TV Interview!
Interview with Tim Rozon of “SurrealEstate” on Syfy by Suzanne 7/8/21
I enjoyed speaking with Tim again about this new show! It’s a good show and very enjoyable. He was very nice in the interview as you’ll see. I hope the show is a big success!
Originally, I was supposed to interview his co-star, Sarah Levy, as well, but she had a conflict. Then, after I left the interview room, she was out there, waiting to go to someone else’s interview. I guess her other meeting ended early. So I took the opportunity to say hi and tell her how much I loved her show. When I mentioned that I had watched 8 episodes, she said, “8 episodes? I’ve only seen one!” just like Tim does in this interview! I laughed and said, “Press room…you gotta go to the press room. Someone get this woman access to the show!” She said, “Well, I guess I would have to be a member of the press, then.” I said, “I guess so.” It was so funny that she had the same exact reaction.
We were told to only ask 2 questions (although, as you’ll see, some people asked more than that), but he couldn’t answer my first question because of some secret project that he’s on (or auditioned for), so I asked two more.
See the video!
Suzanne: Hi, Tim.
Tim: Hey, how are you?
Suzanne: All right. When I chatted with you in March, you had blonde hair, and I thought it was for this role, but apparently not. So, what role was it for?
Tim: Yeah, these are these are things that I cannot talk about.
Suzanne: Oh, okay. That’s fine. So, let me ask you a simple question. Somebody else will probably ask you, but do you believe in ghosts in real life?
Tim: Yeah, the answer is is complicated, because had you asked me preproduction of SurrealEstate, I would have said “no.” Postproduction, now after going through it, I’m not so sure anymore. Now, I myself did not experience anything surreal, but we did have a number of guest stars that did have a ghostly experience. They all stayed at the same very famous hotel in Newfoundland, which is supposedly haunted. I won’t say the name of it. Actually, people probably want to go there, because it’s haunted, but I don’t think they’re known as being a haunted hotel, or they want to be known as being haunted. But, yeah, a lot of guest stars, they experienced something. So, that’s a lot of people to be in on some sort of plot or lie to say that there’s something else ghostly among us.
Suzanne: Wow. Well, maybe it’s the power of suggestion. I don’t know.
Tim: I don’t know. I don’t know.
Suzanne: So, the show has some quirky humor in it. Is it all in the script, or do they let the actors put things in?
Tim: I mean, George Olsen, the showrunner, head writer, creator, he’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. He’s also one of the funniest, a really, really dry wit. It makes a lot of sense actually, why they hired Sarah [Levy], because they’re both very smart and very comedic and smart in their comedy. I don’t know if that makes sense, but, yeah, I think he understood how strong Sarah is at comedy. So, Susan had a lot more of it than Luke. Luke went into the comedy a little bit mostly with the Susan stuff, to be honest. Yeah, a lot of credit, I would say, to the cast, the incredible cast that was hired. They’re all great at it. They have the ability to do both the scary stuff and the comedy. So, that’s a great casting, starting with Sarah and then, you know, Adam Korson, Savannah Basley, Tennille Read, Maurice Dean Wint, they just all are able to do it great. So, that’s great. And I find Luke’s kind of like the straight guy of the comedy troupe, so I can do that.
Suzanne: All right. I love the eight episodes. I can’t wait to see the rest.
Tim: What? You saw all eight?!
Suzanne: All eight, yeah.
Tim: Tell me. I haven’t seen anything.
Suzanne: Somebody get this man a link to the press site so he can see it. Thank you so much.
Tim: Thank you.
Question: So, speaking of guest stars, can you talk about what it was like reuniting with Melanie [Scrofano] for Episode Three?
Tim: Yeah, it was great, especially because, before the two episodes she directed, she guest starred, which I think was a really great way to do it, because she gets to meet the whole crew before she has to direct. But working with Mel, it’s just, we know each other so well, and it was a real kick to see her in a totally different character than Wynonna, because she’s such a strong actor, too, that she brought none of Wynonna to the new character. It’s an interesting character. I mean, I don’t want to spoil too much, but she has a lot to play with, and she does it quite remarkably. But, yeah, I mean, I love acting with her, and if I could work on every show for the rest of my career with her, I wouldn’t complain.
