HT Exclusive | Tim Roth on people looking down upon the superhero genre: I’m not a snob

In an era when superhero films are making it to the Oscars and making history by breaking global box office records, there are people who still look down upon the genre, saying that it is not real cinema. But Hollywood’s veteran actor Tim Roth doesn’t agree with it.

The actor, who dabbled in the superhero universe much before it became a global phenomena in 2008, feels there is entertainment value in every story being churned in the cinematic space.

“Everyone is welcome to what they like. The thing is that there is enough stuff out there for everyone,” says Roth, who revisited the role of a supervillain, Emil Blonsky, in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law after 14 years.

He first appeared as the villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2008 with The Incredible Hulk.

The 61-year-old continues, “For me, I mean quite seriously, it was something I thought my kids would like, and it worked for them. That’s why I did it. Now, they look at this and they are laughing.. For me, it’s fun”.

“I don’t think that I’m not a snob. I see the entertainment value in all kinds of things. They may not be things that I particularly like, sometimes, but I can see the worth in things. These projects are such entertainment. When I travel, if I’m on a plane, I put Deadpool on you, and it takes me out of that place and takes me away for a while. It makes me laugh. I see the value in laughter. It is a very powerful currency”.

Laughter is the reason he first decided to enter the universe, and he is glad that he got to do it one more time with the web series, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, which streams on Disney+ Hotstar.

“Originally, I did it to make my children laugh and to embarrass them. That dad is a monster in a monster movie. But they love comic books. So, to come back to it after all this time was actually fun. It reminded me of my kids and of that time,” says the father of three.

Opening up about the growing popularity of the superhero genre, Roth shares,” There have been interesting actors associated with the universe, from Ian McKellen to Mark Ruffalo. It really kicked off with Ironman when they trusted in the comedic aspects of the characters. They took Robert Downey Jr’s talent as an actor, and ran with it. And till the time Deadpool released.”

“They trust the actors and they write to the actors’ strengths. It is brilliant. When a chance to do it again with the She Hulk series came to me, it was never a question of it was never a question of should I do this, but how do I do this? When I started filming, I was a bit lost as I wasn’t sure how to do it. Then I saw Tatiana Maslany and Mark working together, which was funny and brilliant. It is a lot of hard work and a lot of fun,” he concludes.