If you’ve watched our Take 5 video with Hitman star Timothy Olyphant—and really, you should: he’s hot and hysterical—you’re already sensing that the actor wasn’t initially psyched to shave his head for the role of Agent 47. Here, in an excerpt from an earlier interview with EW, you learn that acting really is all about the hair. That I should no longer be made to feel guilty for boycotting Tom Hanks in The Da Vinci Code and Nicolas Cage in Next. And that we should have expected our recent Best and Worst Hair on TV gallery to be that popular. In fact, we’re now taking nominations for those titles in the motion picture category in the comments section below!
EW: Was the shaved head at all a concern for you? It was a bit of an issue for me because I liked your hair.
Olyphant: Yeah. Yeah. Because why?
EW: I liked your hair.
Olyphant: Well, god bless you, I appreciate you saying that. And you’re not alone because the family, they were all very anti-shaved. My wife and the kids. Then, they kinda enjoyed it, I guess. Who doesn’t love walking up and rubbing a bald guy’s head? I think it was a concern because you’re never quite sure the shape of your head until all the hair comes off. Let me put it this way: If it was a concern of mine, I’m quite certain it was a concern of the powers that be. I think they all huddled around, watched the hair come off, and let out a sigh of relief that my head was, in fact, round. Honestly, I figure the studio took a major risk by hiring a guy whowasn’t bald. I refused to shave my hair until the money was in thebank. That’s absolutely true. They were like, "You should shave yourhead to prepare for the role, just to get used to it," and I was like,"Pay me. Go ahead. Cough it up." ‘Cause I know what they were gonna do:I was gonna shave my head, and then they were gonna look at it and go,"Eh, no. Maybe we’ll go to somebody else." That was my hunch. I can’tconfirm whether they would have done that or not because I held strong.
EW: I know your Deadwood contract had a clause that said your facial hair had to be at a certain length by a certain date for filming.
Olyphant: I did a movie with a buddy of mine named Tom Jane years ago [2003's Dreamcatcher], and he used to tell me, "It’s all about the hair." I always thought, Ha ha. I know it’s a saying. And then he’d say, "No, I’m serious. It’s all about the hair." And I have had one job after another that has confirmed that to be a fact….
So, nominate away: Which roles have produced the best and worst hair in cinema?
I’ve got to go with Princess Leia for best hair. The cinnamon buns from A New Hope were just perfect, and easy to replicate, as I did this past Hallowe’en.
Mmm…Timothy Olyphant. What was the question again? Oh yeah.
Worst Hair- everything Nicolas Cage has done in the last 10 years, especially Ghost Rider and National Treasure.
Also, Keira Knightley in Pride and Prejudice. I think they were going for messy but sexy, but they ended up with “I hacked off my hair in the dark with some pruning sheers”.
Best Hair- Meryl Streep’s hair in The Devil Wears Prada was an absolutely genius decision. Not only did Meryl look fabulous, it gave the audience some insight into her character.
In terms of sheer “wow” factor, though, I’d have to go with Gong Li in Curse of the Golden Flower, or Cate Blanchett in the Elizabeth movies.
absolutely agree that Nick Cage has hands down the worst hair in the business. It looks like he sprays it brown or something…Also Brendan Fraser’s hair is pretty bad too.
Mia Farrow’s haircut mid-Rosemary’s Baby is a classic and often imitated, (Tyra has used the cut more than once on the ANTM with varying degrees of success.) While the movie has become a creepy favorite for fans of horror, Mia’s mane defined the movie for many a fashionista.
I like him…with hair or not…Liked him ever since Go eventhough he was playing not such a good guy…
Hands down to Nicolas Cage who has never had a good haircut!
Frances McDormand in “Aeon Flux” for worst hair. I just saw part of this movie (couldn’t get through the whole thing) and felt embarrassed for her. She looks like a clown. A scary, German postmodern clown.
Best hair – I’m going to vote for Princess Leia too – simple and iconic.
The worst in my book is Angelina Jolie’s blonde mess in “Life or Something Like It”. To this day I don’t understand WHY? It didn’t even look remotely real! The only thing it did was remind us that Angelina was wearing a wig.
I’m not sure if they do this on purpose, but the main characters’ hair in many Farrelly Brothers movies is awful/hilarious (see, e.g., Dumb and Dumber, Kingpin, Me, Myself and Irene, Stuck on You).
As much as it pains me to say it, Nic Cage is definitely worthy of a spot on this list. I have nothing but love for the man, but recently his hair (or lack therof) is…just painful to look at.
Worst hair? I’d like to nominate Mark Wahlberg in “The Departed”.
We should have an Oscar category for worst hair. Or at least MTV award. Nicholas Cage could have the lifetime of bad hair achivements award immediately.
So-ugly-it’s-in-fact-a-pure-stroke-of-genius: Steve Buscemi in “Living in oblivion”.
And the special award for Somehow-still-hot-despite-Ugly-Hair-chronic-hangover-and-overweight-etc: Colin Farrell in “Miami Vice”.
Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge, Kim Basinger in L.A. Confidential, Daniel Craig in Casino Royale, James Dean in Rebel without a Cause, Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction
On the other hand: Sigourney Weaver in Alien3, Bruce Willis in Pulp Fiction…sometimes good hair is no hair at all.
Angelina in “Gone in 60 Seconds”. That overprocessed bleached hank of hair needed a do-over sooo badly!
John Travolta in Swordfish..yuck!
Samuel L. Jackson’s heinous crooked afro in “Unbreakable” shouldn’t have worked, but I gotta say. He kinda rocked it.
In fact, you could probably put together a gallery just with Samuel L. Jackson…The Man, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown (though I DID personally like his Ordell Roby hair)
I can’t get past Jessica Alba’s blonde hair in the Fantastic Four movies. It doesn’t look natural and is distracting. Or maybe it’s her “acting”.