Issue Date: May 6, 2007

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2007 Summer movie preview

Axis of evil

No one embodies villainy this season better than Thomas Haden Church, Timothy Olyphant and Julian McMahon. An exclusive Q&A.

Dressed to kill, from left: Julian McMahon, Thomas Haden Church and Timothy Olyphant

It's the unspoken rule for blockbuster summer movies: You can't have a supercool hero without a supercruel villain. And in this season's biggest sequels, the evildoers aim to wreak way more havoc. Whether it's Thomas Haden Church playing the Sandman in "Spider-Man 3," Timothy Olyphant as a cyberterrorist in "Live Free or Die Hard" or Julian McMahon's returning Dr. Doom in "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," the nasty bits somehow seem a bit nastier this time around.

Speaking with all three actors before our cover shoot, we had hoped to engage them in a deep discussion about the nature of evil in these troubled times. But these erstwhile bad guys got way too giddy to ever get really serious.

Every actor seems to say it's more fun to play a villain than a hero. Why?
Julian: You get an opportunity to say nasty things you want to say or do things you never get to do.
Tim: Yeah, like, why don't I just hit this guy? It just came to mind. [Laughs.] You know Justin Long, that actor in the Apple commercials who plays the Mac? He's in the new "Die Hard," and I figured I should go ahead and smack him. I've been watching those commercials for a while and, representing PC users, I always wanted to take a shot at this guy. It's a nice thing to have that sort of freedom.

What kind of bad-boy mischief have you gotten into off-screen?
Tim: Nothing fit to print, I imagine. [Laughs.]
Thomas: I used to fight a lot when I was younger. There's nothing good to be gained from that -- it's all about ego. I also fractured my pelvis riding a bull. I don't know how you quantify being a badass, but every extreme thing you can do, I've tried.

Was it difficult to get into your character's head?
Julian: I studied all the classic bad guys, from the Hitchcock movies to Darth Vader. Then, I tried to dissect the comic book character. But I realized I was way too inside my head and I needed to chill out a little and just play it.
Thomas: Yeah, if you're playing someone villainous, you're going to perform emotions that you don't necessarily go through on a day-to-day basis.

Tim, in the new "Die Hard," you play a terrorist, although not the Islamic radical type. Is it different playing any bad guy in a post-9/11 world?
Tim: Well, that was something we definitely talked about. But there have been other terrorists. Timothy McVeigh did not necessarily look at himself as a bad guy.
Thomas: He thought he was a patriot, retaliating for a terrorist act by the government. It's not terribly far afield from what a lot of Islamic extremists believe: that they are only retaliating for terrorist acts against them and their culture. At some point, it's definitely a warped philosophy.

I brought the American Film Institute's "100 Years ... 100 Heroes & Villains" list. Are any your personal favorites?
Thomas: The Wicked Witch of the West ["Wizard of Oz"] is a good one. She still freaks me out.
Julian: Some Orson Welles characters [like Harry Lime in "The Third Man"]. And Jack Nicholson in "The Shining."
Tim: Frank Booth [Dennis Hopper] in "Blue Velvet." It's amazing it made that list because it was such a small movie.

There are so many more men than women on the list. Why are males usually the villains?
Tim: Madonna didn't make that list? [Laughter.]
Thomas: For "Truth or Dare?" For backing out of having a baby with Dennis Rodman?
Tim: That evil -- !
Thomas: Well, Glenn Close in "Fatal Attraction" is on there. She was definitely a villain, and a damn good one.
Tim: But you're right. They don't make a James Bond film and have the villain be a chick petting a cat.
Thomas: I'm assuming that some of it is because you've got to be able to have a physical fight with the hero. A dude fighting a chick is not hugely appealing to the studio. [Laughter.]
Tim: In my film, Maggie Q and Bruce Willis go at it, a full-on fight. She comes from martial arts films, so she's used to the fighting.
Thomas: Those "Kill Bill" movies, with Uma Thurman. There you go.
Tim: Oh yeah, those chicks were mean.

Cover photograph by Robert Sebree for USA WEEKEND
McMahon's grooming: Lauren Kaye Cohen, Avant Groupe; Haden Church and Olyphant's grooming: Laurie Jones, Solo Artists; styling: Lynne Bugai; cover clothing: McMahon's suit by Paul Smith, shirt by Duncan Quinn, tie by Dolce & Gabbana and belt by Hugo Boss; Haden Church's shirt and belt by Hugo Boss, pants by Dolce & Gabbana; Olyphant's suit by Gucci, shirt by Liberty Rose, and tie and belt by Hugo Boss