Tim Roth Interview

The British actor plays The Incredible Hulk's arch nemisis 'for the kids'

Best known as Reservoir Dogs’ Mr. Orange, British star Tim Roth, 47, goes green in The Incredible Hulk. Starring Edward Norton as the Marvel Comic's super-sized creature, Roth plays his new nemesis, Emil Blonsky – aka The Abomination.

What made you want to do The Incredible Hulk? After all, Ang Lee’s Hulk was a disaster…

I did it because of my kids [Roth has three sons]. And it’s fun. It’s a fun movie. And the Ang Lee version was, by the way…it had some good actors in it. It just didn’t connect. This is a very, very different deal. It’s The Incredible Hulk. It’s the gung-ho comic book thing. And I get to shoot a lot of guns.

How did you approach the shoot?

My thing on the set was, ‘Is this scene cool?’ Because my kids are going to kill me if it’s not. And me and the director just concentrated on making my kids happy! And I don’t know about the rest of the stuff. I just concentrate on my element of it and how it moves there. And I hope there’s some cool shit in there for my boys.

You play the villain here. Do you ever hanker after playing the romantic lead?

I don’t get to do kissy scenes. That’s not what I’ve been asked to do in life. So I find it embarrassing to watch but she was very helpful and took me through that. I don’t get to do the lovey-dovey stuff. I’m not the romantic guy. I mean, I am in life. But I don’t get to do what Colin Firth can do. Hugh Grant’s very good at that – confused but in love.

You directed once, with The War Zone. Have you thought about doing it again?

The problem is, the whole nature of the film industry has changed now. We get paid much less. It’s harder to put the money away. I did two years of doing films that I didn’t want to be in, to do The War Zone. Now it would take four years. If you’re lucky…you’ve still got to pay the bills and get the kids through school.

The Incredible Hulk opens on 13 June