Lee Pace names the greatest role of his career: “One that I’m uniquely proud of”
An underrated actor if there ever was one, the Bodies Bodies Bodies star Lee Pace has appeared in three of the most popular franchises of the 21st century and some critically acclaimed television, and will soon be returning to the big screen in Edgar Wright’s The Running Man, based on Stephen King’s novel, leading one to wonder what hidden gems there might be to unearth from his filmography.
Pace began his career in the early 2000s and soon won the 2003 Gotham Award for ‘Breakthrough Performer’ after starring in Soldier’s Girl, instantly becoming someone to watch out for. He then went on to star in Possession alongside Sarah Michelle Gellar, as well as The Fall and Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, before landing in the beloved comedy-drama Pushing Daisies in 2007, for which he earned an Emmy nomination in the ‘Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series’ category, while also featuring in films like Lincoln, Weathering with You, and Foundation.
He is a star of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy, playing the elf king Thranduil, the father of classic Lord of the Rings character Legolas (though Pace is ironically younger than Orlando Bloom), also making his way into the MCU’s Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain Marvel as Ronan the Accuser, and I personally enjoy his performance in the final installment of The Twilight Saga as one of the supporting characters who are far more interesting than the main cast, in this case, Garrett, a rogueish vampire who reminds you that he fought in the American Revolution about every 20 seconds.
With such a varied and heavy roster, it stands to question which of these titles is a highlight for Pace, regarding which he told the AV Club. “I will say one that I’m uniquely proud to have been a part of was Tarsem Singh’s The Fall. Looking back, I can’t believe my good fortune with that, because it was on that shoot that I really learned how to do this job. I hadn’t really done film before that; Soldier’s Girl was the first [TV] movie I was in. And then I went on to The Fall, which is shot in so many different countries.”
Also starring Catinca Untaru and Justine Waddell, the film is based on the 1981 Yo Ho Ho, written by Valeri Petrov, with the new screenplay being co-written by Andor’s director Dan Gilroy and Nico Soultanakis, with Pace starring as an injured stuntman who is bedridden at a hospital in the early 20th century, telling a young girl a series of fantastical adventure stories.
Premiering at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival, The Fall was a box office flop, grossing a little less than $4million worldwide, and after Harvey Weinstein reportedly walked out 15 minutes into it, he retracted the Weinstein Company’s interest in distributing it. However, as a film that investigates the very concept of storytelling, people have come to love it despite its mixed reviews, and for Pace, it was an invaluable learning experience when he was front and centre in a theatrical project, with many creatives he admired behind the camera.
“So many incredible artists working on that film, and Tarsem was just a great director to be on set with,” recalled Pace, adding, “I was so fresh when I did that. I didn’t really understand how the camera worked, back when I was shooting that. I think about that movie a lot now, and what a gift it was to be a part of that.”
