← All Of It with Alison Stewart
All Of It with Alison Stewart
Timothy Olyphant Embodies Artificial Intelligence in 'Alien: Earth'
00:20:28
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- [00:09]
A
This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. This week marked the finale of the Sci Fi theories. Sci Fi sci. How do I say it?
- [00:17]
B
I don't know. But you haven't messed up my name yet, so that's good.
- [00:21]
A
The Sci Fi series Alien Earth. A brand new installment of the Alien franchise. In this story in 2112, there are five corporations running the earth. One one is run by a boy wonder slash menace. He's created a group of robots. They're called hybrids. Half human, half robot. Someone has to look after these hybrids because they have the minds of kids and the bodies of warriors. And that is where my next guest comes in.
- [00:46]
B
Timothy, you're doing great. Keep going. Commit.
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A
Timothy. Oliphant.
- [00:50]
B
Oliphant's good.
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A
Timothy Oliphant.
- [00:52]
B
We said this. Olivet. It's very close. It's right there. Olivet. Alison Stewart. Oliphant. I know of it.
- [00:59]
A
Tim plays a character named Curse.
- [01:01]
B
Nice way to. You know what? I should have done that from the beginning. I don't know why I made it so tough on people.
- [01:07]
A
He's a straight up synthetic.
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B
I owe apologies.
- [01:09]
A
He's been assigned to look after these hybrids. The job gets a lot more complicated when a spaceship crash lands on Earth. A spaceship full of dangerous alien life forms who aren't happy about it.
- [01:19]
B
Sounds entertaining and smart. So far.
- [01:21]
A
Yeah. They see humans as food and hybrids, maybe as something else. Perhaps even allies. Right. Alien Earth is an FX and Hulu series. Season 1 is available to stream now. I'm joined by actor Tim, who plays Kirsch, you know, from Deadwood. Justified. My favorite, the Santa Clara diet.
- [01:38]
B
Oh, thank you.
- [01:39]
A
So nice to meet you.
- [01:40]
B
It was a pleasure.
- [01:41]
A
So when was the first time you engaged with the alien series?
- [01:45]
B
Engaged? Mean like what was the beginning of the.
- [01:47]
A
Foresee it.
- [01:47]
B
The whole conversation. Noah sent me. No Holly, who created the show. Speaking of boy wonders, he's a bit of a. He's a smarty pants.
- [01:57]
A
I interviewed him last week.
- [01:58]
B
Oh yeah? How'd it go?
- [01:59]
A
It was really good. It was on a panel.
- [02:01]
B
I'm here to dumb things down.
- [02:03]
A
All right.
- [02:03]
B
Let's do Went all right. It was a panel.
- [02:06]
A
It was a panel with the head of Juilliard, the head of the Apollo.
- [02:10]
B
Wow.
- [02:11]
A
Head of the new museum and him. What?
- [02:14]
B
I know. I'm a little bit. I just went right to jealousy. That sounds fantastic.
- [02:18]
A
So you met with Noah Hawley.
- [02:20]
B
Wow. I'm gonna. Is that available? How's it work?
- [02:23]
A
You can see it.
- [02:24]
B
It's online I can see it online.
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A
The Atlantic.
- [02:26]
B
That's the kind of thing I would really dig. I'm late to it, but I'm gonna get to it. I look forward to it. He reached out. So he and I know each other. I worked for him prior on his show Fargo. So we had a relationship, and he reached out and said, I think I got something for you. And I said, I'm in. You tell me when and where. And then he said, it was Alien. And I said, oh, it sounds even better. So it was great.
- [02:55]
A
Well, one of the things I talked to him about and I'll ask you about, is we were talking about legacies and, like, shows that have legacy, and Alien has a legacy from the movie, and Fargo has a legacy from the movie. And how do you stay true to the legacy, but then make it your own creatively?
- [03:11]
B
Yeah.
- [03:12]
A
First of all, why do you think Alien has such a grip? Why is it a timeless idea?
