Have you seen “The Girl Next Door” ? It is a fun comedy: a teenager (Emile Hirsch) falls in love with the girl next door (Elisha Cuthbert). The problem is she’s a porn star and her producer Kelly (Timothy Olyphant) doesn’t have any plans of letting her live a cute fantasy with her boyfriend. It’s a funny, harmless little movie and this is the first movie I have ever seen Timothy in. The thing is I just thought Kelly was a nuisance and a morally corrupt character and didn’t think much of him. It wasn’t a difficult role. And I didn’t even find him remotely attractive.
And I completely forgot about him. Then I saw Catch and Release.
CATCH AND RELEASE (2006)
I actually didn’t even recognize him. He didn’t look that different and it wasn’t like he had a wild change with his image. But this role was completely different.
Gray (Jennifer Garner) is barely hanging on. Her fiancé has just died, she is broke and his friends are basically are all she’s got. So she moves in with Dennis and Sam. And Fritz is sticking around for some reason, though he seems to be getting on everybody’s nerves. Gray has accidentally witnessed Fritz having sex at the funeral and she has been mad at him ever since. But as time passes, Gray discovers some truths about her dead fiancé and realizes that maybe he wasn’t as great as he thought he was. First she finds out he has a secret account she never knew about and has been regularly sending money to a person- and then she learns that person is the mother of his child. To make matter worse, he has been cheating on her. While Sam is lost in his own depression and Dennis seems way too considerate for a friend, it is Fritz that helps her cope with these new facts and helps her have fun. Fritz may not be perfect, but he is not the jerk she thought he was.
The minute you see Fritz, you just want Gray to get over her fiancé’s death and her hatred for Fritz soon and well, hang out with Fritz so that he will have much screen time. He is good-looking, fun and whatever stupid things he might have done, it is not that easy to judge him since he has lost a close friend and everybody has a different way of coping. And you want her to stop mourning when you realize the guy was a tw0-timing liar and had been with another woman for years without her knowing it. And the more you know Fritz, the more like him. He is fun, sweet and well gorgeous. So it is weird falling for your fiancés friend and him falling for you, but it is a fun,emotional film. It is not original but then I don’t think it ever tried to be. It is also a question of how well we really know the people we think we know really well.
Below is the link to one of my favorite scenes. Gray has just found out that her fiancés kid is much younger than Fritz initially told him,which means he had been cheating on her for years. Fritz was just trying to soften the blow on her. Now, she is very mad at her fiancé- which is good, so she doesn’t really feel guilty about Fritz. The scene also happens to be one of the best kisses in a movie. Impulsive and passionate, and still managing to be gentle:
[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9lt4v04FTA&feature=related[/pro-player]
DEADWOOD (2004-2006)
[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guxNtlktMbU&feature=related[/pro-player]
It’s a western/drama/thriller and Timothy Olyphant is one of the leads. If you have seen Deadwood after Catch and Release, it is a lot more surprising to see Timothy go all wild west on his audience. As Fritz, he was an advertising hotshot with a place in Malibu. Here, he is a much more complicated character as the Sheriff. He is not nearly as composed, and as a modern man for his time, he seems to have a hard time excepting the horrifying level of crime and violence going on in the town. He has 0 tolerance for betrayal and he prefers speaking his mind to acting diplomatically. The show has two seasons and it is highly rated.
The movie also uses a very free language, meaning: brace yourself for some R-rated dialogue. Note that one of the characters’ names is Swearengen and it is not a coincidence.
