Timothy Olyphant came real close to starring inBone Tomahawk, arguably the best Western of the past decade.Olyphant is best known for his TV showslikeDeadwoodandJustified, but he first rose to fame with movies likeScream 2andGo.
Olyphant was one of these actors who always seemed on the edge of movie stardom - but never quite fell over.Olyphant famously passed onThe Fast and the Furious, while his star vehicles likeHitmanorThe Crazieswere only modest hits. It wasJustifiedthat 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’sBone 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 Tomahawkis infamous for one especially graphic scene, andwhile 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 Olyphantas 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.Deadlineannounced 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 thatFox’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 onLostwas still fresh in people’s minds whenBone Tomahawkarrived, which is why his work inBone Tomahawkis 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 hisfinalacting credit. AfterBone Tomahawk, Fox took a lengthy break from the business to spend time with family.Fox finally returned in 2022 with the miniseriesLast Lightand is set to appear in theYellowstonespinoff,The Madison.
Timothy Olyphant Has Become A Modern Western Icon
From Deadwood to Rango
There’s a scene in the animated comedyRangowhere 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.BetweenDeadwood,Justified,Once Upon a Time in HollywoodandThe Mandalorian, Olyphant has become an honorary Western star.
While he passed on the Dom Toretto role inThe Fast and the Furious, Timothy Olyphant would soon star alongside Vin Diesel in 2003’sA Man Apart.
This is especially odd, consideringDeadwoodis the only oneactuallyset in the Old West, whileThe Mandalorianis part of theStar Warsuniverse. 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’sRaylan 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 ofJustifiedwould 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, butwith the acclaim and success of more recent outings like1883,The Hateful EightandBone Tomahawk, there’s still life in the “Oaters” yet.
Bone Tomahawkis a stealth remake ofThe Searchersplotwise, 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 ofBone Tomahawkis 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 inBone Tomahawk, but Fox does a fantastic job as Brooder, too.The movie also arrived the same year asThe Hateful Eight, another hyperviolent Western starring Kurt Russelland hisepic facial hair.
Quentin Tarantino’s big-budget epic took most of the attention from Western fans, butBone Tomahawkhas 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.
Bone Tomahawk
Cast
Bone Tomahawk is a Western film that follows Sheriff Franklin Hunt, who gathers together a group of fighters to save three kidnapped victims from a clan of cannibals. After the town’s doctor is kidnapped along with two others, forcing the sheriff to partner with the town’s Native American professor and find the tribe before it’s too late.
