Nicholas Braun says he had to watch Return to Oz before stepping into The Sheep Detectives, because his character needed to know what he was talking about. “It’s pretty rough, right?” Braun said of the film, adding, “Wow. Yeah, I had to watch it so I knew what (my character) was talking about.”
The role puts Braun in the shoes of Tim Derry, an endearingly outmatched small-town cop in a film led by Hugh Jackman’s well-meaning shepherd George. Asked about the contrast between the two Oz-era stories, Braun said, “Ooh, well I definitely land on Wizard of Oz being much, much better than Return to Oz.” He also said he has not seen any Peter Sellers movies, another clue to just how specific the character’s references are.
Peter Gray interviewed Braun ahead of The Sheep Detectives’ release for The AU Review, and the conversation turned quickly from pop-culture homework to character psychology. Braun said the script makes plain who Tim is, what he wants and where he is headed, which gave him a map to follow even before filming. “The writing makes it clear who the character is, what the character is, and what the character’s journey is,” he said.
For Braun, that journey is built on something less comic than it first appears. He said he likes to approach every part dramatically and ask what human dilemma the character is dealing with, then drill down into what the person needs most. In Tim’s case, that means wanting people in town to believe in him and think he is capable. “How does Tim feel like he can matter more in this town?” Braun said. “How can he get people to believe in him and think he’s capable?”
That is what gives the role its weight. Tim is not just a local officer trying to keep up with a case; he is a man dealing with a lack of self-esteem, a lack of ego and, Braun said, “That loneliness of feeling like you’re not enough.” The film frames him as a cop who struggles to be taken seriously, and that insecurity becomes the center of the part rather than a side note.
That tension is what separates Tim from a simple comic type. He is working inside a story with a shepherd at the center and a debate over Return to Oz and The Wizard of Oz woven into the dialogue, but Braun’s performance appears to be grounded in the quieter question of whether a man can earn respect when he does not fully believe in himself. That makes Tim’s arc less about proving a joke and more about proving his place.
In the end, Braun’s description answers the question his role raises: Tim Derry is funny because he is vulnerable, and he matters because the film treats that vulnerability as the point.