Tim Rozon Interview

My Interview with Tim Rozon By: Kate McCrea How did you get involved with Wynonna Earp? Oh, my goodness, how did I get involved? I mean, I was lucky enough to be a very young actor on a Nickelodeon show called Instant Star that had a young writer on it, by the name of Emily Andreas, and it was one of the first show she was one of the head writers on, and they later became the showrunner of Winona Earp. I'm not saying that helped me get the part, but we knew each other. from being very young. And this was 10 years in between. But I also do remember... You know, when I first auditioned for the part of Doc Holiday, it would just resonate immediately with me as one of those parts where, Man, this would be so fun to do. Like... You gotta do some funs up on that thing. Oh, my gosh. I was like, I was so, I wanted that part so bad. And oddly enough, I felt really confident for the audition, sometimes not as confident for other ones. But that one I felt like I could really do this. Like, get me in, get me in the room, and I think I can do this guy. And then, of course immediately after I booked the part, uh, and looking back for the screen test, I was the only Doc Holiday there. I didn't know that at the time. I read with a couple of Dolls. I remember thinking Shamir was the best, and I read with a couple of Wynonnas, a couple famous people, too. I won't name drop, but I remember leaving, and I remember thinking, whether they cast me or not, they better cast Melanie Scofano, because she was definitely the best of the Wynonnas. Like, she killed everybody else in the reads. And then as soon as I got the part, then I panicked. Because then it set in: Tombstone, Val Kilmer, and just all the iconic other Doc Holidays before me. And I love Tombstone. I also love Dennis Quaid as Doncaletta. I loved Willie Nelson as, you know, Doc Collins. It’s this iconic part of American history and cowboyism, and I just didn't want to do it wrong. So the cool thing is, the one thing I did look up is like, John Henry Holiday had a massive mustache. Like his mustache was big. Val Kilmer did not have that big mustache. He had everything else and he had the swagger on lockdown. But so I said, you know what? I'm at least bringing that mustache. So I grew that mustache for like 5 months. It was a big mustache. But I felt it was more, it was more to the part, you know?

It was kind of a gag when you were on Schitt’s Creek where you shaved.. Was that after Wynonna Earp or was it in between? So what happened was I was on Schitt's Creek first. So I was playing a lot of shit, but I wasn't one of the lead characters. I was one of the bigger parts of the show, for sure, but I wasn't under contract as a lead. And then Winona Earp came up, and it was the lead role. How do I not take Doc Holiday in a science fiction show, fighting? Demon Remnants playing Doc Holiday, you're not saying no. SoSchitt's Creek was awesome. And since I wasn’t under contract, they let me go and do Doc Holiday. So that's why my character on Schitt's Creek goes away to the Pinecone Festival for a couple of seasons. That's because Tim Rozan went out to play Doc Holiday on another show. But they were great and they brought me back when we were able to do it. It was tough because of facial hair. You know, I either had the big mustache, which they definitely didn't want on Schitt's Creek.

There's a very specific gag where you shaved and Alexis couldn’t recognize you… That was season two. Season one, the beard was a little too big for when we came back, we watched it. They also dyed it a little too black. So it was like, they were like, by season 2, we kind of fixed the mud beard from season one. It took 21 days because I lost 2 episodes of work to shave when I shaved for that episode. And then it took me 21 days to regrow back so I can go back and film the record. We don't film in order either, right? So we waited till the end for me to shave and then I had to go back and regrow it, to go back to film episode one again of season 2

So were you going back and forth between the 2 sets at one point? For, like, a very minute overlap, because once the mustache, I could go beard was fine, but once the beard came into a mustache, that was it. You could do a fake beard, but I don't find they look good. Oddly enough, everyone on Schitt's Creek thought I had a fake beard and everyone on Wynonna Earp thought I had a fake mustache. So I should have just done the fakes anyway.