- [03:17]
B
Well, such an exquisite. That first film is so exquisite. It's such elevated horror. It's such an elevated, you know, of the genre. The performances are amazing. The story's amazing. Dare I say, I think there's some sort of metaphors in there about being a woman and pregnancy and just the nightmare of something's growing inside you and it's going to kill you. So, you know, it just firing on all cylinders. And, you know, Ridley Scott's a, you know, a genius filmmaker. So, I mean, I think that's a fair answer to the question, right? I mean, it's just got off like gangbusters. That first film just set such a high precedent for great drama. So. That's a good answer. Yeah, it's really quite thrilling, to be honest with you. Now I think about it. It's really quite thrilling to be part of that conversation.
- [04:13]
A
What did you like about your character, Kirsch?
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B
Well, I mean, there's everything from the very simple. There's always fun when you're playing a character that's a little bit tough to read, you know, for the audience. I knew that going in. I knew that there was going to be this, you know, is he, you know, good guy? Is he a bad guy? Is he on the level? Is he not on the level? They represented a sort of perhaps a mistrust that we have with artificial intelligence. That's always a fun game, you know, fun sandbox to play in. So I like that. I knew it was going to be. The writing was going to be smart. I mean, a buddy of mine today was sending me texts of lines that I Said on the. On the show, and you're like, yeah, it's just really good writing when you got those two things right off the bat just makes the job of acting so easy. It's such a fun way to show up to work when you have scenes that even if I phone it in, it's going to be a pretty good scene, you know, I mean, that's a really nice feeling. What are you laughing about back there behind the board? It's true, right? It's. There's. It's.
- [05:26]
A
Yeah, true.
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B
It's great when you're like, all I got to do is, you know, say, you know, hit the march and say these lines and this thing's going to play well. But you're a good actor, too, and, well, then you. I appreciate you saying so. So I was hoping we'd get to that. I was hoping that'd be part of the interview. Tell your friends.
- [05:44]
A
Do you feel differently about AI after having to engage in it? After participating in a character which is part AI, you know?
- [05:55]
B
Yes. Well, because as I've started, I'll say this as I was playing, because at the end of the day, my job is to sort of humanize the. And my job is to show up and have spontaneous behavior. And so it was a. As you're playing this game of how human can I make him? How much can I emote? How much can I manipulate the people within the scenes I'm working on? I kept asking the same question. Well, is this. Can I do this? I'm a machine. I'm not even a real person. I'm a thing. And I realized, oh, no, yeah, of course you can do this. I mean, that's. You can do Sky's the limit. How far you can go. And then you're like, that's kind of scary. That's not a person. You know, when you read these articles, you know, where some, you know, essentially an artificial thing is telling people, I see you, and I see you more than. Other than the other people in your life see you and the person things not capable of seeing. So to be a represent. To be a physical being in front of people and really take that to an. Yeah, it all seems a little frightening to me.
- [07:03]
A
It's a little weird.
- [07:04]
B
I'm not a big fan of it.
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A
It's a little weird.
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B
I'm not a big fan of it. I mean, I'm rooting for us, but.
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A
Rooting for us humans.
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B
I'm rooting for us, but it feels like the deck is starting to stack up against Us.
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A
My guest is actor Timothy Olyphant. We're talking about his role in the new series Alien Earth.
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B
You're really warming up to that. You really got it there.
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A
I like it. It's season finale this weekend. Timothy plays a synthetic human and scientist named Kirsch. You can stream the whole thing now on Hulu. How are you able to get a sense of the tone and the vision for this project through the script?
- [07:39]
B
Well, again, I'm giving maybe Noah too much credit. He's gotten enough already. But, you know, it's there on the page. You know, like I said it. There's humor there. That's, you know, it's, there's. I mean, I remember saying to my wife at the risk of when she's like, well, what's the, what's your, what's your job here? Like, what do you. I said, I think my job's supposed is to be as entertaining as possible. I think that's what it is because it's such a heady, interesting show. It's so smart.
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A
So smart.
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B
So then it kind of gives me a little bit of freedom to just go in and see how much I can play within the lines. Is that a fair answer to that question?
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A
Sure.
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B
Yeah, that's fair. You're like, sure, we'll take it.
