True to his character on “Justified,” Timothy Olyphant was a man of few words. At a Television Critics Association press conference for the third season, I tried asking Olyphant about Raylan’s abilities after being shot. Things got a bit more lively when I brought Walton Goggins into the conversation.

Crave Online: Can you talk about playing an injured Raylan this year and how long does that keep hindering him?

Timothy Olyphant: It’s pretty much the same deal except for, in one or two scenes, I had to sit in the makeup trailer a little longer, but, otherwise, it’s business as usual.

Crave Online: But in the first episode back, he has a tougher time getting around and handling himself in fights.

Timothy Olyphant: Yeah, he does.

Crave Online: Is that interesting or fun for you to play?

Timothy Olyphant: You know, the whole thing is fun, you know. It’s just a great job, and as long as he’s breathing, it’s pretty fun.

Crave Online: For Walton too, how is Boyd and Raylan’s relationship this year?

Walton Goggins: It’s as contentious and lovely as it’s always been. I think one of the greatest things that happened this season for me is speaking to a writer and talking about a scene and saying, “You know, these guys, they really like each other.” And the writer looked at me and said, “You know, when I had this conversation with Tim, Tim says, ‘You know, these guys really hate each other.’”

And I think that’s really interesting because I think that’s where Tim kind of comes from, and it’s certainly kind of where I come from, and never the twain shall meet, really. And I hope that they never do because I never really know what Tim is going to do, and, hopefully, he never really knows what I’m going to do.

Crave Online: Is this session the first time you and Tim have talked about that?

Timothy Olyphant: We haven’t spoken about it.

Walton Goggins: We haven’t really spoken about it, no.

Crave Online: Timothy, why do you think they hate each other?

Timothy Olyphant: I actually have no idea, but I’m always just doing whatever it takes to get some material that makes it keep going. The fact is it’s just a pleasure working with Walt. It just never stops becoming entertaining, trying to figure out how to do the same scene over and over again in a new, fresh way with surprising results.

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I’ve added 20 photos of Walton alongside his star studded Justified cast at FX Network’s Winter TCA Tour which took place January 15th.

Gallery Link:
- 2012 > 01/15/12 – 2012 Winter TCA Tour – Day 12

Is it true the original plan was for Raylan to kill Boyd in the pilot episode of the series?

“That was the foregone conclusion going in. Boyd dies at the end of the short story, Fire in the Hole, by Elmore Leonard, which was the source material for the series. So that was to be the beginning, the middle and the end of Boyd, that one episode. It was a one-off. But there was something there. Casting is such an ephemeral thing. But for me, with Tim, I knew the first time we read through it and the very first time we started shooting that we had a chemistry that was pretty extraordinary. So instead of killing Boyd, we put our heads together and we decided, ‘Let’s see where this goes.’ So Boyd lives.”

Boyd is so unpredictable. He started out as a white supremacist criminal, then reinvented himself as a born-again evangelist; he tried to go straight, then rejoiced when he broke bad again. He has a code, but the rules to his code shift with the wind. Have you figured him out yet?

“I would say he’s a man who likes to live in extremes. And the changes of those extremes bring about a new set of moral principles. He’s only comfortable on the fringes. He’s a showman, and it’s very rare that you get a straight sentence out of him. When you do, hopefully it’s impactful. But I really don’t know how Boyd is going to react in any situation, even with the words on the page. It really only materializes once we’re at work and actually shooting the scene.”

Well, if you don’t know how a scene will play out until you do it, imagine how interested the writers must be, waiting to see what this wild man will do next?

“They really never know either till we shoot it. But I try not to characterize Boyd as a wild man.”

No, you’re the wild man.

“Me? Like, Walton Goggins, me? I’m the wild man? I don’t know. Maybe. I think it’s more about, ‘This is the story, and we’ve got to get from A to B. But who knows the mode of transportation? Are we going to walk to get there or are we going to take an airplane?’ I remember one episode from Season 2. Boyd is dealing with people who want to rob the mine, and they want to kill him. When he gets this information, he’s cool about it, like nothing happened. And I kept playing around with the line, improvising different things, and then I got it: ‘You want to make a living in this business, you’ve got to know your ABCs: Always Be Cool.’ That was the motto of my graduating class, Lithia Springs High School, Class of ’89. The point is, you never know where the right thing to do or say will come from till you get there.”

Is it liberating to be able to channel all of your dark impulses into your performance?

“It’s better than having a therapist. It’s so nice to come home every night with a grin on my face.”

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I’ve added 11 photos of Walton from the 2011 AFI Awards held earlier today.

Gallery Link:
- 2012 > 01/13/12 – 2011 AFI Awards

I have added 71 photos of Walton alongside his very talented Justified co-stars at the season 3 FX and Sony Pictures Television premiere party held last night.

Gallery Link:
- 2012 > 01/10/12 – FX And Sony Pictures Television Present The Justified Season 3 Premiere Party

I’ve added 32 photos of Walton attending the Fox Press Tour All-Star Party which took place January 8th.

Gallery Link:
- 2012 > 01/08/12 – Fox Press Tour All-Star Party

1. What was it about Boyd Crowder that made you want to play this character?

It wasn’t what was on the page initially but it was the conversations about what this character could be that made me want to play him. I’m a fan of Elmore Leonard and a fan of the movies that have been made about his material. It’s a world that really interests me, a tonality that I like to play in and a complexity that is a rarity in television. And this world in particular happens to be rural and bucolic and this character to me was extremely smart. It’s not often that you get to play a rural person that is that intelligent, self-taught, and that was very important to me to make him the smartest man in the room. And so approaching it from that angle it was just a really rare opportunity.

2. When you played him in the beginning of season 2 did you know if he really was serious about not wanting to be criminal again?

I think absolutely. At the end of season one 18 of his men were executed by his father and I think he was like in a boat in a sort of drift on the ocean without an anchor. He just wanted to get as deep as possible emotionally and physically, and so short of ending his life he decided to go work in a bottom of a mine. And I think it was just to get a kind of perpective on his life and to really turn over a new leave. Boyd is not a person who lives in the middle, he lives in extremes and I think his journey in season 2 is about finding bounds in his life for the first time.

Head on over to myFanbase for the full interview with Walton. Continue reading..