Live free or Die Hard
There are two impressive things about Timothy, one about his looks and one about his acting. Now, Timothy is normally a young-looking actor. In Catch and Release, I just couldn’t believe he was 37! However a year later, he plays the villain in the 4th movie of the Die Hard series and he suddenly looks seasoned. He didn’t age overnight,of course. He is just really good at adapting to his role. He had to be a guy who seeked vengeance for what felt like wrong doing on his part and he just takes this revenge thing on everyone. It just wouldn’t look convincing if he looked like a man fresh out of college; his nemesis is Bruce Willis, for god’s sake! However, Tim’s character is one of the coolest, most cold-blooded villains seen on screen- and he brought the role facial expressions I had never seen him do before. I don’t know a lot of actors who can do that. Yes, there are a lot of good actors but their expressions/way of acting don’t really differ that much or cease surprising you at one point. The last time I was pleasantly surprised like this was by Robert De Niro’s performance in Stardust- I have seen his 3 decades of movies and it was the first time a role of his and his portrayal surprised me.
It is not just Tim’s performance though. Live Free or Die Hard is a solid action movie. It sure includes some physically impossible stuff but hey it is John McClane we are talking about, it is expected. The explosions and chasing and plotting are great. The villain is not just muscles, but brains- who doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty/bloody when he needs to. His smooth delivery and coolness make an impressive and chilly effect . It is obvious even in the trailer:
[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UcpL45SZRM[/pro-player]
HITMAN (2007)
Hitman is based on a very popular computer game. Agent 47 has been raised as a kid to be the perfect assassin. No emotions, no complications. Just get the mission, get it done, and get out. An impressive bank balance, no conscience and no emotions. He can get himself out of any danger and you seriously do not want to mess with him. However some people do, and things go awry. After all, the people who “programmed” him have forgotten that no matter how “mechanic” they trained him to be, he is still human. He is also surprised to see he has some feelings he can’t define, which starts after meeting his female target: a Russian hooker (Olga Kurylenko), whose political figure boyfriend might very well involved in the conspiracy.
I actually laughed when some people commented that Timothy’s acting was flat. Did they pay attention to anything going on in the movie? 47 was raised to show and feel no signs of emotion. He is based on a computer character. He is supposed to be flat. But later with the Russian girl, he starts to feel a variety of mixed emotions and he portrays the different levels of reaction perfectly. The movie is fast and it is entertaining as hell. We go to different places in the world, including Russia and Turkey with the characters. There’s lots of action- both with weaponry and fighting. There is also a subtle sense of humor and it is fun to watch Agent 47 begin to change and how he deals with himself. A scene where she’s trying to seduce him and he gives her a sedative shot to get her off him is just plain hilarious. There is also a fun nod at the computer game. I like mindless action. Bring it on!!!
Below is the trailer.
[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUAURAgF2Kc&feature=related[/pro-player]
And one of the best scenes is :
[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z9EyP38SIM&feature=related[/pro-player]
A PERFECT GETAWAY (2007)
Timothy is featured in the show Damages, but I already wrote about it. So I am gonna end the post with one of his latest movies, a thriller called A Perfect Getaway. I just got my hands on the movie and haven’t seen it yet but am quite looking forward to it. With this, Timothy is back to his familiar gorgeous look- which suits the exotic and dangerous vacation theme of the movie.
The great thing about him is that he is a very versatile actor. I could only feature some of his films here. He has had no problems playing a bisexual character falling for his gay boyfriend’s female best friend (Advice from a Caterpillar), a cold-blooded villain (Live Free or Die Hard), a highly professional killer (Hitman), a misunderstood nice guy (Catch and Release); an annoyingly slick TV reporter with no moral principles (Bill), a sheriff in the old west (Deadwood), a drug dealer (Go)….Well the list speaks for itself. It is great that he is very good-looking, and that he doesn’t show his 41 years- which gives him the opportunity to play more kinds of roles.
It is also impressive that he is married with 3 kids and that he has been married since 1991. He has been around for a while and it seems like the movie-makers seem are smart enough to take advantage of this skilled actor. Hope he gets the credit he deserves.
Other posts starring Timothy:
https://pinartarhan.com/blog/a-perfect-getaway-2009/
https://pinartarhan.com/blog/damages-when-your-favorite-big-screen-actors-go-tv/