Tim Roth Tells the Truth About Acting and Lying for 'Lie to Me' by Troy Rogers
There's no doubt that some people in our lives are bad liars. You can spot the lie a mile away. But there are other people we know who probably lie all of the time and you don't even suspect it. In some situations where the stakes are high and lives are on the line, like in the legal system, law enforcement, and various government agencies, deception is often the fine line between life and death, prison, or a career in politics.
In the new series Lie to Me, which premieres on Fox on January 21, actor Tim Roth steps into the shoes of Dr. Cal Lightman, a world class deception expert who studies facial expressions and involuntary body language to determine whether someone is lying and why they're trying to skirt the truth. Together with a crack team of deception experts, Roth and his Lightman character work with the law to uncover a multitude of lies that would otherwise go unnoticed by the average eye.
Leading up to the premiere of Lie to Me, we had a couple of brief moments to put Tim Roth to the test under our own polygraph during a recent conference call in order to discover the truth behind his deception team and how acting and lying go hand-in-hand with his new role.
THE DEADBOLT: During your research, did you find a way to continue lying and consciously manipulate your face so it appeared you were still telling the truth? Is there a way to do that?
TIM ROTH: [laughs] Well, I don’t know. It’s weird, and the only one that could tell me - First of all, all of the acting is lying, right? All of acting is lying, it’s all deception. So, for me, for my character, thankfully he’s one of the few ones who doesn’t actually have to be on stage. It’s only the subjects or people talking to him, or people that he’s talking to, who are on stage.
So I do know, for example, actors quite often get a hold of Paul’s training DVDs and his website training stuff and also his books and use them. So I’m always lying, and that’s what actors do, so you never stop. It’s just how good you are at it, I suppose.
THE DEADBOLT: Can you explain what the other members of the deception team do? Do they have the same skill that you have?
ROTH: Well, Gillian Foster, that Kelli [Williams] plays, is a physiatrist. She’s a physiologist - physiatrist, so I talk about her as she’s in the "feelings department", you know? Actually, she’s all mumsy and stuff, because what people are doing, what they’re doing, I can see that there’s some deception happening. But if we have to find out why, part of our job is to find out why there are people who do different things, and she’s in the feelings department, she’s a shrink
There's no doubt that some people in our lives are bad liars. You can spot the lie a mile away. But there are other people we know who probably lie all of the time and you don't even suspect it. In some situations where the stakes are high and lives are on the line, like in the legal system, law enforcement, and various government agencies, deception is often the fine line between life and death, prison, or a career in politics.
Leading up to the premiere of Lie to Me, we had a couple of brief moments to put Tim Roth to the test under our own polygraph during a recent conference call in order to discover the truth behind his deception team and how acting and lying go hand-in-hand with his new role.
So I do know, for example, actors quite often get a hold of Paul’s training DVDs and his website training stuff and also his books and use them. So I’m always lying, and that’s what actors do, so you never stop. It’s just how good you are at it, I suppose.