Sharlto Copley Out of “I Am Number Four,” Timothy Olyphant In

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Sharlto Copley Out of “I Am Number Four,” Timothy Olyphant In

By our guest blogger, Matt Jussim

Timothy Olyphant ("Justified," "The Crazies") will replace Sharlto Copley ("District 9," "The A-Team") on thriller "I Am Number Four" at Dreamworks Pictures.

According to Variety:  Based on the novel series by James Frey and Jobie Hughes, the story follows nine aliens who flee to Earth disguised as teenagers. The titular character, now disguised as a human high schooler (Alex Pettyfer), soon learns the enemy alien race that caused them to abandon their home planet are still hunting them.

Copley, who had to bow out due to scheduling conflicts, was to play Henri, a guardian and mentor to the story's title character

Olyphant, who is also on the rise thanks to the critical hit "Justified," will shoot the film during his hiatus from the FX series.

After seeing “District 9” last year, I, like most everyone else who saw it, fell in love with Sharlto Copley. He put on an amazing performance in that film, and I was happy to hear he had been up for a lot more roles following it. So, it’s sad he’s out of this film, which sounds like it could potentially be really cool, but I couldn’t ask for a better replacement that Tim Olyphant.

I’ve been a fan of Olyphant’s since his early days of “Scream 2” and he has been just amazing as US Marshall Raylon Givens on “Justified.” The show has easily been one of the best new shows on TV this year and he has been one of the best actors.

Michael Bay is producing, while David Valdes, Chris Bender, J.C. Spink exec produce. D.J. Caruso will direct from a script by Al Gough, Marti Noxon and Miles Millar.