Timothy Olyphant Revealed How Working With His Daughter on ‘Justified’ Affected His Performance
Actor and Mandalorian star Timothy Olyphant spent six seasons honing his performance as Raylan Givens in the television series Justified. But the show’s revival saw a few new faces debuting in the limited series, including Olyphant’s daughter.
The actor recently confided, however, that working alongside his daughter resulted in a subtle change in his performance.
Timothy Olyphant shares what it’s like working with his daughter on ‘Justified: City Primeval’
The limited series Justified: City Primeval showed Olyphant’s Raylan Givens in a different period in his life. The sequel takes place a decade after the original series ended, with Givens changing location from Kentucky to Miami.
The time lapse also allowed the show to explore Olyphant’s relationship with his characters’ daughter Willa Givens. In the original Justified, the daughter was usually played by a couple of child actors. With Primeval featuring a much older Willa, the limited series cast Olyphant’s own daughter in the role. But playing alongside his daughter had some unforeseen effects on Olyphant’s Justified performance.
“Well, having your kid on the set definitely makes you more aware of your behavior. I was like, ‘I’m not used to having my kid watching me here in this setting.’ I’m embarrassed to admit, there were times where I was like, ‘I need to give this some more thought,’” Olyphant said in an interview with Men’s Health.
It might have been a bit of an adjustment period for the Santa Clarita Diet star. But he still looked back at working alongside his daughter fondly.
“I don’t think either one of us saw it coming, and we feel very lucky. It was so fun to watch her work so hard and have so much fun at the same time. As a parent, that’s all you want. You want your kids to be happy, and part of that happiness is going to be finding something they can do to make a living that they enjoy, as opposed to something they’re just going to have to do to get a paycheck,” he said.
How Vivian Olyphant felt working alongside her father in ‘Justified: City Primeval’
Vivian Olyphant recently confided that she didn’t watch the original Justified during its run. Her father felt she was too young for the Elmore Leonard adaptation. But she would later catch up on the series as she grew older. Although related to the Justified star, she auditioned for the series traditionally out of a passion for being an actor. Olyphant reflected on what it was like working alongside her father after nabbing the part of Willa.
“It was great. I learned a lot from him and I’m glad that this was my first project being on the set with him. It felt really comfortable. And he gave me really great notes. Sometimes it was a little annoying. I really did love his notes. I think he was really helpful when on set. It was really fun,” she told The Wrap.
Some of these notes included how The Good Place actor reacted to certain scenes in the show.
“The first day he really helped calming my nerves because the first scene that we filmed was a walking scene where I was putting this watch up to my ear. I remember after the first take, my dad came over to me and asked, ‘What does the watch sound like?’ I had no idea. He said, ‘You have to listen to what the ticking sounds like.’ So for the next take I actually listened to the sound of the watch,” she said.
Timothy Olyphant revealed why his daughter was cast in ‘Justified: City Primeval’
Speaking on Late Night With Seth Meyers, Olyphant confided that his daughter managed to get the part due to her attitude. The show’s crew looked for an actor who wouldn’t feel too anxious around the Once Upon a Time star.
“One of the things about Justified in particular is that, over time, you’ve earned a little bit of a reputation where perhaps people… can be a little nervous around you, or feel intimidated,” he said. “We hired the one person, guaranteed, who doesn’t feel that way at all. In fact, she’s not only not nervous around me, she’s kinda over it.”