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A
There's sort of a 70s feel.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Was that intentional?
- [08:32]
B
Yeah, no. I knew going in we were doing, you know, what they quote, unquote, retro future. Yeah, retro futuristic.
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A
It's cool when you're playing, when you're playing Kirsch, he's a humanoid robot. Is that fair to say?
- [08:46]
B
I'm a synthetic.
- [08:47]
A
Synthetic. Synthetic. Okay.
- [08:50]
B
I don't quite know the difference, but I'm just. I know that's the answer.
- [08:53]
A
Okay, what was your approach to playing him physically?
- [09:01]
B
Because I knew I had to do something. I knew I had to do something.
- [09:04]
A
Right.
- [09:05]
B
That was the start of the conversation. I felt like if I don't do something, it's going to be a disappointment. Not to others, to me.
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A
Yeah. Your posture is very different.
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B
So I had two thoughts in mind. I kind of a huge fan of Ian Holmes performance in the first Alien, and he plays a synthetic and, and has virtually no resemblance of what, quote unquote would be robotic. So I knew, I felt like, well, and then jump forward. Michael Fassbender's performance in the last sort of round of Aliens, at least that I saw. He was doing something so wonderfully strange and, and quote, unquote, robotic. And it was just so kind of. I Don't know. It was just. He was doing something, and it was his mannerisms. His physicality was so amazing and captivating. And I just thought, oh, I wonder if I can just kind of have a conversation between these, you know, let's say these two had a baby and play in that kind of place. So I really honestly was. Shouldn't admit this. I really thought at times I'm like, well, I'm just gonna sprinkle a little bit of this with a little bit of that and find some kind of thing and try to make that my own. But I really felt take to take moment to moment. I could go from one end to the other and see if it would still hold. So I got, perhaps, I should be embarrassed to say, a bit of a kick out of staying pretty ramrod straight or eyes wide open, don't blink. And then every now and then just kind of yawn or stret. I thought that was. Just gave me such pleasure to do those two things back to back next to each other.
- [10:51]
A
Was there anything that didn't work? You thought, oh, okay, I got it. I'm gonna try this.
- [10:54]
B
And it just felt, you know, what if. So the good I hope and trust it ended up on the editing room floor. And so we just will never know.
- [11:03]
A
Nothing felt.
- [11:04]
B
No. I mean, every take felt pretty fun. It's not to say there weren't bad takes or better takes, but again, I thought I was in, you know, the. The train was pretty firmly on the track, so I trusted the writing. You know, I don't know. I tend to go into. Once we're on set and we're actually just saying the lines. As long as I can remember what the other person was doing and I enjoyed their performance, then I figure I'm in a pretty good place. So a bad take or a bad idea is when I just was very conscious of it. That's kind of.
- [11:36]
A
Oh, that's interesting. A bad take is when you're really conscious of it.
- [11:41]
B
Yeah.
- [11:42]
A
You mean, like, you're like, oh, this is not going right.
- [11:44]
B
Yeah, you're just, like, manufactured something in your head and you went for it. And you're like, where did that come from? Not off of that person. Off the person at the scene and everything. Right. It's a basic. At the risk of sounding a little actory schmactory, but everything's for. Because of the other person. And so if your head's not fully engaged, I feel like if I'm fully engaged in that. The way you and I are talking now and I sort of lose sight of what I'm doing with my hands and all that. I think I'm pretty good. It all counts, you know, as long as I'm in that place, it all works.
- [12:19]
A
You have this sort of like wild, spiky, bleached hair and bleached eyebrows.
- [12:24]
B
Yeah.
- [12:25]
A
Did that help you get into character or is that dressing?
- [12:28]
B
It's dressing. It's all just funny voices in the end of the day. All of that is sort of distressing, I think. I mean, it's not nothing because you're from the outside looking in. You are looking for a very economical, simple way to separate yourself from the others, because that's the nature of the part. So, you know, Ian Holm in the first film is British, nobody else is. And you're like, oh, he's different. And looking back, when you watch it again, you're like, oh, I always thought there was something a little different about him. So, you know, that's the game you're playing. You're like, well, this part calls for something. And it's a very superficial idea to say. And it was a quick conversation before, I think early on I'd read the script. We were on the same page about what it was, and I said, well, I think I might bleach my hair for this. And he says, that sounds great. That was the extent of it.
