If it was my boy who was killed I’d want Blair to apologise
Tim Roth swaps Tarantino for true-life tragedy with Jimmy McGovern’s powerful new drama Reg, based on the grieving father who took Tony Blair to task over the Iraq war. The actor, and the real Reg, tell KEELEY BOLGER all about it
AVOCAL opponent of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Tim Roth’s opinion of Tony Blair is damning. “I have nothing but contempt for him,” says the 55-year-old, who plays Reg Keys in Jimmy McGovern’s new BBC1 drama, Reg.
The one-off film is based on the real story of Birmingham paramedic Reg, whose eldest son Thomas was killed in the conflict in 2003.
After learning that the army ordered a scale-down in weapons and communications three weeks before Tom’s death, leaving the six men in his division with limited resources to defend themselves, Reg decided to challenge Blair.
In the 2005 General Election, Reg, who says he’s never had a meeting with Blair despite repeated requests – stood against the politician in his home constituency of Sedgefield as an independent candidate in opposition to the Iraq war.
Over a decade on, and despite the Chilcot report due in early July, Tim has little hope the former prime minister will respond to the film – or the Keys family.
“I have very low expectations of Tony Blair,” admits Tim. “I think he’s profited from the death of Reg’s son and the Iraq war.
“I would like to think that he would see this and, within himself, have some kind of guilt and recognition of that.
“If it was my boy [who had been killed], I would like an apology, but I don’t see it coming. I don’t see a handshake in the future – and if a handshake or a moment of recognition did come, I would put money on it that it would be in front of the camera, that it would have nothing to do with privacy or dignity.”
Known for his collaborations with Quentin Tarantino in Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and The Hateful Eight, London-born Tim, who originally trained to be a sculptor, was opposed to the
invasion from the outset. A father of three, he lives with his fashion designer wife Niki Butler and was away from the UK at the time of the mass anti-war marches across the country. “I had my mini protest,” he says. “I was in Budapest; they wouldn’t let you march but they would let you stand, so we went and stood in a public square being glared at by a policeman. “I’ve always felt Blair should be hauled up in handcuffs and put in Wormwood Scrubs,” he says. Although he wasn’t aware of Keys’ story prior to his involvement in the film, Tim’s interest was soon piqued.
“The script was fascinating to me – and had Jimmy’s name attachedched to it,” he says of the writer, best-known for his dramas Hillsborough, The Street and Cracker, all of which put social justice at their core.
“I printed it, read it in bed with my wife and said, ‘I’ll be doing this’. It’s an extraordinary story and comes with an incredible pedigree.”
Part of that pedigree is Philomena actress Anna Maxwell Martin who plays Thomas’ late mother Sally, and Shameless star Elliott Tittensor who takes on the role of Richard, Reg and Sally’s youngest son, who also served in the army.
Tim was McGovern’s first choice to play the lead, a point not lost on the real inspiration, whose sons were fans of the actor’s 2009 film Skellig, as well as his work with Tarantino.
Before filming started, Tim met Reg in a hotel bar, spending the evening chatting with him and learning the nuances of his Birmingham accent.
Laughing, he recalls his trepidation before meeting Reg.
“At the last second, I was like, ‘Maybe I should have got dressed up’. Reg walked in standing there l looking dapper,” he recalls. R Reg, however, insists Roth’s casual style put him “at ease”, as did the actor’s “professional” approach.
“We met on the shoot for the funeral scene,” recalls Reg. “He was asking me things like, ‘Have you got a tie pin you were wearing, or your cufflinks that I can wear?’
“In the eulogy scene where you see Tim get up, he came up to me before that take and said, ‘Was your jacket buttoned or unbuttoned when you stood up? Did you grab Sally’s hand when you stood?’ He wanted everything in the detail to be correct.”
To “bring a little bit of Tom along”, Reg placed his late son’s hat, whistle and belt on the coffin.
Like McGovern, Tim sees the film as the story of a family’s courage during the worst of times and, despite his personal feelings, not a revenge attack on Blair.
“I don’t think there was an easy day, really,” he says.
“I wanted to get the eulogy speech right for Reg. I wanted to do justice to his boy.” Reg is on BBC1, tomorrow at 9pm.