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CITAZIONE Tim Roth: ‘Lie To Me’ Is Now The Show We Always Wanted To Do
by Matt Webb Mitovich
Oct 4th, 2010 | 11:08 AM
Fox’s ‘Lie To Me’ kicks off its third season this Monday at 9/8c, and to hear series lead Tim Roth tell it, the crafty drama is now fulfilling its potential. What’s on the horizon for the coming episodes? More craftiness, more types of cases, and more women for Cal (if only to agitate Foster). Roth shared a look at the third cycle.
The Season 3 premiere concerns Cal’s involvement in a bank robbery, delivering a really neat twist on the age-old heist scenario. You must love how the writers come up with such fresh things.
These guys are great. The guys who wrote that one (Alexander Carey and David Graziano) are the showrunners now, and Daniel Sackheim directed it. They come up with some really good stuff. It just gets better and better and better.
Some changes are afoot, including the exit of Mekhi Phifer’s FBI Agent Ben Reynolds – though I understand that move is designed to open up the storylines.
The issue with that was not Mekhi at all but the fact that Lightman can get through all these doors with the FBI, and that takes a lot of the craftiness and mischief away from the character. If he doesn’t have a guy like [Ben], what’s he going to do? Now his connection to the law is a crooked cop (played by Monique Curren) who showed up at the end of last season. You’ll be seeing a lot more of her.
And Shoshanna Stern (’Jericho’), she’s playing a grad student helping Cal with his book?
She’s hilarious. We might get into trouble, some of the stuff we have together. It’s very funny.
Since Shoshanna is deaf, might her character, Sarah, be extra-perceptive about things, as Cal is?
Yeah, she’s deaf – deaf as a post – so she sees a lot. We have a lot of really good back and forth. . It takes on the fact of deafness in a different way. [Laughs] I mean, when we started doing it, she was just crying with laughter.
Will we get more Lightman backstory?
Yeah, we will. We’re going to sort of break open the relationship with Foster, look into the relationship he has with his daughter, and look at the relationships he has with other women. The horizons are broadening and the writing is very tight. It’s the show we were aiming at and now we finally get to do. Hopefully the audience will get a kick out of it.
All these women – Tricia Helfer (’Battlestar Galactica’) included – coming Cal’s way: Was that the result of a note from you, the actor?
Yeah, I said I want woman jumping at me from left and right. [Laughs] No, it’s a thing that the writers decided to do. We touched on it a bit in Season 2, how he is with women – and how Foster (played by Kelli Williams) reacts to other women being around him, so there’s a lot to play there. And we want to push it further in this season.
Didn’t Cal once tell Foster he wants her “in the worst possible way”?
Yes, I do believe so! I remember that. And he does – in the worst possible way. Their relationship, we delve into that. Episode 6 is a really good Foster episode; so is 7, actually.
I have to say, for some reason you’re not an actor I expected to see on Twitter.
When we did the first episode of Season 2, [guest star] Erika Christensen was tweeting between takes and stuff. I was like, “What is that?” She taught me all about it; I always come late to these things. So when we were having a meeting this summer about how we get the show out there, I said to Joe Earley – this wunderkind PR guy over at Fox – “What if you give me a phone an I do that Twitter thing?” So I send pictures of the crew and actors working, behind-the-scenes stuff… I quite enjoy doing it. I’m nowhere up there with Perez Hilton or Lady Gaga, but I am going after their title.
Before we go, some reader questions: The ninja on the back of Cal’s phone, was that your idea?
Yes, it was. I always put a sticker on the back of my [own] phone, so if I leave it somewhere on set people know it’s mine. I always have a dummy sticker handy, so I put one on the back of my [prop] phone, a ninja. [Laughs] I love that people pick up on that!
Another reader wants to know if your real-life cat will ever make it into a prop photo.
Sid Vicious is my cat, a stray that we took in. Yeah, he’s still floating around. I’ve got two of my dogs in [photos in Cal's] office, and my new French bulldog is in his house. I’ll put Sid in the house somewhere they can spot it.
Lastly, a reader wants to know, “When will you come to Malaysia?”
I’m hoping next Wednesday. About 4 in the afternoon.
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CITAZIONE Advance Review: LIE TO ME season 3, episode 1 “In The Red”
Episode: Season 3, episode 1
Aired; Monday October 4, 2010
Cal Lightman (Tim Roth) is back, and stronger than ever, in “In the Red,” when he tries to prevent a bank robbery. He was left destabilized in last season’s finale, when Agent Reynolds (Mekhi Phifer) was shot, putting an end to the collaboration between the FBI and The Lightman Group. But it seems that Cal is back to his old self in the wake of that disaster, and he is determined to do things his way from now on.
Apparently, Cal made a deal a couple of years ago with his publisher Meredith Spencer (Linda Purl) to write a book about his activities with The Lightman Group. The deadline is coming up. The problem is, Cal prefers doing things at his own pace. He is already agitated. So when he goes to the bank to check whether his assets are frozen, he can’t help but notice everyone around him and amongst them he eventually deduces from Mike Salinger’s (Shawn Doyle) behavior that he is getting ready for his next coup. This moment in the bank is classic Cal Lightman and sets the tone for the new season.
In order to get the details on the situation and be prepared for the setup, Cal requests his team to do the leg work, but he’s the only one on the field dealing with the robbers. He’s the one questioning the bank manager because he senses something is amiss, and he’s conducting the interrogation of the bank guard. All of this is to show that he’s regaining control.
Cal: “I served my ties with the FBI. I’m no one’s lap dog.”
But changes are also happening within The Lightman Group. Elie (Brendan Hines) is now more involved in handling some of Cal’s assignments. This doesn’t sit well with Ria (Monica Raymund) since she’s a natural like Cal. I’m curious to see whether the tension between these two leads will resolve, as they are both great at their jobs for different reasons. They already slept together, so what’s next?
Also, what concerns me the most about the relationship dynamics within The Lightman Group is the change in Cal’s partnership with Gillian (Kelli Williams). She intervenes in his business and he’s displeased by this.
Cal: “The Lightman Group was built on my sweat. I don’t see anyone’s name on the front door, nor on the book jacket for that matter.”
Gillian: “The one you haven’t written yet?”
Cal: “You mess with my finances again, you and I are through. Now you are the language expert, you tell me. Do I mean that?”
Now that Cal is back in charge, he has control over his team, his partner, and his new hired ‘help.’ I wonder where this newfound energy will take him this season. I think the absence of his daughter Emily (Hayley McFarland) in this episode is to purposely avoid any diversion for him. He’s usually biased and emotional around her, and that’s clearly not what he needs right now.
Catch new episodes of Lie To Me on FOX Mondays at 9PM ET/PT. For more information, visit www.fox.com/lietome/.
All photos courtesy of Isabella Vosmikova © Fox Broadcasting Co.
Check out our Q&A with Tim Roth for the new season here on series.nu later this week!
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LISA EDELSTEIN 1st ITALIAN FORUM » since 22/10/2008 
