Though his fans are waiting to see what his next movie might be – which the director has said would be his last – Quentin Tarantino’s finding other things to do while he decides. According to Deadline, he’s in early talks to handle a couple of episodes of Elmore Leonard-based show ‘Justified: City Primeval’.
The new limited series for FX follows on from ‘Justified’, which aired between 2010 and 2015, and starred Timothy Olyphant as U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, a lawman with a quick mouth and an itchy trigger finger.
The five-year run followed Olyphant’s Givens as he was transferred from an assignment in Miami back to his old haunts of rural Kentucky’s coal mining towns. Crime – both organized and ramshackle – is rife there, and Givens comes up against all manner of threats, including old friend/frenemy Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins).
As for ‘City Primeval’, it returns to Givens’ story eight years after he left Kentucky and now is based once more in Miami, balancing life as a marshal and part-time father of a 14-year-old girl. A chance encounter on a Florida highway sends him to Detroit, where he crosses paths with Clement Mansell, aka The Oklahoma Wildman, a violent sociopath who’s already slipped through the fingers of Detroit’s finest once and wants to do so again.
(L to R) Walton Goggins and Timothy Olyphant in FX’s ‘Justified.’
‘Justified’ veteran writers Dave Andron and Michael Dinner are running the show this time, while original series creator Graham Yost is an executive producer Dinner is also serving as the lead director on the show. The limited series is drawing from the 1980 novel ‘City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit’, swapping out the Givens character in for the original protagonist.
This would be far from the Tarantino’s first time working on something based on an Elmore Leonard story. He turned the novel ‘Rum Punch’ into 1997’s ‘Jackie Brown’, optioned several Leonard titles during his career and has talked about possibly directing one of his Westerns, ‘Forty Lashes Less One.’ Olyphant, meanwhile, appeared in ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’, playing real-life actor James Stacy, who starred on Western TV show ‘Lancer’.
While Tarantino is usually found making movies, he has worked on TV series before, including episodes of ‘ER’ and ‘CSI’. He also shows up in front of the camera from time to time, though it’s unlikely he’ll do that here – when he directs for TV, he usually doesn’t act too.
Also on the small screen front, Tarantino has talked about how he’s written episodes for a ‘Bounty Law’ TV series, based on the show-within-the-movie featured in ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’. He has also been spending his time writing a book discussing cinema and considering ideas for a novel-based follow-up to ‘Hollywood’ that follows the later life and career of Rick Dalton (played in the movie by Leonardo DiCaprio).
‘Justified: City Primeval’ should be shooting this year, but there is now word yet on whether any of the other cast members will return alongside Olyphant. As for Tarantino, he hasn’t strictly made a deal to direct yet, but we can hope he’ll jump aboard and keep the Leonard connection alive.
Sam Elliott‘s played the hero many times on screen, but his performance in the film “The Hero” — where he plays a journeyman actor taking a long, hard look at his life — will likely be remembered as a career-high.
At 72, Elliott’s already enjoyed a rich and often varied Hollywood career in both film and television, beginning with an early role in “Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid” and a star-making turn in the 1976 beachside drama “Lifeguard.” He went on to have a steady string of TV and film roles throughout the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, including “The Shadow Riders,” “The Quick and the Dead,” “Conagher, “Buffalo Girls,” and “Tombstone“).
Along the way, Elliott would have opportunities to make a dramatic impact with roles outside the Western box including several that showcased his considerable acting skills, like “Mask” and the Civil War drama “Gettysburg”; rough and rowdy action flicks like “Road House,” and comic book fare like “Hulk” and “Ghost Rider.” And his signature mustache and deeply resonant and distinctive voice were elevated to iconic status with his appearance as the narrating Stranger in the Coen brothers’ cult sensation “The Big Lebowski.”
Thanks to the final season of FX’s “Justified,” where he played the main baddie, Elliott has found himself with a career renaissance, which he sat down with Moviefone to have a very candid discussion about. Moviefone: Obviously, people are going to see what they think is some of Sam Elliott in this guy. Tell me the diversions. Tell me what you related to in Lee Hayden, but what is entirely different from your own experience.
Sam Elliott: Number one, if it was me, it’d be a documentary, and it’s not, clearly. There’s four primary elements that are most glaringly not me: one of them is that I’m still married to Katharine [Ross] for 33 years, after knowing her for 39 years. I have a close, loving relationship with my daughter Cleo -– I see her all the time, and was primarily there when she was growing up; I don’t smoke dope; and I don’t have cancer. So beyond those, there’s a lot of similarities.
What resonated with you about those similarities? As you delved into Lee, what did you have a lot of empathy for?
