TV series Tell Me Lies, interview with Spencer House and Branden Cook

Tell Me Lies is a television series available to stream. Based on Carola Lovering's novel of the same name, it follows the toxic and complicated relationship between Stephen DeMarco (Jackson White) and Lucy Albright (Grace Van Patten) over several years. The cast also features Branden Cook, Catherine Missal, Spencer House, Tom Ellis and Benjamin Wadsworth.

Gentlemen, how are you guys doing?

Branden Cook (“Evan”) & Spencer House (“Wrigley”): Hey, doing good. How are you doing, man?

All right. Apologies, I’m little under the weather, so if I sound like I'm on my deathbed, just pretend like everything's normal and proceed, you know.

Spencer: There's a good rasp in there. Yeah. Makes you sound cool. There you go.

It feels like guilt and shame kind of hovers over pretty much everybody coming into this season. How does the guilt and shame effect Evan and Wrigley differently?

Branden: I think for Evan, it forces him to kind of look at things a little differently. And eventually, it forces him to kind of, without giving away too much, kind of pretend at least to care a little less, which maybe for the best.But yeah, I think that's kind of how he deals with some of it.

Spencer: I feel like Wrigley carries a lot of guilt and shame about what happened to his brother, and I think it's really forced him to grow up. And, so, we see a different side of the guy.

I was actually going to ask you how that's shaping him moving forward with being isolated from the family, and football being void and such. Is any of this stuff that Meaghan (Oppenheimer, show runner) outlined with you guys prior to the season?

Branden: I think she definitely talked about it with us and kind of walked us through it. We had, obviously, our meetings with her to kind of figure out everything. And yeah, it was cool, though. She kind of, at least for me, told me the direction, and I was like, "This is great. It's fun."

Spencer: Yeah. There's always the Meaghan meeting beforehand, and you kind of get to hear what you're going to do and everything. And she's really great at getting you to understand it and kind of having you connect with it and stuff. So yeah, we kind of knew…uhh.. what was the question? Am I answering the question?

Yeah, you're on point, man. Was she more hands-on with the character development the previous two seasons? And now maybe kind of letting you guys work it out a little more? Or is she still pretty detailed with it?

Branden: No, I think at the end of the day, this show is her baby, and I think she's very clear on what she wants, and what her vision is for the characters. And there's obviously room to collaborate and talk things through and whatever, but I think we are for lack of a better phrase, like sheep of her vision, which I'm totally down for. I mean, her vision is pretty very clear, and she knows what she wants. And she knows what works and what is working. So, I'm cool with it.

Spencer: Yeah, it's always… there's a slight collaboration to it, which is really, really great because you don't always get that. But it's slight for the most part. She knows what she's doing, and this is her show, and pretty much, you hear what you have to do, and you go, "Oh, yeah, yeah, that checks out." And you do it.

Open with his feelings, communicative, forgiving, even if he's unaware of it, what makes Evan so comfortable in his vulnerability?

Branden: Oh, that's a great question. You know what? I don't know if he is comfortable in his vulnerability. I think it's just the only way he kind of knows how to express himself, and holding things… trying to hold water, and stuff doesn't necessarily work for him. I think it's just how he's learned to process and go through life, which is kind of having his heart on his sleeve to some extent, even when it's “f” everybody, or if it's “I'm kind of doing me now” or doing the way I want to do it now. It's very much his heart on his sleeve.

Spencer, this season, like we just mentioned, Wrigley's really bogged down, I would assume it's a depressive state in lieu of everything. An isolated state too. Given that frame of mind this season, in that character, without telling anything too personal, did it ever trigger or bring up any stuff in your own life when you were portraying him, and what did you pull on to kind of get into that zone to play his role this year?

Spencer: Well, I think I probably had the best time on season three because season one and two were kind of a start at the top, and you spiral a little bit, and then you hit the bottom at the bottom of season two. And season three is actually, even though he's dealing with a lot of stuff, I would say it's kind of the redemption arc. So, I don't know. It's funny because I say season three was probably the happiest I've been shooting the show, and I bet it had some sort of thing on me. But for the most part, I like to think that I can leave things at work and come home and not think about it. But I think sometimes you get home and you're like, "Oh my God." It can suck sometimes, but I love it. And yeah, but anyway, to answer your question, I think season three is actually probably the easiest on me.

What scares or unsettles Evan about Steven?

Branden: It's an interesting question.

He's got an unsettling demeanor.

Branden: Yeah, sure. I think the thing is though, that Evan is close to Steven. So, Evan knows a lot about Steven, and you see this season kind of a vulnerability between the two of them. And I think there is a past that they, to some degree or another, have leaned on each other, or Evan felt that way. So, I think the scarier, unsettling part is being potentially very vulnerable with other men. And not knowing the consequence of that vulnerability. And I think he even sees at times the consequence of that vulnerability, if that makes sense.

Filming with the story taking place in two different time periods where we assume things have transpired, maybe characters have grown, was it challenging at all to play your characters in these different time periods? Any techniques you guys use to kind of get in the right state for then and now?

Branden: No. I think the clothes help. That was fun. But it was cool. I mean, we were around in 2008, so that was not that bad. We weren't as old, but clothes help, music helps. When you hear some of the music, that's fun.

Spencer: It's a nostalgia trip a lot of times. I think it's more… I want to say middle school. I'm not sure, but maybe. I don't know the math on that.

Branden: Yeah, I think it's middle school.

Spencer: Yeah, yeah. Hearing the songs, and especially those phones too. We always have our prop phones in our pocket, and it's always fun to take them out and just kind of play with them and be like, "Oh, yeah, I remember when we all look for snake.” All the games on the phone, and everything. And the music and the clothes. I didn't even realize clothes had changed that much because that's not something I really focus on, or I really notice. But when other guys show up, like when Branden or Jackson or any of the gals show up to work, you look at them and you go, "Oh my God, yeah. I remember, yeah.” And it takes you back to people that you knew in that time period. So, really, I was shocked by how different that time period actually is because it just feels that long ago.

Thank you guys very much. I appreciate the time and congrats on season three, have a great day.

Branden: Thank you.

Spencer: Hey, thanks, Jake. Hope you feel better, man.