‘Poker Face’: Tim Blake Nelson on His Epic Racing Rivalry in Episode 7

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Poker Face, Season 1, Episode 7, “The Future of the Sport.”]

Poker Face delivers another fascinating tale with its latest installment, “The Future of the Sport,” which takes an unconventional deviation from previous episodes.

Unlike the installments that came before it, no one dies in the story, which follows a rivalry between two racecar drivers that takes a near-fatal turn. Playing the seasoned vet, Keith Owens, is Tim Blake Nelson, who has a beef with the young Davis McDowell (Riverdale‘s Charles Melton). The episode starts off with a race in which Davis knocks Keith off the track, but instead of hanging up his hat, Keith promises he’ll continue on in the sport despite previous promises to his daughter Katy (Jasmine Aiyana Garvin) that he’d pass the reigns to her.

The reveal leads to a tense moment on the tracks between Keith and Davis, which sets off a domino effect. Ultimately, Keith decides to tamper with Davis’ car, but he’s unaware Davis sees him sneaking into the garage. Upon realizing what Keith has done, Davis further tampers with the car, particularly the seatbelts. When their next race day comes, Keith watches as Davis’ car spins out and crashes, but moments later, he learns his daughter Katy was the one behind the wheel. While she’s seriously injured, Katy does survive, but Keith must live with his choices that almost killed her. And although Davis doesn’t get into serious trouble for knowingly allowing Katy to get hurt, Charlie shakes up his racing mojo in a serious way. Below, Nelson opens up about his layered role in the episode, reuniting with Natasha Lyonne, and more.

(Credit: Peacock)

How did you get involved with the project, and what interested you about playing Keith?

Tim Blake Nelson: I did the show originally because of Natasha. I directed Natasha years ago in a film called The Grey Zone. Then we acted together in a film called My Suicidal Sweetheart (a.k.a. Crazy for Love). I’ve been an abiding friend to Natasha for almost 25 years now. We leap at the chance to work together whenever possible. It happens seldom. And then when you add into the mix that I could be a part of the Rian Johnson world, it was a situation in which I would’ve played, uh, a doctor, a lawyer, or a thief. And then I love cars and racing.

Speaking of racing, was there any special preparation involved in playing a driver like Keith?

Yes. I had to learn the car, and you have to look like you’re adept at what you do. If you’re playing somebody who’s a professional at a certain activity or task. And so yes, it did take some research, and it’s the simple stuff that gets you, like getting in and out of the car when the car has no door. And making it look like you’ve done it 10,000 times weirdly takes a measure of practice. Also, putting on the harness and the way that you move when the car is taking a turn, all of those little details to which an actor is responsible when they take on a part. Luckily I had really good advisors who were encouraged by me to tell me if anything seemed even slightly amiss in terms of simple behavior. As for driving the car and doing my own stunts, I do believe that the director and maybe even the producer would’ve allowed it, but there was no way the insurance company would’ve.

What is Keith’s motivation for staying in the racing game? Is it more about proving to himself that he can win or about defeating Davis in particular?

As an actor, you advocate for your character. So I like the reason he gives his own daughter, which is he’s protecting their brand. And whether there’s darker stuff, motivating what he projects is the reason underneath, I don’t know, but I have to believe at the moment he believes he holds the conviction of his words, which is to say, I’m doing what’s right for not only me but for you. Because if I go out on top, then when you start to race, you’ll start out with more authority and standing,

(Credit: Peacock)

Did Keith mess with Davis’ car with the hope of seriously harming him, or was it meant to scare his competitor more than anything?

I think he wants to harm his competitor because of what his competitor has done to him. What’s beautiful about the episode is that nothing happens without its antecedent. In the initial race, had Davis not transgressed against racing etiquette, and then had he not, on top of that, taunted me after I’ve taunted him? I think that he’s initially motivated by something very human, which is his uncontrollable pride having been wounded. And so he wants to get back at the younger driver.

Keith fesses up to his actions. Is it because Charlie caught him, or is it really stemming from a guilty conscious?

I think it’s contrition. He can’t live with himself without admitting what it is he did, but he has no choice but to confess, or he’s not gonna be able to get on with his life. His conscience gets the better of him.

In this scenario, is Davis the worse person? He knows Katy could potentially die in the car after he further tampered with it.

I think everyone in this episode is human. It’s almost Greek in its construction. Oedipus doesn’t know it’s his father that he killed. Keith doesn’t know that when he sets out to hurt Davis that ultimately, he’s nearly going to kill his daughter. It’s a tragic narrative trajectory where a character’s fragility leads to a deeper wounding of himself and those he loves. I bet you never thought I’d get from an episode of Poker Face all the way back to Sophocles [Laughs].

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You mentioned working with Natasha in the past; what was it like getting to share the screen with her in this show and face off against Charlie?

The best actors make it easy for one another, right? And Natasha makes it easy for her scene partners because there’s so much going on that if you let go of all your plans and simply respond to her as a scene partner, you’re gonna find truths in your performance that are deeper than anything you imagined was gonna happen.

It’s kind of funny— in Poker Face —Charlie, a self-professed lie detector, almost plays the role you did in Watchmen as Looking Glass. Did it feel like a reversal of roles?

It was indeed a complete reversal of what I was asked to do in Watchmen with Natasha as the Looking Glass character. Right. And with me as the perp. So yeah, that was pretty interesting. I felt like I was a specimen with a pin in its thorax, and Natasha’s character was just watching me flail my legs around.

Poker Face, New Episodes, Thursdays, Peacock