Question: Luke has the ability to see and talk to ghosts. Is that something that you wish you could do? Or would you rather have some other supernatural power?
Tim: No, definitely not; speaking to ghosts is not for me. My favorite superhero is the Silver Surfer. This is a guy who sits alone on a surfboard in the in the cosmos just floating around thinking about life. He’s pretty much a loner. So, that’s where my head’s at if I’m going to go into the superhero realm of things. I definitely don’t want to speak to ghosts. No.
Question: Working on this series, has it changed your opinion of realtors at all?
Tim: One hundred percent, yeah. I mean, there’s so much that goes on there that I didn’t know. It was tricky. There’s a whole new lingo to real estate that I was not aware of that I had to learn, and it is a true thing that if a house is haunted, well, implied to be haunted, it will affect the market value of that house. These are real things that I had no idea, but, then, you look into it, and they’re all real. Very cool stuff. Yeah. Very cool stuff. I started looking at houses differently too, like when I came home, I’m like, “Okay, you know what? The bathroom’s in a good spot. Okay, we’re good. We’re good.”
Question: I love you as Luke, what was it that drew you to be a part of this role?
Tim: Oh, you know, it was one of those things. I was still filming Wynonna [Earp] when the opportunity came up, and I was screen testing on the weekend for this and doing Zooms with George and Danishka [Esterhazy] and trying to convince them that I was the right Luke. The thing that I think drew me to it was it was so different than Doc Holliday that I was playing at the time, and there was so much work. You know, Doc Holliday really doesn’t talk too much, and Luke, he talks a lot. So, to be honest, I was pretty scared, in a good way, like in a challenge way. I never had any doubt that I could do it, but it was a lot to do, and I was up to the challenge, I’ll say that. I was excited for it. I was excited to get into a new role. I was excited to shave, to be honest.
Question: Well, that was one iconic mustache.
Tim: Yeah, great on set, but walking around in real life [is another thing].
Question: This is a wonderful, because it combines drama; it combines comedy. Was that something that was really exciting for you as well?
Tim: One hundred percent. I mean, life every day, it throws everything at us. You know, sometimes these television shows they just lean into one way of the way things have to be. A lot of people, including myself, deal with scary things with humor. You know, if I’m scared, I’m the first person that’s gonna be laughing. Like if we’re on a camping trip, and it’s dark, and someone’s telling ghost stories, I’m laughing, because the alternative is just not fun. I’d rather be laughing than be scared.
Question: What do you think it is then about SurrealEstate that’s gonna make it such a fast fan favorite sci-fi hit?
Tim: The group, the family dynamic. You know, it’s cool, because we deal with a different, I’ll say, house, every episode, and that house has a different surreality to it. You know, there’s something about that house that quite isn’t right. And at the same time, there’s something about the people who are selling or trying to fix that house that there’s something not right about each and every one of us. And it’s going to be the audience’s kind of joy to figure out what those things are. But I think as a team, when we come together, we really mesh well together. You know, it’s one of those things where it shows you that family is what you make family to be, and I think we find our family. I think they’re are a bunch of loners who don’t really have anybody who kind of found home in each other, and at the same time, they’re dealing with ghosts, perhaps.
Question: So, you’ve already mentioned that SurrealEstate follows a house of the week type format where there’s a new property to sell each episode, but also sprinkled in are these little pieces of Luke’s backstory, and the viewer gradually sees how layered and complex he is. Can you talk about his personal journey this season?
Tim: Yeah, I mean, you just did a great job of it, I thought. I’m gonna copy/paste that going forward. Yeah, I mean, it’s complex. He’s got a lot going on, and we’ll will figure out – the layers will start to come away, and you’ll start to figure out who Luke is. I think the first couple episodes people are going to think he’s a certain way, and then later will realize he’s maybe not all business all the time. There is a sensitive side to him. He’s a complex character, which I loved. And I love in the beginning, I think, he’s been through all this stuff before so many times that I think it’s great that the Susan character comes, because Luke, he can take a little joy in watching her go through some of the things that he’s well accustomed to at this point.
