Interview with TIM ROTH
TIM ROTH stars as Dr. Cal Lightman
Watch LIE TO ME on Monday nights at 9 PM EST on FOX
October 3, 2010
By Lena Lamoray
FOX OFFICIAL LIE TO ME PRESS RELEASE: LIE TO ME is the compelling drama series inspired by the scientific discoveries of a real-life psychologist who can read clues embedded in the human face, body and voice to expose the truth and lies in criminal investigations. DR. CAL LIGHTMAN (Tim Roth) is the world's leading deception expert. If you lie to Lightman, he'll see it in your face and your posture or hear it in your voice. If you shrug your shoulder, rotate your hand or even just slightly raise your lower lip, Lightman will spot the lie. By analyzing facial expressions and involuntary body language, he can read feelings ranging from hidden resentment to sexual attraction to jealousy. His work gives him the knowledge and skill set to expertly deceive others as well as detect lies. But as Lightman well knows, his scientific ability is both a blessing and a curse in his personal life, where family and friends deceive each other as readily as criminals and strangers do. Lightman heads a team of experts at The Lightman Group who assist federal law enforcement, government agencies and local police with their most difficult cases. DR. GILLIAN FOSTER (Kelli Williams) is a gifted psychologist and Lightman's professional partner who brings balance to the partnership by looking at the bigger picture while Lightman focuses on the details. He needs her guidance and insight into human behavior, whether he knows it or not.ELI LOKER (Brendan Hines) is Lightman's lead researcher. He is so uncomfortable with the human tendency to lie that he usually practices what he calls "radical honesty." He says everything on his mind and often pays the price. RIA TORRES (Monica Raymund) is the newest member of the agency and one of the few "naturals" in the field of deception detection. Her raw, untrained ability to read people makes her a force to be reckoned with. Created by Samuel Baum, LIE TO ME is executive-produced by Shawn Ryan, Brian Grazer, David Nevins, Daniel Voll, Samuel Baum, Dan Sackheim, Vahan Moosekian, Liz Craft and Sarah Fain. Dr. Paul Ekman serves as scientific consultant. The series is produced by Imagine Television in association with 20th Century Fox Television.
LIE TO ME is coming back to us ahead of schedule due to the early cancellation of “Lone Star” so make sure you tune in. LIE TO ME is one of my absolute favorite shows on FOX and a big part of that reason is the incredible talent of TIM ROTH. Tim Roth does such an amazing job playing Dr. Cal Lightman. Tim is one of those actors that can make anything work in his favor and he is an expert at taking a punch. All you have to do is look at the LIE TO ME promos and you will see what I am talking about. As Cal, he pushes people’s buttons and always pays the price but he gets the job done and then some. Tim Roth has been featured in too many films and shows to name but here are a few to wet your whistle, “Planet of the Apes”, “Tales from the Crypt”, “Dark Water”, “Reservoir Dogs”, “The Incredible Hulk”, “Pulp Fiction”, “Funny Games” and “Virgin Territory”. Tim also directed “The War Zone”. Yes, I’m pretty sure there is nothing this man can not do. Don’t miss the season three premiere of LIE TO ME on Monday night at 9 PM EST on FOX!
I spoke with TIM ROTH about LIE TO ME. I’m a huge Tim Roth and LIE TO ME fan so to say this was an honor would be an understatement. Tim was so charming and what a gorgeous accent! I’m so excited for the return of LIE TO ME! Watch the season three premiere of LIE TO ME on Monday night at 9 PM EST on FOX!
Lena Lamoray: I have been loving all of the pictures that you've been posting on Twitter and it looks like you're having a great time. So can you share any funny behind the scenes stories with us?
