Timothy Olyphant came real close to starring in Bone Tomahawk, arguably the best Western of the past decade. Olyphant is best known for his TV shows like Deadwood and Justified, but he first rose to fame with movies like Scream 2 and Go.
Olyphant was one of these actors who always seemed on the edge of movie stardom – but never quite fell over. Olyphant famously passed on The Fast and the Furious, while his star vehicles like Hitman or The Crazies were only modest hits. It was Justified that changed the course of his career, however.
His laconic turn as Marshal Raylan Givens made viewers swoon, with the neo-Western aided by a fantastic supporting cast and great dialogue. While he’s not fully typecast in the genre, audiences seem to love Olyphant in a Western role. It’s a shame then that he narrowly missed out on 2015’s Bone Tomahawk.
Timothy Olyphant Almost Played Brooder In Bone Tomahawk
Olyphant was cast alongside Peter Skarsgård and Jennifer Carpenter
This Horror Western from S. Craig Zahler follows a band of men out to rescue a woman kidnapped by a clan of cannibals. Bone Tomahawk is infamous for one especially graphic scene, and while the movie can be intensely violent and shocking, it’s anchored by great performances from Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson and Richard Jenkins.
When the Western was first announced, the cast list included Peter Skarsgård in the Wilson role, Jennifer Carpenter and Timothy Olyphant as Brooder. John Brooder is the confident (and arrogant) gunslinger who joins the rescue party and he is – in classic Zahler fashion – both repellent and oddly likable.
Olyphant would have been great casting as Brooder, with the character being charming and funny but holds the capacity to be totally ruthless. Deadline announced Olyphant’s casting in 2012 but that star later backed out due to scheduling conflicts.
Matthew Fox Was Oddly Perfect Recasting For Bone Tomahawk’s Brooder
Matthew Fox was far from Lost playing Brooder
Matthew Fox stepped into the Brooder role shortly after Olyphant dropped out. It’s fair to say that Fox’s performance might be the most surprising out of the entire cast. He had never before appeared in a Western or played such a morally complex character.
After Bone Tomahawk, Matthew Fox took a lengthy break from the business to spend more time with his family.
Fox’s role as the goody two-shoes Jack on Lost was still fresh in people’s minds when Bone Tomahawk arrived, which is why his work in Bone Tomahawk is so impressive. Brooder is an emotionally restrained figure who can nevertheless be very charismatic when he wants to be.
Fox was proud of his work in the Western too, which for a time looked like it could be his final acting credit. After Bone Tomahawk, Fox took a lengthy break from the business to spend time with family. Fox finally returned in 2022 with the miniseries Last Light and is set to appear in the Yellowstone spinoff, The Madison.
Timothy Olyphant Has Become A Modern Western Icon
From Deadwood to Rango
There’s a scene in the animated comedy Rango where the titular lizard meets “The Spirit of the West.” The character looks and sounds just like Clint Eastwood’s The Man with No Name, but rather than being voiced by Clint, it was none other than Olyphant providing the cowboy’s raspy tones.
Outside of Clint himself, it’s hard to think of a better actor to embody the spirit of the Western in recent times. Between Deadwood, Justified, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and The Mandalorian, Olyphant has become an honorary Western star.
While he passed on the Dom Toretto role in The Fast and the Furious, Timothy Olyphant would soon star alongside Vin Diesel in 2003’s A Man Apart.
This is especially odd, considering Deadwood is the only one actually set in the Old West, while The Mandalorian is part of the Star Wars universe. Regardless, Olyphant is a natural fit for the genre, with his easy-going screen persona mixed with the ability to flip the switch to violence almost instantly.
Justified’s Raylan is a prime example of this, with the character meant to feel like an old-fashioned lawman from the Old West transposed to modern-day. It would be nice to see Olyphant back in a more traditional Western, but another season of Justified would do the trick just fine too.
Bone Tomahawk Is One Of The Best Westerns Of The Past Decade
2015 was a great year for Kurt Russell Westerns
Westerns were once the most popular genre in Hollywood, but by the late 1970s, they were all but dead. They will never regain their former popularity, but with the acclaim and success of more recent outings like 1883, The Hateful Eight and Bone Tomahawk, there’s still life in the “Oaters” yet.
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Bone Tomahawk Ending Explained
2015’s critically acclaimed 2015 Western horror Bone Tomahawk features a shocking, grisly ending that leaves a whole host of questions unanswered.
Bone Tomahawk is a stealth remake of The Searchers plotwise, but its performances, dialogue and brutality make the Western its own beast. The film butts up against its tiny budget at times, but it’s still a gripping ride that slowly takes audiences on a journey through hell.
… it would have been great to see Timothy Olyphant pop up in Bone Tomahawk, but Matthew Fox does a fantastic job as Brooder.
For a Horror Western, it’s interesting so much of Bone Tomahawk is a traditional Western without any horrific elements. It’s just that when the horror arrives, it’s so visceral and disturbing that it lingers with viewers long after the credits roll.
Again, it would have been great to see Timothy Olyphant pop up in Bone Tomahawk, but Fox does a fantastic job as Brooder, too. The movie also arrived the same year as The Hateful Eight, another hyperviolent Western starring Kurt Russell and his epic facial hair.
Quentin Tarantino’s big-budget epic took most of the attention from Western fans, but Bone Tomahawk has aged better. It’s a scuzzy, expertly crafted B-Western with sequences that are hard to shake, and it’s something every fan of the genre should check out at least once.
Source: Deadline
