By Christina Radish

The new Fox television series Lie to Me is a compelling new drama inspired by the scientific discoveries of Dr. Paul Ekman, a real-life specialist who can read clues embedded in the human face, body and voice to expose both the truth and lies in criminal investigations.

Dr. Cal Lightman (Tim Roth) can detect the truth by analyzing an individual. When someone shrugs his shoulder, rotates his hand or raises his lower lip, Lightman knows he’s lying. By observing facial expressions, he can read feelings, from hidden resentment to sexual attraction to jealousy. But, 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. Heading a team of experts at The Lightman Group, the world’s leading deception expert -- a scientist who studies facial expressions and involuntary body language to discover not only if you are lying but why -- assists federal law enforcement, government agencies and local police with their most difficult cases.

The show’s star, Tim Roth, recently spoke to MediaBlvd Magazine about playing this complicated new character and learning about the real-life science that accompanies it.

MediaBlvd Magazine> What was it about this role that appealed to you?

Tim Roth> It’s based on Dr. Paul Ekman, who studied body language and the kind of expressions that go through people’s faces and can betray what’s behind what they’re saying. It’s an interesting concept. At the time, I was looking for something that would keep me home. I’ve been traveling so much with work, and I wanted to stay close to my family. So, this came along, and I quite liked the idea of possibly playing a character, in a long form, like with a play. It’s a character that has legs. He can be in very different situations, and I like that. I thought it might be a fun experiment.        

MediaBlvd> Why do you think viewers will enjoy this show?

Tim> It’ll be fun to see this kind of stuff and see how it relates, in real life. Part of the fun is going to be Paul’s companion website, that he’s going to be doing for each episode. He’s the scientist that it’s based on. So, you’ll actually see the stuff that we’re making up and the stuff that is real, and you’ll be able to train yourself to spot stuff. I think an audience could really enjoy themselves with it.                                      

MediaBlvd> What do the other members of the deception team do?  Do they have the same skill that you have?

Tim> Kelli Williams’ character, Gillian Foster, is a psychologist/psychiatrist. She’s in the feelings department. Why people are doing what they’re doing is not necessarily my specialty. I can see that there’s some deception happening, but if part of our job is to find out why, there are people around me who are in the feelings department. Monica Raymund plays Ria Torres. Her role is as a natural. She’s somebody who just has an innate ability, for whatever reason. She can just spot liars. She doesn’t know why, she’s just good at that. It’s a bit scary, so he keeps her close. Brendan Hines’ character is Eli Loker. He’s doing a radical honesty experiment, where he plays around with all of it. He’s a more lab-based, research guy. He can spot liars, too. He’s pretty good at it. That’s what they do. And, I think more people will be joining up, if they keep us around.       

MediaBlvd> How has it been adjusting to the workload of series television?

Tim> It’s really tough. It’s extraordinary what these guys do. Actually, I remember joking to one guy, who’s very well known in this business. I said, “What’s it like?,” and he took me through the exhaustion factor. I’m dealing with it fairly well. I think it’s more difficult at the beginning because you’re establishing a character and re-working the script a lot more. After things settle down, the workload will be a bit lighter.

MediaBlvd> How much of this character do you take home with you? How good have you become at detecting lies yourself?

Tim> I try to take absolutely none of it home with me. I make a very strong attempt not to get to know too much of the science and not to practice it at home because the real guy, Paul, can’t switch it off. He can’t unlearn it. He knows so much about this stuff that he can see, in everybody, what they’re thinking. He watches their bodies betray them. I don’t really want to do that.

MediaBlvd> During your research, did you find a way to continue lying and consciously manipulate your face so it appeared that you were still telling the truth? Is there a way to do that?

Tim> I don’t know. It’s weird. Essentially, all acting is lying, right? It’s all deception. Thankfully, my character is one of the few ones that doesn’t actually have to be on stage. It’s only the subjects, or people talking to him, or people that he is talking to, who are on stage. Actors quite often get a hold of Paul’s training DVDs, his website training stuff and his books, and use them. I’m always lying. That’s what actors do. It’s just how good you are at it, I suppose.                                                                                                         

MediaBlvd> Was there any particular tidbit of information that you learned about facial expressions or body language that surprised you?

Tim> In the pilot, when they put expressions up against each other, and they did a freeze frame on people that we know in life, and you’ve seen the exact same expression, you see it. Going across their faces, it’s really quite remarkable. I found it to be very educational as well as fun.

