who got cast had to play Kirk from the age of ~18-25, so it made a lot more sense to cast an actor much closer to that age. I don’t see the problem here or how explaining that is “mean”.
edit: in fact, Olyphant didn’t think it was mean at all:
FTA:
Hollywood actors are very aware of the requirements for the kinds of roles they take. I doubt he was offended.
They cast for roles that require people to be “the ugly friend” or whatever. Do you think those people get upset when they get the roles?
That’s why I ended my post with “I guess that’s the reality of Hollywood, but damn.”