EXCLUSIVE Walton Goggins on Boyd Crowder, FX 'Justified's' White Heat

By April MacIntyre Mar 20, 2011, 3:09 GMT

He is completely unpeggable as the boyhood friend of lawman Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) and the paramour who has won the heart of his dead brother\'s wife Ava (Joelle Carter) who by the way, killed the fellow at the dinner table. Goggins\' Crowder is a complex antihero, and his skill set was tailor-made for someone so fascinating.

There's a short list of actors who just demand your attention, and have the respect of showunners and networks because they have "it," the elusive quality that makes any character they take on just burn through a camera lens.

Walton Goggins is one of them in a cast that has several of these 800 pound thespian gorillas. His Boyd Crowder is a shaman, renaissance man, hoodlum townie, transcendent zen hillbilly and lover.

He is completely unpeggable as the boyhood friend of lawman Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) and the paramour who has won the heart of his dead brother's wife Ava (Joelle Carter) who by the way, killed the fellow seated at the dinner table.  Goggins' Crowder is a complex antihero, and his skill set was tailor-made for someone so fascinating.

Like "Sons of Anarchy" and "Lights Out," FX’s "Justified” is a singularly unique smallscreen experience that has no equal, and builds its audience weekly with clever story, exceptional crafts and a cracking cast of Southerners who bring their "A" game to their respective roles.

This season Goggins is joined by Margo Martindale as Mags Bennett, the Ma Barker/Tony Soprano/Paula Deen mashup of maternal evil not seen since "Alien." She has shown how good bad can be.

The former "The Shield" star had an epiphany, again, and has maneuvered between the straight life and the criminal world so much it's hard to keep up. His faux white supremacist criminal kingpin act was turned to God as he took on the fervor of a born-again evangelist, to a mine worker, then back to the dark side.

Justified will air its seventh episode Tuesday at 10:00 p.m. Eastern/Pacific time

Monsters and Critics chatted with Walt about his role as Harlan County's renaissance badass Boyd Crowder.

Monsters and Critics:  I’I always thought your character was an intellectual and that deep down Raylan knows this and he respects you because of that and knows your capabilities.  Your character seems to use a scalpel to navigate like a moral landmine whereas Mags Bennett uses a sledgehammer.  I was wondering if you could give us some insight as to how Boyd is going to navigate Mags Bennett the rest of these episodes?

W. Goggins I don’t know how much of that I can really go into, but to use an Obama metaphor, the difference between using a sledgehammer and using a scalpel, maybe that’s kind of what you said. 

Boyd really kind of uses a scalpel when he approaches people and like you said, Mags uses that sledgehammer.  Hopefully, Boyd will be able to do it in a way that is truthful.  If you watch him, if you watch the way that he manipulates situations, 80% of what he says is truthful. 

I think he’s an honorable guy in his way; he’s a thief among thieves.  I think that once the Bennett’s and the Crowder’s really kind of get together, you’re going to see that play out in a couple of different directions.  One may be upfront and the other may not.  How about that for some suspense? 

M&C:  Does Boyd Crowder like Mags Bennett? 

W. Goggins I think Boyd Crowder respects Mags Bennett.  I don’t know whether or not he likes Mags Bennett.  I think he respects her.

M&C Does Boyd Crowder like Raylan?

W. Goggins I think Boyd Crowder very much likes Raylan.  I’ve heard Tim say in a couple of interviews that he doesn’t think that they’re friends, Raylan and Boyd.  I would fervently disagree at least from Boyd’s point-of-view and that’s the only point-of-view I can really speak from.  I think that he sincerely values the relationship that he has with Raylan.