Shooting for a day and a half on a single scene for David Fincher, Olyphant describes the surreal psychological effect of doing 30 takes: you start to doubt even the great ones. Fincher's strategy is to run actors out of tricks so they just say the lines — and that bare authenticity is what he's after.
Where this was said
At 47:40 · chapter starts 43:40
The conversation turns to director relationships and the art of the performance note. Olyphant recalls Larry Kasdan walking up and delivering perhaps the most clarifying note he's received: 'Tim, there's a joke there, but we wouldn't know it because you keep fucking it up.' Clear, usable, devastating, and correct. Then the contrast: Steven Soderbergh gave Olyphant essentially no notes across 3 months of filming — their one performance exchange was Soderbergh rating a take '7, maybe an 8' in a car. Terrifying in its own way. Then there's David Fincher, who ran Olyphant through a day and a half of takes on Adventures of Cliff Booth. The surreal psychological toll: after 30 takes, you start doubting even the great ones. Bateman adds that Fincher's strategy is to exhaust actors out of performing so they just say the lines — and that pure, unadorned delivery is sometimes exactly what he's after.
Director Larry Kasdan walked up to Olyphant after multiple takes and said: 'Tim, there's a joke there, but we wouldn't know it 'cause you keep fucking it up.' Blunt, useful, and — as Olyphant concedes — completely accurate.
Director Larry Kasdan told Timothy Olyphant there was a joke in the scene but no one would know it because Olyphant kept messing it up.
After working with Steven Soderbergh for 3 months, Olyphant received essentially one performance rating in a car: '7, maybe an 8 out of 10.' No other notes. The contrast with Fincher's hyper-detailed approach reveals two polar-opposite directorial philosophies.
Timothy Olyphant worked with Steven Soderbergh for 3 months and received essentially one performance note — a 7 or 8 out of 10 rating said once in a car.
After completing his first run-through of a one-man show in New York, Sean Hayes told director Leigh Silverman he felt like he was 'just saying words.' Her response: 'Yeah. It looks like that.' Devastating — but exactly the kick he needed.
David Fincher shot a single scene with Timothy Olyphant for a day and a half on Adventures of Cliff Booth, with the actor doing up to 30 takes.
The entire plot of the original Terminator film depends on the phone book. The Terminator looks up 'Sarah Connor,' finds multiple listings, and starts killing them one by one. No phone book, no movie.
Rico has already appeared in Den of Thieves, Den of Thieves 2, and Roadhouse alongside Jake Gyllenhaal and Dave Bautista. Jason Statham is developing a specific role for him. Working alongside elite actors taught Rico something about himself: the emotional suppression that makes him a great fighter is exactly the material that makes great acting — if he learns to stop pushing it away.
Trump joked that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. personally ran over, butchered, and delivered the evening's beef tenderloin to the dinner — then topped it with a punchline about RFK wanting to serve raccoon roadkill as an appetizer. The crowd's laughter at jokes targeting his own administration signaled a rare night of good-natured self-deprecation from Trump.
Jimmy Tatro is playing the nemesis-son to Will Ferrell's washed-up golfer in The Hawk, his fifth project with Ferrell and Ferrell's first lead TV series. The real highlight: Molly Shannon, playing his on-screen mother, drove off set on the last day with Chief Keef blasting from her subwoofers.
Alan Ritchson walked into a Thor audition with his sides still in his hand, half-assed it on a spotlight-lit stage before two silhouettes in a dark theater, and bombed so completely that the casting director broke protocol to call his team. The feedback? He had no craft. That one sentence sent him to acting school — and changed the trajectory of everything.
Alan Ritchson walked out of his Titans audition so sure he'd booked the lead that he called his wife and told her he was going to buy a Tesla. She said he hadn't booked it. He went and bought the car anyway. His instincts were right — he was offered the role — just not the one he wanted.
Reacher drew 56 million global viewers in a single week of Season 2. Alan Ritchson points out what makes it unusual: unlike ensemble shows, almost all of that visibility lands on one person. It's an anthology with a rotating cast built around a single titular character — and the scale of it is something even he calls unprecedented.
Motor City has no spoken dialogue. Every major leading man in Hollywood — Jake Gyllenhaal, Hugh Jackman, Gerard Butler, Adrian Brody — was attached at some point. It was greenlit nine times. The concept was simple: Greg Silverman wanted a film everyone in the world could watch with the exact same experience, regardless of language. Alan Ritchson read the script and called it a masterpiece.
Working with Arnold Schwarzenegger showed Alan Ritchson what 100% recognition looks like. People feel Schwarzenegger before they see him — like a meteor approaching. Alan's wife wants a strict no-photos policy around family. Arnold stops for everyone. The contrast was a master class in how gratitude should manifest when fame is inescapable.
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