Question: He doesn’t bat an eye when all this crazy stuff happens around him.
Tim: Yeah.
Question: You spoke about Susan, and Luke hires her as the newest member at the Roman Agency. Your colleagues there always comment about the high turnover for new hires. What do you think Luke sees in her that would make her a valuable addition to the group?
Tim: Well, number one, I think they’ve known about each other in this business for quite some time, and I think he has a lot of respect for what she can do as a salesperson. At the end of the day, Luke Roman loves to sell houses. He’s a salesman, and he loves real estate, and so does Susan Ireland. No matter what they’re dealing with, trust me, every episode, they want to sell that house that they’re dealing with. So, I think it’s a lot of mutual respect and kind of what I got into before, he enjoys that he’s kind of been through some of the stuff she’s going through now, I mean, within selling the houses, the specialty houses she was not accustomed to selling before.
Interview Transcribed by Jamie of http://www.scifivision.com
MORE INFO:
Tim Rozon
Luke Roman
Tim’s first major role was playing heartthrob Tommy Quincy opposite Alexz Johnson and Laura Vandervoort for four seasons on the teen drama series “Instant Star” for TeenNick (USA) and CTV (Canada). He was then cast as the series lead Alex Caine, playing a gang infiltrator, in “Befriend and Betray” for Shaw TV (Canada). Recent series leads include playing Mutt Schitt on the Emmy juggernaut and Golden Globe winning CBC/Netflix hit comedy “Schitt’s Creek” opposite comedy icons Eugene Levy, Dan Levy, Catherine O’Hara and Chris Elliott; Doc Holliday, the infamous lawman and charismatic gambler, on the fan-fave SyFy series “Wynonna Earp”; Constable Carson Myers, stand up RCMP officer and love interest, on the CBC series “Diggstown” opposite Natasha Henstridge and Vinessa Antoine; Isaac, lawyer turned outer space rogue, in the SyFy series Vagrant Queen. Tim is delighted to currently be playing the series leading role of Luke Roman, a real estate agent specializing in haunted homes, on SyFy’s new series “SurrealEstate.”
Tim won a prestigious Gemini Award (the “Canadian Emmy”) for his performance in the series “Flashpoint” (CTV/CBS) and was nominated for another Gemini for work in “Befriend and Betray”. Tim was thrilled when “Wynonna Earp” won the People’s Choice Award for Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy show in both 2018 and 2020.
Off camera, Tim has many talents in the entertainment business. He is a voiceover actor, most notably playing a leading role in the animated feature film “The Legend of Sarila”, opposite Christopher Plummer and Genevieve Bujold. He produced the documentary feature “Shuckers”, about the world of oysters and those who shuck them. And he is very proud of his work co-writing multiple “Wynonna Earp” graphic novels with creator Beau Smith for IDW.
When not acting, Tim plays the role of restaurateur in Montreal at his hit restaurants Garde Manger and Le Bremner opposite star chef Chuck Hughes
“SurrealEstate” follows real estate agent Luke Roman and an elite team of specialists that handle the cases no one else can: haunted and possessed houses that literally scare would-be buyers away. Researching, investigating and “fixing” the things that go bump in the night, the team works to create closure – and closings – even as they struggle with demons of their own.
- The first season of SYFY’s scripted drama “SurrealEstate” is set to premiere Friday, July 16 at 10 p.m. EST.
- SYFY’s “SurrealEstate” hero trailer: HERE
- The 10-episode, hour-long drama includes “Schitts Creek” alum Tim Rozon and Sarah Levy, Adam Korson, Maurice Dean Wint and Tennille Read.
- “SurrealEstate” is produced by Blue Ice Pictures and George R. Olson serves as the executive producer and showrunner. Lance Samuels, Daniel Iron, Armand Leo and Danishka Esterhazy also executive produce.
- Melanie Scrofano is set to direct two episodes following her directorial debut in “Wynonna Earp” Season 4. She joins directors Paul Fox, Danishka Esterhazy and Paolo Barzman.
Proofread and Edited by Brenda
Back to the Primetime Articles and Interviews Page