Timothy Olyphant says he lost out on Captain Kirk role in 'Star Trek' movie reboot to Chris Pine because they 'wanted somebody younger'
- "Justified" star Timothy Olyphant was up for the role of Captain Kirk in 2009's "Star Trek" reboot.
- Olyphant said they ultimately "wanted somebody younger" on the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast.
Captain Kirk could've looked a bit different in J.J. Abrams' recent "Star Trek" franchise.
Timothy Olyphant opened up about his audition for the 2009 reboot on the latest episode of the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast with entertainment journalist Josh Horowitz.
"I went in and auditioned, not for Captain Kirk, but I remember reading with J.J. Abrams and he's just a lovely, lovely guy. And just a lovely, lovely audition process," Olyphant said during a recent interview taped ahead of the SAG strike. "Somewhere in there, I think I was auditioning for Doc, he's like, 'I already got a guy for Doc, so I don't need you for that, but I don't have a Kirk.'"
"Somewhere along the line they're like, 'I got a guy,'" Olyphant said in reference to Chris Pine — who is 13 years younger than him — ultimately nabbing the role.
"I think it was one of those things where it's like, he might have been prepared to hire me, but they wanted somebody younger," Olyphant said. "He was having a hard time finding somebody younger and somewhere along the line, J.J. called and said, 'I found a guy younger who's really good.'"
Olyphant said there are no hard feelings, expressing his adoration for both Abrams and Pine in the role.
"I have, since then, met Chris Pine and I am a huge fan of him both on and off screen," Olyphant said. "He is a good dude."
"He's one of those guys who makes it look simple and easy," Olyphant added, noting a time the two hung out at the bar at the Golden Globes.
Later in the conversation, Olyphant said he believes he "dodged some bullets" by not landing some roles he thought he wanted, without naming any in particular.
"Nos are more important in life, in general, than the yeses," Olyphant said. "I think I got lucky with some of the failures."