How did you come up with the accent for Doc? Uh, I don't know. It's just, like, the only one that I could do. Like I said, not to sound cliche, but this was the role that I was meant to have. I knew that later. Like, I just knew that in my life. I was lucky enough to get it as an actor. I think everyone's, there's one out there, if you're lucky enough to get it, you know, then you are. And that was the one for me. It was just, it just felt right in the pocket. I was always comfortable in that character. I don't know why. You know that we have other lives and all that stuff? Sure, I believe in all kinds of stuff. You know what I mean? Maybe I was an undead cowboy vampire in a past life, you know?

You and Dolls didn't really have a great relationship starting out. How did that play out over the, did you guys put any of yourself into that or was that written on script? I thought we did have a really fun, mischievous, relationship. Uh, I was sad when we lost dolls, and Shimir. Look, Shamir, wanted to be a movie star. That was evident from day one. So no one was gonna hold him back. He wanted to go on and do big things and he did. You know what I mean? I just watched him in John Wick. Oh, yeah. You know, John IV as the main guy. I'm like, you're the hitman and John Wick, who's hired to kill John Wick. I'm like, bro, you made it.

And you used to beat him up on Wynonna. Yeah, well, he beat me up a couple of times, pretty good. We had fun. We had a lot of fun together. I lost a lot when I lost that character of Dolls. Shimir, regardless, like we were buddies, so it was fun, you know, just having another dude. You know? Uh, but I lost a lot when I lost dolls. That's why I think they made Doc a little darker in 2 and 3 after Dolls left, and I kind of became the bad for a minute. They didn't know what to do with me. I had that rivalry, the 2 guys fighting over one girl. It's a great storyline. You know what I mean? One's always winning, one's always losing. So I was either losing and jealous of Dolls or I was bugging him because she liked me better you know what I mean? And then when I lost that, we lost some of the comedy. It came back, I think, when Varun's character Jeremy showed up, and then I was able to kind of do that. But some of my favorite episodes were like... Nee Varun and Shamir, just the boys goofing around. There was the episode where we were all stuck together as the elastics. That was a ridiculous time. It was very fun. And don't get me wrong, I mean, my favorite stuff is Doc and Mel. Give me Melanie all day long, but we have some serious scenes too, you know? I mean, most of my stuff with dolls was fun. We're just running around outside pretending to kill demon dogs. Like, it's fun. Every day was fun. And Shamir is, he's a fun guy. We had fun together. You know, we goof off. It was fun.

Like, you guys were polar opposite. You, like, um, you were more mischievous and he was more straightlaced . It was fun seeing that playoff on screen. Yeah, and we're probably the opposite in real life. Really? You know what I mean? Yeah. So it was really fun. Um, yeah. It's like I said, we had a lot of fun. I miss that character a lot.

How hard were the stunts on the set? Did you do them or did you have a stunt double? I always like to do my own stuff. They're very gracious and they let you do it, but also I try to be as professional as possible. I take the ego out of it. And if you're telling me we're going to make the day faster and everybody's going to get to go home earlier, if the person who's here wants to do it, gets to do it. Plus, you're taking a job from somebody. you know, and the way they work, it's not really fair. Like, they're going to get paid for being the stunt person, but they get paid more if they do this. They're still getting paid regardless, but if they actually do this stunt, they do get paid. Okay. a little bit more. So now I'm taking money away from someone else too, and I don't want to do that. And I was very fortunate to have the best stunt person the whole time. His name was Denton Edge. Real name, professional bull rider from Alberta. I mean, like, dude, you're so much cooler than me. Your name's Denton Edge. You're a professional bull rider, and you're a stuntman on the side. I'm like, you're awesome. So, most of the time I actually did most of my stuff. They say if you want to like the new generation, I don't know what names they give everybody. Um, whatever, the new kids, they don't know how to drive standards. So put an actor who's like 19 to 25 now in a car. They're not moving that car you know, if it's standard. But yeah, so, but it was tough, the Camaro Drive. So Denton would normally, if I was doing wheelies and stuff like that, it was all Denton.

