Opyphant's 'Perfect' World

By Lisa Millegan
lmillegan@modbee.com

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Modesto-raised actor Timothy Olyphant can't go into too much detail about his role in the new movie, "A Perfect Getaway."

The thriller, which opens today at Modesto-area theaters, has a twist, and saying too much would ruin the experience.

"It's really great," the 41-year-old Beyer High School graduate said Wednesday in a phone interview. "When I read it, I thought this would be a lot of fun. There's a lot to chew on here. The movie really works."

Olyphant plays Nick, a war veteran with a shady past, who meets honeymooners (Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich) while hiking with his girlfriend on a remote Hawaii trail.

Soon, the hikers hear reports about people being killed. No one knows who can be trusted.

Olyphant said he filmed the movie about a year ago in Puerto Rico. It wasn't a bad way to work, having breakfast on the beach.

"You're working in paradise," he said. "The places we were staying were beautiful. We were always going to incredible locations."

Olyphant has been one of Modesto's busiest working actors, starring as Sheriff Seth Bullock in the HBO series "Deadwood," playing the villain Thomas Gabriel in the 2007 summer blockbuster "Live Free or Die Hard" and starring in the lead role in "Hitman," also released in 2007.

He also had a role as Wes in the past season of the Emmy-winning television drama "Damages" with Glenn Close, Ted Danson, William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden.

Up next for Olyphant is another film and another TV series. He stars in "The Crazies," a remake of a 1970s George Romero horror film, due out in February. The movie is about a small Iowa town suddenly plagued by insanity and death after its water supply is mysteriously contaminated.

Olyphant also stars in the new FX drama "Lawman," which will air next spring. He plays Raylan Givens, a modern U.S. marshal who is reassigned to the rural Kentucky town where he grew up. The character is based on Elmore Leonard's short story "Fire in the Hole."

"It's that great small little world where the criminals and the cops all kind of know each other," Olyphant said of the upcoming series.

Coincidentally, today's première of "A Perfect Getaway" marks the second time in as many weeks that a film has opened here starring a Modesto-bred actor. Last Friday, fellow Beyer High grad Jeremy Renner, 38, signed movie posters at Brenden Theatres for the opening of his latest film, the Iraq war thriller "The Hurt Locker."

"He did a great show. He's so good in it," said Olyphant, who has seen the movie but has never met Renner.

Olyphant said he has never thought about doing a poster signing in Modesto. "It's never come up."