TIM ROTH: Oh, we don't have any funny stories at all from the last episode. If you look at the ones on the Twitter thing we were doing things where we were down a mine with smoke and dust for three or four days. Not as bad as being down in a mine, that's for sure, down an "actors mine." But we work very, very hard but as a crew and as a team, I think one of the best I've worked with, and that's over 30 years and they are a wonderful group and very, very talented. But we make sure that we laugh a lot. We play a lot and we enjoy our day and our day is long and arduous, quite often physically, for a lot of the crew very, very, and tough physically; but an enjoyable time, a really, really good time. So, the pictures that you see on the Twitter thing would kind of reflect that, too. It reflects that, yes, we may be working hard, but we're also enjoying ourselves and hopefully that kind of fun comes across in the show itself.
Lena Lamoray: Cal is such an interesting character with so many different sides. So what side of him do you enjoy exploring the most and why?
TIM ROTH: I like that he's an absolute troublemaker. I like that's he's the guy that was in school at the back of the classroom causing trouble. He has a really, really difficult time of it with authority. He doesn't take authority too seriously or lightly and I like that aspect of him and it's something that the writers now have embraced. There's something about him. But he's a softy, really at heart, as well. But he's up for a fight. He's a very enjoyable character to play. Quite often we laugh so much on set, you’d just be shocked; they’d shoot him dead right now. There's no way he’d survive that conversation he just had. But I have a bulletproof vest that's been put on me by the writers so I get to survive it. But I do get a good kicking on the way.
Lena Lamoray: You do an amazing job.
TIM ROTH: I really enjoy it right now. Thank you very much. I must say for the first time during this – I mean, sometimes last season, a lot I’d say – but mostly this season it's been fantastic, tiring, but wonderful. I'm really enjoying it.
More Conference Call Interview Highlights:
Q: Can you address the fact that you guys are coming on the air earlier than expected due to Lone Star. Could you talk about that a little bit and your feelings on it?
TIM ROTH: It's kind of a bit of a shock, really, but a good thing for us. Obviously, a very sad thing for the Lone Star guys because we were, well, actually we were talking about it at the end of the day last night, which was this morning that anyone who works in this, anyone who does this kind of job knows how much is put into it. So, we know that some people over there will be very, very sad about what's happened. But, we just got shoved into that slot. We were kind of ready for it. We're ready enough for it to be okay that we can be in continuous production. But, it put the post production guys into a real kind of frenzy. But on our end of it, the guys are actually just in production, I think we'll be okay. Where we are right now, we just finished episode six last night and started episode seven, yesterday, as well. So, we should be okay, I think.
Q: What do you think makes your show unique?
TIM ROTH: I think the science does, in a sense. I think that's what makes Paul Ekman unique, really. But, after that, what do you do with it, once you decide to put a show, or set a show around that where do you take the show? And I think what's unique now, especially, is that the scripts are taking us into all kinds of interesting and new areas which; in season one, I found it to be our kind of experiment in trying to get us to find ourselves. Season two, we came a little bit closer but in season three, I think we found ourselves. So, hopefully, you'll agree. But I think it's actually what Paul Ekman does and that science that we've taken and run away with that makes it unique.
Q: How's Cal's relationship with Emily different this season now that she's interested in dating?
TIM ROTH: Well, she's been interested in dating for a while. She's been having sex for a while, which is the thing I found out in the last episode of season two and it's going on from there. The thing that's interesting for me – I don't have a daughter, I've got three sons and so I have a surrogate daughter in Hayley, or in Emily, I should say – so, I kind of play around with the notion of it as me, Tim, and also with the Lightman thing. So, I think that their relationship is kind of grown up and juvenile at the same time. I think she is the one person, even more so than the Foster character, that he truly, truly loves and that he tries to understand. And I think he's quite a good parent, really. Despite being completely bonkers I think that his parenting skills with her are very adult whereas, most I think are quite juvenile. So, when we get into the new season, when we get to her, she is driving. She's more and more, kind of leaving the nest, and she has new boyfriends on the scene and it's a different kind of - she's a young woman. He can no longer think of her as a child. But it's pretty tough for him to think of her as a young woman. So we're getting into that realm now. And I like that character very much. And I love the actress. I think she's fantastic, so I’m looking forward to it.
