A big slice of nice pie - Lee Pace Interview
As Pushing Daisies begins airing in Malaysia, here’s a press account of an interview the Malaysian writer did with actor Lee Pace…
A SUPPOSEDLY formal press interview with actor Lee Pace turns into an instantly friendly 20-minute chat – Pace is just that kind of guy.The American star of Pushing Daisies is in Sydney, Australia, in February when we meet. Dressed head to toe in black, the tall actor exudes warmth and a laidback personality that, at times, seems a little bewildered and uncomfortable at being the centre of attention.
Actually, if you want to know what Pace is like in person, all you have to is watch Pushing Daisies. Pace is just like the character he plays, Ned: a tad shy, very nice, and an all-round good guy.
“I can’t bring dead things back to life with a touch,” Pace points out one major difference. “(But) I would say he’s a lot like me actually.”
Well, it makes sense: Daisies creator Bryan Fuller wrote Ned with Pace in mind, after all.
Pace was well on his way to making his mark in showbiz even before Daisies, if his resume is any indication: he started in an off-Broadway production a month before graduating from the prestigious performing arts school, Julliard, in New York, and followed that feat up by giving amazing performances in productions like 2003’s TV movie Soldier’s Girl (in which he plays a woman!) and in 2006’s Robert De Niro-directed movie, The Good Shepherd.
He didn’t, he admits, see himself committing to a television series, though.
Fuller had asked Pace to read the Pushing Daisies script for the pilot; Pace’s interest was caught by the excellent writing and he thought that Ned was a character that he could play.
“I called Bryan to say congratulations, and he was like ‘I wrote it with you in mind. Would you please do it?’ It felt really good.
“Although, I don’t know how I should feel about a character who brings dead things back to life and makes pies being written for me,” he says, eyes twinkling – and at that point his eyebrows go up a little, uncreasing the deep line between his eyebrows.
That line might be stress, we realise. The 29-year-old, it seems, is at his busiest right now. Besides the long hours filming Daisies, he took a role in the film Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day (learning to play the piano for his role) opposite Amy Adams and Frances McDormand, and co-stars with Sarah Michelle Geller in yet-to-be-released horror movie Possession.
But TV is different from all that….
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Lee Pace, Pushing Daisies, Pushing Daisies in Malaysia
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