LOS ANGELES _ Actors rarely get the chance to see into the future when they sign on for a television series that could run for years. That changes with a short-run offering like "Liar," set to debut on Sept. 27 on SundanceTV. The six-episode series looks at what happens when a school teacher (Joanne Froggatt), who's in the throws of a breakup, agrees to go on a date with a surgeon (Ioan Gruffudd). What starts as a beautiful evening ends in accusations of rape.
The question that runs through each episode is whether the assault was real or not.
Both actors knew the answer before filming started and the major task that fell to them was how to play the characters so that the audience would not know what had really transpired that night until the end. For Froggatt and Gruffudd, that meant creating the right amount of ambiguity in their performances.
"We have to have the audience find out who is lying. We had to sort of triple check every decision, I think, on set," Froggatt tells television critics. "We were thinking with the flashbacks, OK, this actually changes something if I move this from there to there and that to there.
"And, also, performance wise, there are certain scenes that I was playing where obviously I play the truth of what my character was doing and thinking and feeling. You can never play for an audience's reaction, because then in my opinion you're not in the right job. But we certainly had to decide what the audience needed to see."
She points to a scene where one of her students is reading horrible things on social media about the teacher. Froggatt knew the truth but played the role without giving too much away.
Jack Williams, and his brother, Harry, creators of "Liar," wrote the scripts so everyone has their own version of the truth.
Williams says: "Both Joanne and Ioan's characters seemed very deeply to believe what they are saying. But I think it felt important in the mix to have something that can be objective and can step outside that, and just give us brief slivers of insight into what really happened. We can trust those, in so far as what they show us, we can believe it. We're not trying to trick you, in that sense."
Froggatt reveals that during the filming, very different emotional responses were shot so that when the final product was put together, the director could make sure that enough information was being revealed without giving away the ending.
Gruffudd was equally enthralled by the challenges of the role and the script. For him, it was a matter of making the character both very distinct and very vague.
"I think it's very important that we believe Andrew in return, and that he's charming. He's a father. He is a widower. He's a pillar of the community, a great surgeon," Gruffudd says. "And, of course, he is an ambiguous character, and there is something behind that veneer that is slightly disturbing.
"So I think for me, personally, it was an incredible opportunity to play this kind of part. It's a part I've been itching to play for many, many years. But I've either been too young or been perceived in a certain way. So now it's an opportunity to step into these roles, and now that I'm in my 40s and my skin has weathered somewhat and I have a bit of weight and gravitas to play this character."
The roles Gruffudd has been more associated with range from performance as Reed Richards in two "Fantastic Four" films to his short-lived network series "Forever." Although Froggatt has appeared in a variety of different productions in recent years, she's most closely connected to playing Anna Smith (and eventually Anna Bates) on "Downton Abbey."
Even during an interview to talk about "Liar," the topic of the British series is broached.
"We had a fabulous time in 'Downton,' and I'm very lucky to be able to have been a part of something that's so beloved by people. It will always have a special place in my heart. But I guess all good things must come to an end. And it's nice to be able to do different projects as an actress, and do a mixture of things," Froggatt says.
"Liar" features some similar themes that she faced while on "Downton Abbey" but "Liar" is set in present day. Froggatt jokes that one things she loved about "Liar" was that she didn't have to wear a long black dress, a frequent look for her on "Downton Abbey."
Froggatt does see a link between her role in "Liar" and her work on "Downton Abbey."
"Anna is a strong woman for her time. And so is Laura, in 'Liar' in a very, very different ways. But what struck me having the experience in 'Downton' was how lucky I am to be a woman living in this day and age, and in this part of the world and having the freedom I have," Froggatt says. "Being able to have a wonderful husband who I chose because I love, and also a wonderful career that I also love, and being able to have all of those things, which in so many places across the world is not possible for women.
"And Laura, in 'Liar' is kind of the perfect example of that. She is this woman that's modern and she's single minded and she's determined and she is very confident in her decisions. And she's educated and she knows her mind. She has all these options and she's going to take all of them that are of use to her. So very interesting to compare the times."