- [13:20]
A
Really?
- [13:21]
B
Yeah. We didn't talk about it again until I showed up in Thailand with bleached hair. He took a look at me and said, you need to do the eyebrows. And I said, well, damn it. I didn't swear, by the way, if anyone's paying attention. That was very close, but I. So that was it. We never spoke about it much more than that.
- [13:41]
A
Can I ask you a personal question?
- [13:43]
B
Sure, go ahead.
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A
Your hair is gray. Your hair is great.
- [13:47]
B
Thanks.
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A
It's just this gorgeous gray. And you don't see a lot of actors our age, sort of our age with gray hair.
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B
Uh huh. Bunch of babies.
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A
Bunch of babies. Was that a decision, decision that you made? Like, was that a. In my life or with your, with your agent? Like, how did that go? Did you say, like, I'm just gonna go gray and that's it?
- [14:08]
B
You know, I'm guilty of. I love saying, oh, these. I'm not gonna swear. I'm gonna say these. These actors as if I'm not one. But the fact is I'm just as insecure and neurotic as all of them and needy for attention. So the only thing I think maybe along the way I had A somewhere. I adopted this mindset of I'm not cutting my hair until someone. Unless someone's paying me to. And I figured that just was like, you know, I'm a professional actor if, you know, I'm not going to get my haircut. So, you know, I've sort of adopted in between jobs, you know, that's, that's the, that's the game I'm playing. Until my wife is like, you know, if I haven't worked for a year, she's like, come on. And then you know what I do? I would reach for some clippers. No, reach for some clippers. I grew up and I was a swimmer growing up. We all just cut our own hair. I've sort of stuck with that for the most part. But I get away with doing that because I work. And the fact is I get free haircuts. They color my hair when I go to work. I get to do whatever.
- [15:23]
A
But you like having it natural.
- [15:26]
B
You know what? Okay, sure. But I also like being able to show up and color it, you know, I like being able to bleach it. Yeah. I'm this job you get to. I don't know if I'd love it if I didn't get to go to work and change it up, to be honest with you. That's a fair answer, right? Yeah. If I quit show business, I might not be a big fan of this hair. Does that make sense, right?
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A
Completely.
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B
Yeah.
- [15:55]
A
My guest is actor Timothy Holofant. I just gave you a whole new name. Timothy Oliphant.
- [16:01]
B
Oliphant.
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A
Oliphant.
- [16:02]
B
That's good. We started with your title. It seemed like there was such a clear conversation. Oh, you. I came in, you say, hey. I said Oliphant. You're like, oh, like Olivet. And then you proceeded to just not trust it.
- [16:16]
A
Yeah, you gotta trust it. The last 10 minutes of the show. I've been on the air for an hour and 50 minutes.
- [16:20]
B
Wow. With the excuses.
- [16:21]
A
Yeah.
- [16:22]
B
What about me? I just got thr thrown in here at the very end. I'm the one who's got the problems, not you. You're in a fight.
- [16:29]
A
You want to fight.
- [16:30]
B
We are. We're fighting right now. You asked a personal question. Now we're fighting.
- [16:35]
A
My guest is actor Timothy. We were talking about his new series. New role. Kirschen. The series Alien Earth.
- [16:44]
B
Uh huh. This is going great.
- [16:48]
A
Oh, it is going great.
- [16:49]
B
It's a full relationship.
- [16:50]
A
Don't you think?
- [16:51]
B
It seems to me.
- [16:52]
A
I think it's good.
- [16:55]
B
No, What Else you got. You got more questions?
- [16:57]
A
I got a lot of them, but sure.
- [16:59]
B
You got a list?
- [17:01]
A
Sure.
- [17:02]
B
What's the prep?
- [17:03]
A
I have your personality here.
- [17:05]
B
Personality?
- [17:05]
A
I can ask you about working with hybrids. I have alien invasions. About the finale.