I had a lot of empathy, I think, because I understood where he was going after he got the diagnosis in the beginning, and realized that time was going to be short, and he had a big mess to clean up with his family, primarily. Also, to have to deal with the fact that his career was pretty much what it was.
The rest of it was all in his head, which kept revisiting him in the form of the dreams. He fucked up his career, doing whatever he did, whatever it was that made him lose his connection to his daughter, whatever made him get divorced from his wife, and why ever it was he never went beyond that one film that he talks about -– that’s it.
I think that at his core, Lee was a decent guy. I think the things that he spoke of at the awards ceremony were from his heart and soul, and that resonated completely with me what he was talking about in there. I happen to believe that he was telling the truth in there.
From your perspective, what has it taken to survive and to thrive in Hollywood for as long as you’ve been able to?
Persistence, hard work, being a decent person, treating people right, and doing your job when you get an opportunity to do it.
You’ve been doing your job pretty well for all these years, and all of a sudden, we’re in this great Sam Elliott Renaissance Period.
Crazy!
Did you see it coming? Was it part of a strategic plan?
No, came totally out of left field. There was a succession of jobs that came, and I’m not sure where it started: whether it was at “Grandma,” whether it was maybe at “Parks and Rec,” could have been at “Robot Chicken,” I don’t know… Then “Justified” came along –- it’s very bizarre!
Do you feel that you’re a better actor now than you were when you began in Hollywood?
Yes, no question. No question. I think time and grade is the teacher in any field. I just think the longer you’re there, the better you get. Unless you’re an athlete -– you start wearing out.
It’s been great to see you in a lot of very different kinds of roles lately, including your first sitcom. What’s been fun about “The Ranch” for you?
It’s totally different. New ground to plow. At 72, at almost 50 years in the business, to be able to go and do a four-camera show in front of a live audience on Fridays. We pre-tape on Thursdays, Friday’s a live audience. Just that experience alone… But to be working with Ashton Kutcher and Daniel Masterson on the set, Debra Winger as well, and Jim Patterson and Don Reo and these genius writers that are on this writing staff.
We do a script every week. And from Monday, the table read, we get our new script on Fridays after the taping. Monday we do a table read and a blocking rehearsal. Monday night, they rewrite. Tuesdays we rehearse. Tuesday night, they rewrite. Wednesdays we rehearse. Wednesday night, they rewrite. Thursdays we start shooting, and they’re, at the same time, rewriting. Friday is the taping night in front of the audience. All the writers are on the set — watching it and rewriting between takes. So the learning curve is a monster, and it’s daunting in front of a live audience for me.
Had it been a while?
I’ve never worked in front of a live audience. The great reward in front of a live audience is you hear people laughing. That part is a lot of fun. Lee had one movie that he was proud of. You, I’m sure, have many. If somebody discovers you for the first time through “The Hero,” what films of yours would you like to point people to if they were interested at looking at highlights from your filmography?
A lot of my favorite parts are character parts. They’re not like leading roles by any means. Whether it’s “Mask” or “Road House” or “The Big Lebowski,” or “Gettysburg,” there are things about a lot of different films that stand out for me.
In terms of lead, maybe “Conagher,” something like that. Only because it’s something that I did with Katharine. It was something that Louis L’Amour told me that he thought Katharine and I should do. In fact, we did the adaptation of the book. I produced. It was very successful at the time that we did it with TNT. That probably would be a highlight, for sure.
When you started out, did you think of yourself as a character actor? Or were you thinking leading man when you got into it?
I wasn’t thinking about anything other than acting and wanting a good part. I never thought about it in terms of character and leading man. Still don’t.
What do you love, after all this time? What are the same things that you love about the industry and Hollywood, and what are the sort of new things that even at this stage you’re discovering you love?
I think just going to work. I think the work of it is the thing I most love. It’s the doing of it. I’m completely amazed from day to day about this whole digital effect that it’s had on the game, that it can move at the pace that it moves.
It’s like instant gratification. It’s like, “How was it?” “I don’t know -– let’s look.” Everybody’s walking around with their little screens like this, sitting at the monitor, instant playback. No lab to go to. No lab report to wait for. No opening up the can and exposing the film to the light and losing it, and having it come back. Incredible.
It’s your next frontier.
It’s incredible. Never going to be my frontier. All I do with my cell phone is answer it and talk on it and I text on it. That’s as deep as I’m going to go.
For a long time, she was character actress Margo Martindale. And now’s she’s — in the words of Bojack Horseman — esteemed character actress Margo Martindale.
