For the first time since the incident, Timothy Olyphant has shared in detail what it was like to see filming on the set of FX. By right: City Primeval last summer in Chicago.
I was recently a guest at the Conan O’Brien needs a friend On the podcast, Olyphant detailed the fateful night when three cars smashed through the show’s barriers near the city’s Douglass Park and fired what he says were at least 100 rounds.
“That was the biggest thing,” Olyphant recalls. “It went on forever.”
The cast and crew on the limited series were used to hearing gunshots, having already filmed in “bad neighborhoods” of Chicago, Olyphant O’Brien said. But this time the stakes were much higher as they ran into trouble.
“You can see them coming into the park,” Olyphant said of the overnight incident. “If the shots didn’t give you any indication of the kind of people we’re dealing with, they completely ignored the ‘Turn, don’t come here’ sign.”
While most of the crew ducked for cover, Olyphant said he managed to catch a glimpse of the gunmen in the second car. One was leaning against a window with an “apparently modified” gun while the other stood upright in the sunroof and fired a machine gun, Olyphant recalled.
“It was so scary,” Olyphant said. “I assumed someone would hit me. You just wait.’
As Deadline first reported, Olyphant admitted to grabbing a production assistant named Ashley and tossing him aside. “The reason I know her name is because it looks like I saved her life,” he told O’Brien. “It’s the strangest thing, I wear the Raylan [Givens] Wardrobe behind this car. It’s like the show. it’s so strange what am i doing?”
The actor further admitted that “we were a little understaffed” in terms of law enforcement presence. A week later, he managed to swap stories with an agent who was on the premises that night.
He called it a “war zone.”
“He said it was one of the closest encounters he’s ever had,” Olyphant recalled. “He said that in situations like ours, they’ve always ducked for cover ever since [the bad guys] shoot at each other with machine guns. Getting involved in any way will only make a bigger mess. It was ruined. It must have been crazy. People would say that I looked very relaxed [in the moment]. It’s funny because that’s not how I remembered it.”
Olyphant also said he was the one who commented on a possible stoppage of production the next day. “We were supposed to film the next night in another bad part of town. I feel I must speak out. I don’t want to shoot. I assume the crew doesn’t want to shoot. It was the most emotional day.”
The eight-episode limited series is slated for this summer By right: City Primeval is a spin-off of FX’s 2010-2015 hit Justified and was inspired by Elmore Leonard’s crime novel City Primeval: Afternoon in Detroit. It takes place seven years after the end Justified and follows Givens after he leaves Kentucky for his new home in Miami. Viewers will see Givens balance his life as an officer and part-time father to 14-year-old Willa, played by Olyphant’s real-life daughter Vivian.
Source: Deadline
Joseph Fearn is an entertainment and television aficionado who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a keen eye for what’s hot in the world of TV, Joseph keeps his readers informed about the latest trends and must-see shows.
