Timothy Olyphant’s chaotic streak continues

Alien: Earth premiered last night—will I review it? Who can ever be sure!—which means Timothy Olyphant is back on TV screens once again. And yes, even with his character’s strong look—neon white hair and bleached brows, very Nineties Euro raver—he is still Very Handsome. My taste is impeccable and so is Timothy Olyphant.

Olyphant went on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night with Nicole Byer acting as guest host. (Question: Does Jimmy Kimmel ever host Jimmy Kimmel Live!?) As established in the Conan Cinematic Universe, Timothy Olyphant is a top-tier talk show guest, that is definitely the case when Nicole Byer interviews him. Timothy Olyphant’s chaotic talk show streak continues.

 

Olyphant is also featured in The Hollywood Reporter talking TV, reboots, and the perfect level of fame from his ceramics studio—men are so cute when they’re excited about their hobbies. Also, a tidbit in that interview reveals that Olyphant will reprise his role as actor James Stacy in the David Fincher-directed sequel to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood…, which is filming now and is titled The Adventures of Cliff Booth. Stacy starred in the TV series Lancer from 1968-1970, which is the era depicted in Hollywood and was the peak of Stacy’s career. He continued acting through the1980s, but his career declined following the end of Lancer. 

This is in part because he was involved in a horrible motorcycle crash in the early 1970s that resulted in the loss of two of his limbs, but also because in 1995 he was convicted of molesting an eleven-year-old child, for which he received a six-year prison sentence (not enough, but he almost got off with probation except he fled to Hawaii and pissed off the judge, truly some of the most upsetting court transcripts, the judge is more mad that he skipped sentencing than about the actual crime). 

I think Tarantino included Jim Stacy in Hollywood because of the general air of doom that permeates that film—a number of public figures included in the film have depressing or disturbing fates beyond Sharon Tate—but I have wondered ever since it was announced that Olyphant would play Stacy in the film if Tarantino, who also wrote the script for The Adventures of Cliff Booth, would in any way acknowledge Stacy’s dark future. He didn’t in Hollywood, but as much as that film is steeped in doom, it’s also a fantasy of averting tragedy. Cliff Booth will imagine the world that follows, though, the one in which Sharon Tate and her friends were never murdered. Does this mean Jim Stacy’s fate is averted, too? Or will Tarantino—and Fincher—continue to ignore it? I have a lot of questions and a gimlet eye on that project.