For a couple of decades, Martindale was often the best performer who’s name you didn’t know in a string of films you loved (early on, she could be spotted in just about everything, from “Dexter,” then her Emmy-winning turn as the matriarch of the Bennett crime family on “Justified,” as Florrick campaign manager on “The Good Wife,” and, most recently, another Emmy-garnering stint as deeply embedded KGB handler Claudia on FX’s “The Americans.”
But even as television provides a welcome showcase for the accomplished sexagenarian, movies are still clamoring for her services as well: in “The Hollars” (premiering on Blu-Ray and DVD Dec. 6) actor John Krasinski‘s latest effort as writer/director, Martindale plays the hospitalized matriarch of a charmingly dysfunctional family who struggle to put their interpersonal dramas on hold during her illness.
Martindale joined Moviefone to reflect on achieving fame and gathering acting trophies at this stage in her career, the joys of appearing in a fellow actor’s labor of love, how Claudia will be appearing more than ever before in the next season of “The Americans,” and her memories of an early acting colleague named Christopher Reeve.
Moviefone: This time around, among all the work that you do, to work with somebody like John, who you knew well, and to work with a fellow actor behind the camera on “The Hollars,” tell me what that meant to you.
Margo Martindale: I think it gave it a nice depth to have him directing and acting because of the kind of story it was, and because it’s all so personal. It’s about a family. It was as if we were in a hospital room, and the kids were coming home, and I was sick. It felt extremely real, and it felt like there were no cameras around.
I understand that you look at each piece of material that comes your way, and you give it a lot of thought, and try to come up with a character that you haven’t played before. I’m curious what the qualities were, here, that you saw that you hadn’t played that you were excited to take a swing at.
I don’t think I’ve played anything like this: It’s a loving mother. Maybe I have — I’m sure I’ve played a loving mother sometime, but I don’t know. It was a very different story. I’d never had a brain tumor. The movie, the script, for me, surprised me in the specifics of the script. Just the daily specifics of the things that we talked about and what we did and all of that. I thought it was extremely real. I was drawn to that.
When a project is a labor of love, particularly on John’s part as a filmmaker, how does that change things for you coming into it? When you know that people are truly invested in it, and it’s just not another attempt at entertainment or commercial success, but it’s something that has struck somebody’s chord deep, deep down?
That makes it all the better! It was a very intense 22 days of shooting, and I was there only 14 of those, and I felt like I’d left my family behind. I felt very bad about leaving, because what are they going to do without me? That is what happened. What are they going to do without me? Yeah, everybody cared deeply and wanted everything to be very truthful.
You have, of course, this great history as a character actress, and then in the past several years you’ve gotten an increasing degree of fame. Were you ever worried that that fame might impact your ability to take on the diversity of roles that you’d enjoyed throughout your whole career?
No. I never did. Certainly, number one, fame is nothing I was seeking, I can tell you that. I’m delighted that people actually know my name. It does feel good. So that part of it is a big, huge plus. I don’t think anything will change as far as, I think I’ll still get to disappear in parts.
Everybody has really gotten to know your television work, first from “Justified” and now “The Americans.” Tell me what you love about being able to pop in and really stir the pot on “The Americans,” as you have throughout your appearances on the show.
I like that I have some weight on that show. It’s nice to be remembered, that Claudia comes with a whole world of knowledge, and these last two seasons I’ll be there quite a bit more. So I’m very excited about it.
With a character like Claudia in particular, what do you like about being part of a series where you get to come back and explore new sides and new situations with a character, as opposed to telling a more complete story in a film that’s more closed-ended?
I must say, it’s challenging because I’ve done so little in the last two seasons, that I’ve already done more than I’ve done in the last two seasons, already now. So it’s going to be interesting to see. The first season, of course, I did most of the episodes. So I knew where I was coming from. But this one, I’ll be back trying to see where she has a crack, maybe. It’s a fascinating, fun part to play — and an extremely different part for me.
I was lucky enough to be in that Emmy press room when you won this past season. Tell me what that kind of experience has come to mean to you as it entered your life, because I imagine it’s a surreal thing, it’s a gratifying thing and it’s probably a bit of an overwhelming thing.
All of the above, yes, absolutely! Winning for “Justified” was extraordinarily exciting because that part, the arc was so incredible; “The Americans,” I’m just delighted that “The Americans” get some recognition. If just people have noticed me on there, I’m very happy about that. Yeah, it can be overwhelming, a little bit. Look, I’ve worked all my life and I’ve always believed in myself, and the fact that I’ve got some awards now, it feels pretty good. Pretty good!