Q: After playing Lightman for two seasons, do you find that you yourself are more attuned to reading people, can you tell when they're lying better?
TIM ROTH: No, I think I'm getting worse at it. At the beginning, I didn't want to know about any of this stuff, the science because it's actually quite accurate and I suppose you could call it 70% science, I suppose. I didn't want to know. But you kind of gradually pick stuff up. But I picked stuff up and I think it's the one thing and it's completely the opposite thing. And my judgment on it and my memory of what one thing means against another, it's completely off.
So, I'm quite comforted by that fact. But, I didn't want to know it. Now I know some of it and I get it wrong pretty much 100%. So, no, it hasn't helped me see behind the lies at all because my main thing is learning my lines and making sure I show up on time.
Q: We've heard a lot about Dr. Lightman's more roguish side coming out this next season. How is that going to affect his relationship with Dr. Foster?
TIM ROTH: They get themselves into all kinds of trouble. What I think is good in what they're writing is she calls him on his crap and that's good. Their relationship is less one way. Whereas, in the past, he was doing his thing and getting away with it, now he gets caught in it and there is an element of confrontation that is there. But I think that also the kind of love that they have for each other is explored more as well. And also the effect that women in his life, as they come and go, the effect that that has on Foster, the Foster character as it's explored. So, as it was with when she was around a man, in the last season, with Lightman. So, I think you're going to see a lot more. I think it's going to be a very interesting time for their relationship. I think they're going to get tested in a good way. It should be fun for the audience.
Q: You've mentioned online that you're extremely comfortable with the writers in season three. Is it unusual that you do not feel the need to campaign for six weeks story arcs or character development? What would you think is the proper or appropriate relationship between the actor and the writers?
TIM ROTH: Well, I can only speak from the position of previously, with film, when the script arrives in film you worked with the director on the script and sometimes the writer. Well, that's the director's medium. Here the writers run it. In America and Network Television, or maybe even cable, I'm not sure I've never done that before, the writers are the guys that run it. My relationship with them as been, in the first season was quite stormy because I just didn't - my ambition for the show is that it's wild and fun and it being procedural or whatever, but still quite different and mischievous and interesting for the audience. I didn't feel that that was the case in season one. Although, I think I may have been wrong because I think they did enjoy it but that was our experiment. That was the beginnings of the show. Season two was mixed. We had some writers that were incredibly strong and could write for the show and some that found it difficult to write for the show. So, my relationship again was to push that and find the ones that I could connect with and latch on to them and enjoy what they've brought to the show. And now, we took two writers from the second season that Shawn brought on, or one that Shawn brought on, and then another, Alexander Cary, he's now a showrunner. Both of these guys are showrunners, David Graziano as well. What they bring to the show is my peace of mind as much as anything. I have an incredible connection with them and we talk everyday. We see each other everyday and we discuss the stories, where they are going to go, and how the dialogue presents itself, and who the character is and so on and so forth. So, I'm very connected with the writers. I'm very, very happy with them and I think that the audience will be, too. So, I think that we finally found our stride, but I suppose that's a long rambling answer, but I am very, very involved in how this show presents itself and what you guys get to see. And I think we're finally getting to a place where we are happy with what the show is. I hope you guys are going to be, too.
Q: I was wondering with season three, will we be picking right up with what happens to Reynolds, maybe getting some closure there and do we have any new characters being introduced for the new season?
TIM ROTH: No, we don't pick up with that. But, what we do find out is that the Lightman group have severed their ties with the FBI. The reason for that was the writers felt, and I think it had nothing to do with Mekhi because Mekhi is fantastic and completely loony and really funny. But they felt that if the doors were opened too easily for Lightman, then we don't have this mischief and the craziness of him trying to open these doors. And the FBI, as soon as they do that, they've got to keep, an element of the character and the fun of the series is missed. But we do have new characters. There is a character that came up in the last episode of the second season played by Monique Curnen, who's a crooked cop and she comes up now again and that's his connection with the law. But it's not an easy one and it's a very, very fun one. So, you'll see her in the first episode and you'll see her in more episodes. What was the other part of your question, I'm sorry?