What was it like working with Michael Eklund as Bobo Del Rey? You guys had some really fun stunts as well. Michael Ecklund is one of my favorite actors I've ever worked with. If I could work with him every day, I'd be content. I like to have fun. I mean, I know that I'm lucky to get to do this for a job. I was just always an adventurous kid. I grew up playing games. I had a big imagination with my brothers. We didn't have a lot of stuff, so it was, like, imagination was a big part of my life, and then to get to do that later as a job, I made it. You know, you know, no matter what happens in life, I can't complain. I get to pretend to be, you know, an undead vampire cowboy, a space ranger. Like, it's always awesome. I'm always, I'm lucky enough to be aware of it too. I think sometimes with people in this business, they forget that. You know what I mean? They get a little jaded and they forget what they're doing. It's actually so fun and cool. Why take the funness out of your job? Like, I don't look on it as a job. You know what I mean? So, yeah, Mike and Michael is just one of those actors that just... He goes for it. He's just wild. I never know what he's gonna do. Yeah. You know what I mean? He's like a real actor, actor, and some people, like, are just like, he's really crazy. I'm scared. And I'm like, I love it. Like, he just gets crazy before the scenes, and you just act. never know what he's gonna do. He's never gonna do the same thing in a scene. And I love that, because for me, acting is also just reacting. You know what I mean? And the more you do, the more I can react to it, the better I look, it's great. You know, just connect to another person and that's all you gotta do with Michael, you just gotta like, what's this guy gonna do in this scene, you know?

Why do you think fans have resonated so much with the show? Uh, I mean, I just think it was a really important show when it came out, and just found family and what that means, and for people who maybe didn't feel like they fit in everywhere else, that it's okay. You know what I mean? And, uh, obviously, we have very big LGBT love stories, and how important they are, and just representation matters in so many ways. And, you know, a show like Wynonna Earp really showcases that. And, uh, you know, you also had one, two, three, four, five, 6 strong female leads at a time that weren't really a thing at all. You know, we were on 10 years ago, it was a big thing. Um, you know, I wasn't saving the day. It wasn't the cowboys saving the day. Wynona had to save me after she beat up all the demons. Uh, you know, so I think it was, it was one of those things where it just at that time, and for always, but representation matters, but it really did at that time. And I don't think there was a lot of that going on at all. So it was nice to see that for people and for people to just feel seen, because that's always important, you know what I mean? Like for me, my favorite actor is River Phoenix. And the reason he is, because the first time I saw him, I was like, this person is so vulnerable, and I'd never seen a TV person or a movie star vulnerable as a human, and that's how I always felt growing up, a little vulnerable, a little shy, a little scared, and then you see someone like that, and you're like, 0 my gosh. I'm kind of like that, and they're pretty cool. They look pretty cool and stand by me with their white t-shirt, and you know what I mean? I was like, oh, okay, so it's like, it's very important to be able to see yourself in the movies and the TV shows that you like. Last question. What did the fan campaign to save Wynonna mean to you? Everything. Yeah, it was incredible. Uh, I mean, people forget, but we took over Times Square. I remember that. This is why Wynonna Earp. It's like the people who know it know it, but the rest of the people don't. Like, you know, my wife's friends, they joke. like, why did you leave a show everybody knew for a show nobody knows? And I'm like, because it was a great show, man. and it was super fun to do. But we took over Times Square. This little show, uh, that a lot of people, you know, kind of slept on and kind of, you know, didn't think was much. took over Times Square. We broke it. You know what I mean? We were taking over the billboards. We took over those billboards so many times that the people in charge of the billboards started taking one every hour that they paid for themselves just to thank our fans for taking over the billboards. And I went down there. I bought a billboard for an hour, myself, saying thank you. I went down there with Michael Eckland. And we took, we were on the corner of Times Square, wherever those billboards were, and the Earpers showed up, man, and the police, and everybody was like, what the hell is going on? Who are these people and what is happening? We're like, we're here for the billboard and we're here to save our show. We did. We're in the New York Times, an article about this little Canadian TV show that, you know, it's incredible, man. So, um, Yeah, I feel very fortunate to be part of all of it and uh, to be a part of that fandom. They're the best. You know?