How difficult is playing the role of “esteemed character actress Margo Martindale” on “BoJack Horseman”?
[Laughs] That’s really hard. It’s like, “Can you exaggerate myself any more?” Yes, it’s fun. It’s really fun. I think I’ll be doing it again this year. I hope so.
What was the surprise of that experience, either in the doing of it or in the response to it?
I couldn’t believe there was such a huge response to it. I didn’t even know what I was doing. When Will [Arnett] said you’re coming to do this, I said I didn’t want to. He said, “Well, you have to, because it’s you.” I said “What do you mean?” He said, “It’s Margo Martindale, character actress, so you have to do it.”
That made me laugh so much. Then I read the script and I said to Will, “These people seem like animals.” He said, “They are animals, you idiot!” I didn’t know that. But yes, it’s been really fun.
I want to go back to a period in your life where you were really embarking on the road of acting. You got to, very early on, work with Christopher Reeve at the beginning of your career.
Oh my goodness, I did.
I’m curious about that experience. He seemed like such an interesting man, at every point in his life, and I’m wondering what kind of effect he had on you, both as a colleague and as a friend.
I’ll tell you, nobody has ever asked me that. That’s interesting. We did “Threepenny Opera” together. We had a duet. He was Macheath. I was Mrs. Peachum. I remember getting to Harvard that summer and seeing Chris Reeve and Jonathan Frakes and thinking, “Wow, is this going to be a great summer!” Because they were both so gorgeous. So he was an interesting, disciplined, great, great guy. We had a wonderful summer together, and he was a fabulous Macheath, and a great singer.
Then I came to New York. I’d just come from the University of Michigan to Harvard, then I was going to New York. I started taking acting classes by a teacher from the Group Theater, Paul Mann. Paul Mann said in our acting class, “You have to go downtown and see this actor playing this Nazi in a play.” He said, “It’s the most brilliant performance I’ve ever seen.” I went downtown and it was Christopher Reeve. I saw him around the neighborhood quite a bit after that, but we didn’t stay friends. But he was Christopher Reeve and I was Margo Martindale, so there.
Because you have worked with so many people in your actor’s tribe over the years, what do those relationships, whether they’re fleeting, or whether they’re friendships and professional relationships that recurred throughout the years, what do those mean to you, to know that you’ve been part of this big, extended actor family for so long?
I am so grateful to have this career that I have, and to have been part of so many different worlds of theater and movies and television. When you go to these award shows and you see people, people I haven’t seen in years, I go, “I worked with them … I worked with them … I worked with them … I worked with them …” It’s like, “Really? How did that happen to me?” And then I realize I’m 65 years old. That’s how it happened!
New series are ascendant in the Justified” that reigns supreme.
The FX drama topped the nominations list with five nominations, including Best Drama, Best Actor for Timothy Olyphant, and Best Supporting Actor for Walton Goggins. “Transparent” was the leading comedy, with four nominations.
Along with “Transparent,” new shows “Empire,” “Jane the Virgin,” and How to Get Away With Murder” all received multiple nods.
Here’s the full list of nominees:
BEST DRAMA SERIES
“The Americans”
“Empire”
“Game of Thrones”
“The Good Wife”
“Homeland”
“Justified”
“Orange Is the New Black”
BEST COMEDY SERIES
“Broad City”
“Jane the Virgin”
“Mom”
“Silicon Valley”
“Transparent”
“Veep”
You’re the Worst
BEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Aden Young, “Rectify”
Bob Odenkirk, “Better Call Saul”
Charlie Hunnam, “Sons of Anarchy”
Freddie Highmore, “Bates Motel”
Motel Matthew Rhys, “The Americans”
Timothy Olyphant, “Justified”
BEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Eva Green, “Penny Dreadful”
Julianna Margulies, “The Good Wife”
Keri Russell, “The Americans”
Taraji P. Henson, “Empire”
Vera Farmiga, “Bates Motel”
Viola Davis, “How to Get Away with Murder”
BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Anthony Anderson, Blackish
Chris Messina, The Mindy Project
Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent
Johnny Galecki, The Big Bang Theory
Thomas Middleditch, Silicon Valley
Will Forte, The Last Man on Earth
BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Amy Schumer, “Inside Amy Schumer”