Q: I was wondering with the types of cases, one thing I've read was that with the FBI connection it's kind of kept Cal within the restrictions of what the FBI could take on? I'm just wondering now if that connection is no longer there, what kinds of things can we see Cal getting into that maybe we couldn't see him get into before?
TIM ROTH: Well, what you have is him working outside the law and in possibly illegal ways, but still being persistent and irritatingly, kind of strident. So, that's the door that's opened up. And so his connection to possible criminality, or criminal behavior, mixed with his brand of ethics and morality is what you're going to see. So, a lot more trouble, really; a lot more mischief, too.
Q: The whole will they/won't they relationship with Foster, it's a big part of a lot of these shows, whether it's Bones or something like that. Is this something that you're okay with that they kind of string it along throughout the course of the series?
TIM ROTH: We played around with it. My thing is should they/shouldn't they? I get that, but we might be playing with the area in a much more direct way over the next season. So, not to give the game away but, yes, I'm okay with it as long as I think what was missing from the relationship, it was in the writing, really. They've started to surface last season, and that's why people are interested in the characters getting together is that they started to write for Kelli. They started to write for that Foster character and not just to make her a science kind of spouse. Once the writers started to invest in that character and how much they loved each other, I think it started to come alive. So I think you're going to see a lot more that this season. I think a lot of it, to be honest with you, comes out the fact that me and Kelli get along so well and I think even the writers, back in the first season, they saw that and they could start to write to that a bit. That ramps up in season two when the kind of writers that Shawn was bringing on, which were basically character driven guys and then now we're in season three. Alexander Cary and David Graziano insist that we write to those characters. So, you're going to see a lot more of their relationship and some of it isn't going to be pretty. But I think people would be pleasantly surprised. I am. If I can get to work with Kelli during the day then I'm pretty happy.
Q: Is there a particular story arc this season that's your favorite and if so, why?
TIM ROTH: That's a tricky one because I'm now only into the episode; I've just finished episode six, which, again, that was a tough episode but I really enjoyed it. Story art suggests something that's an ongoing thing and if it's an ongoing thing I always and there are two arcs that I'm really interested in; one is the one with Foster and the other would be with my daughter, with the Emily character. I always find that fascinating and I'm just about to do an episode that involves her quite heavily. So, those would be the two arcs that I'm interested in. As far as episodes concerned, we've had some really good ones already. The bank heisting in the first episode, I thought was really good. But we did a very, kind of, tough gang bang of one, episode three with Monique Curnen. Then we did a really interesting and fun, like Thomas Crown Affair thing with Tricia Helfer, which I really enjoyed and she was a complete surprise to me. I didn't know who she was because I don't watch television very much. But she was terrific. So, that was a great episode and a lot of fun and there's more. So I don't know if that answers your question?
Q: Several television productions have given the actors an opportunity to direct, House and Bones comes to mind. If given the opportunity, would you like to direct an episode of Lie To Me and what kind of challenges do you anticipate with directing or do you consider that an opportunity for the present?
TIM ROTH: They've asked me about this because I've directed a movie before. So, it's something that I would really love to do. In fact, part of the reason why I originally signed on the television show was that I wanted to direct movies again and it's a very expensive affair. I thought this might give me one season's worth of cash in my pocket to give me some space to direct. And here I am in season three. But I'm not sure about, I mean I watch what these directors go through - this is a tough game. It's very, very different from film directing, but very satisfying. When you have a good director, a good director of television, it's a fun place to be at work. I don't know if I could do it. I really don't know if I could balance the time as the character against the time that I would need in preparation and then in post production. It's not that I'm, I may do it. I may do it in the third season if we get another, if we get a back nine, quite possibly. It's a tricky one. It's a tough job, that one.