“You could find a few action shows with comedy elements, but in terms of true action-comedy, it's mainly a movie genre,” True Lies executive producer Matt Nix said during a press conference for the new CBS series adaptation of the blockbuster film of the same name. From 20th Television and adapted from the 20th Century Fox film by James Cameron, True Lies follows a secret international spy whose wife discovers his real profession, getting in on the act and having to hide it from their children. As for why you don’t often see this type of cross-genre on television, Matt Nix shared why it’s so difficult. “You got to do all the things that a regular spy show would do, and then you've got to do all the things that a family drama would do, you've got to play all those emotional beats. And then you've also got to do a bunch of comedy things. So finding a way to do all of those things without having the comedy undermine the action or without having the heart of the family story overwhelming the other elements, it's a balance.”
(Alan Markfield/CBS)
The original True Lies was released in 1994 at the height of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s acting career. “I said that I would never, out of respect for the man, do the impersonation,” actor Steve Howey said about making the portrayal of Harry his own. “I've never done it, not once, and I never will, because it's an iconic actor, an iconic man. And it's an iconic film. It was daunting.” Since his breakout role on the sitcom Reba, Steve has spent most of his acting career in comedy, but True Lies gives him the chance to dabble in other genres while still working in the comedic space. “The great thing about us, Harry and Helen, is that we get to exchange the responsibility of being the straight man, straight woman, straight actor. So you have the person who's going to set up the joke for the other actor, and [Ginger] and I went back and forth with that, and I thought that was really special.”
While Steve committed to never doing an Arnold impersonation, Ginger Gonzaga went a step further to ensure that she wasn’t emulating Jamie Lee Curtis in her performance as Helen. “I was in a lucky position where I had never seen the film, and so even before the pilot, I committed to not watching it, because I know Jamie has an iconic performance,” she revealed. “The last thing I want to do is an impression of Jamie Lee Curtis. I love her so much. I have so much respect for her. I didn't want to absorb any of it.” Ginger Gonzaga recently stole scenes in Marvel’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law as Jessica Walters’ colleague/best friend Nikki Ramos, but the physical demands of the role required some unique skillsets. “I had done gymnastics, and so I tried to incorporate a little bit of that. I had no idea how much I would need Pilates for this job. You physically have to be strong. Like, I literally need the muscle that comes from that in order to do some of the work. And in my free time, I was taking some boxing classes… Howey's already a fighter, so he had this skill set. He learns fight choreography like a Lady Gaga dancer. Like these people that learn dance choreography so quickly, that's not something I had.”
Playing Harry’s right-hand man Gib is Omar Miller in a role originated by Tom Arnold, who guest stars on the series adaptation. “He was really well above expected,” Omar shared of working with Tom Arnold. “Man, we had a great time. We had the Gib squared moment, and we spent a lot of time on the episode together. One thing about the show is that the interaction of all of the characters is pretty consistent, and he's one of our favorite guest stars. The biggest advice that he's given me was just to have fun with it, because that's what he did. And I can remember being a teenager and coming out of the movie theater with my mind blown. I was like, ‘Wow, this is wild.’ It was a very special time as far as action movies go if you grew up in that period. And he was just a really solid actor. Man, he would turn it on. One of the things in the trailer was an improv of his. He was completely prepared, and he was constantly professional and ready to go. He was game for whatever.”
“It is legitimately so hard to stay in character while they're improv'ing,” 15-year-old Lucas Jaye said of working with his on-screen parents, Steve Howey and Ginger Gonzaga. “They're so funny. And, honestly, I feel like I wasted a lot of takes by laughing from their improv.” The family dynamic depicted in the series extends off-set, as Annabella Didion revealed, who plays Harry and Helen’s daughter Dana. “Off-screen, when I'm moving, [Ginger]'s like, ‘Come stay at my house.’ And it's a lot of industry things as well as acting, and with Steve too. I mean, he's been doing this so long that just the technical things that I haven't really had the opportunity to work on previously, it's really great to watch them work.
“The thing that really matters to me, and I think to all of us, about True Lies is the spirit of the thing,” Matt Nix concluded. “It's a show about family, about a group of people that really care about each other and are working through real issues. It's a show about decent people who are trying to make a difference in the world. True Lies invites the audience to laugh and have some fun and remember that whatever insanity might be going on in the world, we are all human beings trying to do our best. That's what I remember most from coming out of that theater in 1994, and that's the spirit of what we've tried to do with this show.”
True Lies premieres Wednesday, March 1st at 10/9c on CBS, with episodes also available to stream live and on-demand on Paramount+.
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