Werkschau Tim Roth

And he became part of this history rather quickly. Born on May 14, 1961 in South London, son of a journalist and a landscape painter, he grew up well nurtured in a liberal, politically left-leaning household in a working-class suburb of London, Dulwich. At first, Tim decided for a career in art and began studying sculpture at the Camberwell College of Art, though he broke it off quickly. He had already noticed that he would never really bring it to anything in this profession and switched over to acting.

In spite of his never having had a classical education in acting, Philip Prowse asked Tim to come to Prowse's famous Citizen's Theatre in Glasgow where he debuted in Jean Genets “The Screens”. Further theater engagements followed, among them at The Royal Court and at the Oval House. He played Kafka, “Metamorphosis” and “The Case”, and appeared in both Steven Berkoff's stage version of Kafka's “Metamorphosis” as well as Jim Goddard's TV movie of the play. Then came his first sensational TV appearance in “Made in Britain”. Alan Clarke's highly acclaimed, almost prophetic made-for-TV film about a violent, racist youth without a chance in the world lent a voice to an entire generation during the restrictive Thatcher era – and Tim Roth became that voice.

This early experience effected him deeply. Alan Clarke, who died in 1990 at the age of 54, was his professional idol. Clarke was already shooting mercilessly realistic low-budget films that would later leave such a deep impression on so many independent U.S. studios. And it was Chris Menges, who did the camera work for “Made in Britain” who finally taught Tim how to act.

In his first two TV jobs - “Made in Britain” and “Meantime” – he was able to lay the foundation for his image as the eternal underdog. His own personal commitment to absolute realism and his uncanny instinct for his roles have become his trademarks.

As the prototype of the wild young man in “New British Cinema”, he made a name for himself during the 80ies in films made by Mike Leigh, Alan Clarke and Stephen Frear. The latter made “The Hit”, for which Tim received an important British acting award. After working with Chris Menges on “Made in Britain”, Tim also shot with him the apartheid drama “Two Worlds”, and then with Agnieszka Holland "The Murder of the Priest". These were followed by two highly lauded films for Peter Greenaway (“The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover”) and Robert Altman (“Vincent and Theo”). All these parts taken together display the enormous range of roles he can take on, for even if he plays the angry outcast again and again, he still does not let himself be stereotyped in this image.

Tom Stoppard's “Rosencrantz and Güldenstern are dead”, loved by the critics and awarded the Golden Lion in Venice, brought him back together with his compatriot Gary Oldman with whom he had already stood before the camera in “Meantime”. In many ways, the Angry Young Prole followed the example of his highly esteemed colleague and friend. Just like Oldman, he embodies the hard, the beaten down, the violent, but also for those who do not give in. And like another famous colleague, Daniel Day-Lewis, he stands for acting of a very direct breed, identification with the figure almost to excess.

A real Brit, but one who could never get over what the Thatcher era did to his country, he left for America in 1990, much as Gary Oldman had done before him. And that is where he got his breakthrough. In the restless world of the independents, he eventually became one of the most versatile and well-versed actors of our time. He also found comrades in arms, directors who made the type of films he imagined (or rather dreamed of). At the latest since Quentin Tarantino's “Pulp Fiction” and “Reservoir Dogs”, the microcosm of the edgy gangster movie just would not be the same without him. As if he had never had a British accent at all, he played such basic American figures as the Californian cop in “Reservoir Dogs” or the New York immigrant in “Little Odessa”. He was not only able to get his feet on the ground in the "Holy Land of Hollywood", his success there would finally pave the way for his international breakthrough.

Still, he always maintained his professional contacts to his homeland. The renaissance of the British film and TV market in the early 90ies brought him parts in Nicolas Roeg's ambitious film of Joseph Conrad's “Heart of Darkness” and the BBC productions of “The Common Pursuit” and “The Prisoner”.

Another high point in Tim Roth’s career followed with the role of the roguish Cunningham in Michael Caton Jones' epic “Rob Roy” for which he reaped nominations for an Oscar and a Golden Globe as Best Actor in a Supporting Role. After this, he did his reputation as versatile character actor all honor in more and more new roles. In Woody Allen's “They all say: I Love You” he even proved he could sing, and in Vondie Curtis Hall's “Gridlock’d” he gave a convincing performance as a desperate junky.

In 1998, the father of two boys finally fulfilled a long-held dream and became a director. His debut work, “The War Zone”, is a painful and piercing film about a taboo topic that had always interested him. “I liked the idea of making a film about what parents do to their children. I knew it would be a great challenge for me , not just because of the subject matter but also because it would mean that I would be working with two very young actors in the central roles.”
With "The War Zone”, based on Alexander Stuart's 1989 short novel of the same name, he has made an extremely un-American film far outside the mainstream. And he also found a completely different language for his directorial debut without paying any attention to the market or to the recipes usually applied by profitable U.S. productions. His main idea is to understand and use film as an expression of his own personality.
And for Tim Roth “Incest is an important topic, one that is never dealt with honestly in films. The father in my film is superficially a "normal" man. He's not violent or depressive, and this shows that incest knows no social or economic lines in the sand. Incest happens everywhere and its effects are always devastating.”

Directing had always interested the stubbornly gifted player of unstable outcasts and notoriously difficult characters but he had never trusted himself to give up acting for the time such a film project would take. Work is very important for this extreme actor who wears a tattoo on his right arm for every major event in his life (five up to now),. He cannot imagine anything more horrible than being without a job for a longer period of time. And because America loves him and supplies him with a steady flow of new roles, he loves this country, a place where a moody, introverted, cheerless Englishman has paradoxically found such great success. And he takes it back to Europe when he comes. Tim Roth moves about just as successfully in the old world as the new. Since his directorial debut, he has been standing in front of the camera once again, this time for his countryman Roland Joffé in the French production “Vatel”, together with Gérard Depardieu and Uma Thurman.

The Cologne Conference is particularly pleased to devote this year's retrospective to this exceptional actor and, now, director. This continues the series of festivals that began with the showing of “The War Zone” this year as part of the “Quinzaine des Réalisateur” at the Film Festival in Cannes and the participation of Guiseppe Tornatore's “La leggenda del pianista sull’oceano” with Tim Roth in the major role at the music Biennale.
And since Nicolas Roeg's big-picture epic “Heart of Darkness” had its world premiere in 1994 at the Cologne Conference, the Englishman with the clear-cut features, the profound gift for acting and huge screen presence has not left our field of vision for a moment. We are happy that we can honor Tim Roth, one of the most innovative and notable actors and, as his directorial debut shows, one of the leading new directors in European cinema, with a first show of his works.