Constance Wu, “Fresh Off the Boat”
Gina Rodriguez, “Jane the Virgin”
Ilana Glazer, “Broad City”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Veep”
Lisa Kudrow, “The Comeback”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Ben Mendelsohn, “Bloodline”
Christopher Eccleston, “The Leftovers”
Craig T. Nelson, “Parenthood”
Jonathan Banks, “Better Call Saul”
Mandy Patinkin, “Homeland”
Walton Goggins, “Justified”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Carrie Coon, “The Leftovers”
Christine Baranski, “The Good Wife”
Joelle Carter, “Justified”
Katheryn Winnick, “Vikings”
Lorraine Toussaint, “Orange Is the New Black”
Mae Whitman, “Parenthood”
GUEST PERFORMER IN A DRAMA SERIES
Cicely Tyson, How to Get Away with Murder
Julianne Nicholson, Masters of Sex
Linda Lavin, The Good Wife
Lois Smith, The Americans
Sam Elliott, Justified
Walton Goggins, Sons of Anarchy
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Adam Driver, “Girls”
Cameron Monaghan, “Shameless”
Jaime Camil, “Jane the Virgin”
T.J. Miller, Silicon “Valley”
Tituss Burgess, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”
Tony Hale, “Veep”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Allison Janney, “Mom”
Carrie Brownstein, “Portlandia”
Eden Sher, “The Middle”
Judith Light, “Transparent”
Mayim Bialik, “The Big Bang Theory”
Melanie Lynskey, “Togetherness”
BEST GUEST PERFORMER IN A COMEDY SERIES
Becky Ann Baker, “Girls”
Bradley Whitford, “Transparent”
Josh Charles, “Inside Amy Schumer”
Laurie Metcalf, “The Big Bang Theory”
Peter Gallagher, “Togetherness”
Susie Essman, “Broad City”
BEST MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION
“Bessie”
“Killing Jesus”
“Nightingale”
“A Poet in New York”
“Stockholm, Pennsylvania”
BEST LIMITED SERIES
“24: Live Another Day”
“American Crime”
“The Book of Negroes”
“The Honorable Woman”
“Olive Kitteridge”
“Wolf Hall”
BEST ACTOR IN A MOVIE OR LIMITED SERIES
David Oyelowo, “Nightingale”
James Nesbitt, “The Missing”
Kiefer Sutherland, 24: “Live Another Day”
Mark Rylance, “Wolf Hall”
Michael Gambon, “The Casual Vacancy”
Richard Jenkins, “Olive Kitteridge”
BEST ACTRESS IN A MOVIE OR LIMITED SERIES
Aunjanue Ellis, The Book of Negroes
Felicity Huffman, American Crime
Frances McDormand, Olive Kitteridge
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Freak Show
Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Honorable Woman
Queen Latifah, Bessie
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MOVIE OR LIMITED SERIES
Bill Murray, “Olive Kitteridge Cory”
Michael Smith, “Olive Kitteridge”
Elvis Nolasco, “American Crime”
Finn Wittrock, “American Horror Story: Freak Show”
Jason Isaacs, “Stockholm, Pennsylvania”
Jonathan Pryce, “Wolf Hall”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MOVIE OR LIMITED SERIES
Claire Foy, “Wolf Hall”
Cynthia Nixon, “Stockholm, Pennsylvania”
Janet McTeer, “The Honorable Woman”
Khandi Alexander, “Bessie”
Mo’Nique, “Bessie”
Sarah Paulson, “American Horror Story: Freak Show”
BEST REALITY SERIES
“Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown”
“Deadliest Catch”
“Married at First Sight”
“MythBusters”
“Shark Tank”
“Undercover Boss”
BEST REALITY COMPETITION SERIES
The Amazing Race
America’s Got Talent
Dancing With the Stars
Face Off
MasterChef Junior
The Voice
BEST REALITY SERIES HOST
Anthony Bourdain, “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown”
Betty White, “Betty White’s Off Their Rockers”
Cat Deeley, “So You Think You Can Dance”
James Lipton, “Inside the Actors Studio”
Phil Keoghan, “The Amazing Race”
Tom Bergeron, “Dancing with the Stars”
BEST ANIMATED SERIES
“Archer”
“Bob’s Burgers”
“Gravity Falls”
“The Simpsons”
“South Park”
“Star Wars: Rebels”
BEST TALK SHOW
“The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”
“The Graham Norton Show”
“Jimmy Kimmel Live”
“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver”
“The Late Late Show with James Corden”
“The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”
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Moviefone: Obviously, people are going to see what they think is some of Sam Elliott in this guy. Tell me the diversions. Tell me what you related to in Lee Hayden, but what is entirely different from your own experience.
Lee had one movie that he was proud of. You, I’m sure, have many. If somebody discovers you for the first time through “The Hero,” what films of yours would you like to point people to if they were interested at looking at highlights from your filmography?
For a long time, she was character actress 
New series are ascendant in the Justified” that reigns supreme.