MediaBlvd> Is there a sense of choreography that has to go into this role just because you have to watch all your facial expressions, since it’s such a key part of the show?

Tim> It’s actually quite extraordinary. The audience will see stuff, if they stick around and have a look at it. It’s very hard for the actors who are playing the subject because they become very self-conscious after awhile. When you put the camera really closely on them, it’s quite disturbing. We have to take them through it. It’s quite odd.

MediaBlvd> Can you have a meaningful social relationship with someone, if you’re dating them, or are really close friends, if you always know that they’re lying about something? 

Tim> That’s a big question. As a part of this series, I don’t want to get into bedroom stuff, and all of that, for the character. He should have an ethical line that he won’t cross. But, relationships are absolutely part of where we’ll be going. Paul has been in a very long relationship now. I met his wife. He can read anything. I think his deal is that, if he spots deception in his wife, it’s for a very good reason and not to worry about it. You have to have some kind of contract with your partner. My character hasn’t got there yet. He’s a single guy with a kid, but I think that’s the way that you would have to do it. It shouldn’t threaten the relationship. 

MediaBlvd> How much time did you spend with your real-life counterpart? Did you shadow him at work? Did you just meet him for coffee? How did that work?

Tim> The first time I met him was when we were shooting the pilot, and he hung around. Then, he came to the set a couple of times after that. I talked to him about it. I did some reading. I looked at some websites. Then, I stayed away from it. That’s what I tend to do. Now, I deal with what’s specifically in each script. Apart from that, I stay away from it because it’s not really stuff that I want to take home with me. Paul lives and breathes it, but I just stay away from it. There’s a fascination there. I’ll probably pick up a little bit more of it as I go, but I generally try not to have it follow me home.

MediaBlvd> Is the show going to take on a story that carries throughout the episodes, or is it mainly a stand-alone, episode-by-episode show?

Tim> I think each episode will deal with a different subject, but there’s going to be stuff that carries through, too. You’re going to get a bit of both.

MediaBlvd> Has your involvement in the show made you think twice about when you lie in civilian life, whether it’s a big lie or a little one?

Tim> No. You do what you do. The only thing that’s come up, along those lines, is that I don’t discuss them with the press.                       

MediaBlvd> What is the appeal for the large number of British actors, like yourself, Hugh Laurie, Rufus Sewell and others, to work in American TV?

Tim> I did TV in Britain, but I’d never done anything like this. I’ve done TV in America, too. I’ve worked on a couple of things for HBO and TNT. But, it’s all an experiment. It seems to me that some of the better stuff is coming out in America now. I was recently back in Europe and watched what was going on with British television, and I’ve got to say that I think the standard is getting higher here and a bit lower there. The audiences are more interested in things like The Wire, House, 24 and what’s coming out of the States, and they’re a little bit more intrigued by that.

MediaBlvd> Did you ever consider approaching the character with an American accent, like Hugh Laurie or Damian Lewis?

Tim> No. That was immediately part of my deal, from day one. Having spoken to other actors who do that, your work level is huge. Having done dialects and worked with dialect coaches in the past, I am aware that work level is huge, if you want to get it right. I figured that, if I put the two together, it would be overkill. So, that was a deal breaker with Fox, and they were cool. They stopped worrying about it after a while. It’s not something we even address in the show, although I do come out with some odd phrases, now and again. 

MediaBlvd> You’ve played a lot of very memorable villains throughout your career.  Is it nice to be taking on a role that’s the good guy or hero?

Tim> I suppose, yes. I haven’t even thought about that, to be honest with you. I actually think this guy could be quite a bad guy, which is going to be fun. There will be times when he will be. He’s going to suffer the consequences, so it’ll be kind of a bit of a cross-over role. But, yes, it’s a nice change. I’m quite enjoying myself, although I am exhausted.

MediaBlvd> You decided to do a TV show, so that you could stay close to home, but you’ve also said that you’d be willing to return to the Hulk franchise if (director) Lou Leterrier wanted you back. Are you still willing to go out on location, in between shooting the show?

Tim> I’m planning it. Between the pilot and the series, I did a film. I am looking at two scripts that take me off to shoot, when I go on hiatus for the show. I guess around February or March, we’ll get to know whether we’re going to be coming back or not. So, once they’ve figured that out, I’ll schedule films accordingly. But, yes, I’m going to be filming two movies, back-to-back.  It’s not much of a break, but it’s fun stuff.