- [17:15]
B
We're sticking to the show. It's good.
- [17:17]
A
Stick with the show. What do you think? How does Kirsch come to feel about the fact that he might not be on the same page as the hybrids? He thought he always was until the end.
- [17:32]
B
Oh, till that. That. Spoiler alert. The end there. Yeah. You know, to tell you this, I have no idea. I just know. I just know that at the end, he's genuinely surprised. What? I don't know.
- [17:51]
A
Well, there's no. I just got a message. Okay. Should I read the message?
- [17:54]
B
Let's hear it.
- [17:55]
A
Somebody said I should tell you that I had brain surgery about 18 months ago.
- [18:01]
B
Okay.
- [18:02]
A
And so whatever comes out of my mouth sometimes my executive function isn't always working. And so I just talk to you about, like, what's on my mind and somebody said, I want to see his face when you tell him that.
- [18:14]
B
Wait, you. You're saying you. Yes, you. Alison, had brain surgery and now you just say whatever's on your mind?
- [18:21]
A
Well, I don't always say whatever on my mind, but occasionally it comes out.
- [18:25]
B
Okay, fantastic. Well, it comes out as just charming and lovely.
- [18:30]
A
Oh, well, that's good. I appreciate that. Yeah. Any word in the second season?
- [18:39]
B
It's good that you look great, by the way.
- [18:42]
A
Thank you so much. Any words on a second season?
- [18:45]
B
There's nothing so far that I would have said. I think this woman had brain surgery.
- [18:49]
A
Well, I'll show you the scar. We're off the air. Yeah.
- [18:52]
B
Wow.
- [18:53]
A
Goes all the way around.
- [18:54]
B
Oh, my goodness.
- [18:55]
A
Yeah. Enough about me. This is your interview. We've got one minute left.
- [19:00]
B
I don't know. Got pretty interesting.
- [19:02]
A
There's some good fight scenes at the end.
- [19:05]
B
Yeah, that's good.
- [19:06]
A
Yeah. What was the stuff in your mouth?
- [19:09]
B
You know, I don't know what that stuff is other than it's the same stuff it's always been, you know, over the years. You know, when they put the blood in your mouth and they put whatever in your mouth? It's some kind of sugary kind of stuff, and it feels like it's improved over the years. I noticed that it's a little less sticky.
- [19:30]
A
Yeah.
- [19:31]
B
Not pleasant to get in the eyes. Not pleasant to. It was really cool that, you know, when you do. We're doing that scene and we got in that position where it was going to be upside down and I thought, oh, this is not going to be pleasant. But I could tell it was going to play really well. So I took one for the team. It was a sacrifice I was willing to make.
- [19:55]
A
And you did.
- [19:55]
B
Looked awesome, right?
- [19:56]
A
It did.
- [19:57]
B
I saw it the other day for the first time just like everybody else. Listen, I'm just like everybody else. I've been watching this show when it comes out on Tuesdays and I got 20 seconds left. Well, all I gotta tell you is. Cause I don't often admit this. It was so exciting to be a part of it. It was really fun and really quite a thrill to be a part of it. And it's not always like that. And this show was really, it was fun to be a part of, fun to see it every week and like everybody else. Did I do that in 20 seconds?
- [20:28]
A
You did.
- [20:29]
C
I don't mean to interrupt your meal, but I saw you from across a cafe and you're the Geico Gecko, right?
- [20:33]
D
In the flesh.
- [20:34]
B
Oh my goodness. This is huge.
- [20:36]
C
To finally meet you. I love Geico's fast and friendly claim service.
- [20:39]
D
Well, that's how Geico gets 97% customer satisfaction.
- [20:43]
C
Anyway, that's all. Enjoy the rest of your food.
- [20:46]
D
No worries. So are you just gonna watch me eat?
- [20:49]
C
Oh, sorry, just a little starstruck. I'll be on my way.
- [20:53]
D
If you're gonna stick around, just pull up a chair.
- [20:55]
B
You're the best. Get more than just savings. Get more with Geico.
- [20:59]
E
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