LIV TYLER COMES DOWN TO EARTH
Forget the ethereal Arwen from The Lord Of The Rings. A gritty role as an emergency services professional in 9-1-1: Lone Star is much more in character for Liv Tyler.
Liv Tyler’s role as paramedic Michelle Blake in the procedural drama 9-1-1: Lone Star is a far cry from her best-known role, as the elven aristocrat Arwen, who gave up immortality to be Aragorn’s queen in The Lord Of The Rings. As her 9-1-1 co-star Rob Lowe, himself a movie veteran, says, “She’s the most gentle soul and those eyes, oh my God. I mean, I could look into those eyes all day long.” But those eyes are somewhat haunted in 9-1-1: Lone Star, a spin-off from the original 9-1-1, which is set in Los Angeles. Blake is a seasoned Emergency Services captain, who is used to trauma and regular life-and-death situations. Adding to that is the fact that her sister Iris has been missing for three years and could be the victim of foul play. Blake’s search for her is a recurring theme in the first season. Lowe plays Owen Strand, a New York firefighter who is seconded to Austin, Texas to rebuild a fire unit after a devastating accident. And he says he enjoyed seeing Tyler in this new way. “It’s really hard to find a role that shows you in a different light when you’ve been shown so much. And Liv Tyler badass is something I have not seen before, because she’s always so ethereal.” But perhaps Tyler has just been waiting for a chance for that trait in her personality to surface. Tyler says, “It’s funny because I actually think Michelle’s more like me than any character ever. People always see – I think because I have a soft voice or something – people always see me in that
“It’s funny because I actually think Michelle’s more like me than any character ever.” – Liv Tyler
light. But I see myself as quite a resilient, strong person.”
Tyler, 43, is the daughter of Aerosmith rocker Steve Tyler, aka The Demon Of Screamin’. And oddly, that helped prepare her for the role of Blake.
“Somehow Aerosmith has a lot of friends who are ex-police officers or police officers, firefighters, in those services. So I have met people and talked to them a lot.
“But I was just interested, really, in how it affects them when they go home at night. How do they interact with their partners? And do they share what they’re seeing? And all that kind of stuff.”
Unlike Lowe, who was on West Wing and has been a TV star for 20 years, 9-1-1: Lone Star is Tyler’s first major TV show. She says movies and TV are very different.
“I’m still trying to understand this. I guess, this is like a lifestyle, right? You know, if you’re doing a show for many years you get to know your character and this team of people.
“Film is just one thing. You get the script in advance, you’re preparing, you’re studying. There’s one director, occasionally two sometimes I guess, but you know, there’s one particular sort of single vision.
“Whereas in television, every episode is directed by someone else. There’s multiple writers. So it’s a very different sort of experience.”
While many people think Tyler was raised in the limelight, she grew up in Maine with her mother Bebe Buell and her family, while Tyler’s father was with his other children in a small town outside Boston.
“There were musicians and successful, talented people around, but none of us were raised in that, if that makes sense. Though everyone always writes that I grew up on a tour bus, I didn’t at all. I really grew up in Portland, Maine.
“But I wasn’t growing up in this industry, in this world. I’ve spent so much of my life trying to stay sane in a slightly insane industry, because of the things I observed happening to my parents and their friends. (Her father notoriously struggled with drug addiction for many years.)
“I’m a little bit afraid of the entertainment industry in some ways. So I try to stay a little bit outside of it.”
Today, she is married to British sports and entertainment manager David Gardner, with whom she has a son, aged four, and a daughter, aged three. She also has a son from her previous marriage to rocker Royston Langdon.
The family are based in London, and Tyler frequently flies back home from Austin. Her busy schedule means she doesn’t get as much time to watch TV as she would like.
“I mean, I love watching TV. I don’t watch a lot of TV or films, because I have small children, a big family. I would like to sit and watch TV more than I do.”