ANOTHER DYNAMIC DUO . . . IN ONE ACTOR WITH POSSESSION



It was a long, tough process finding the right actor to play Roman, a character of polar opposites, and Sarah Michelle Gellar remembers how glad everyone was when they found the perfect "Roman" in Lee Pace to play in Possession movie. "You have this really bad guy, a criminal, and you have this man born of nothing but love and caring and willing to give up everything for the person he loves – and one actor has to play both parts in the Possession movie," recalls Gellar. "A lot of times we screened actors and he'd have the Roman character right but the Ryan character wrong, or vice versa. But Lee straddled that line so easily and brilliantly. He’d play Roman at the beginning of the day and Ryan by the end of the day, switching effortlessly between the characters." While his performance in Possession may have appeared effortless, Pace worked tirelessly on getting his "characters" just right. He began his research for Roman by spending a night in a prison. "I saw people booked and arraigned and that whole process, which was great because that's the character that Jess meets when she first has contact with Roman," says Pace. "She would have met a guy who just had an awful night in jail, getting his mug shot taken and feeling that desperate, beaten-down sense of helplessness." But Roman isn't just a bad guy who's taken the wrong path. He's also a very shrewd and cunning character who is actually very smart. "I think that the minute audiences see him, they recognize a certain kind of calculation in Roman, a hunger and a need," observes Pace. "Then when they meet Ryan, they see an artistic, loving and good-hearted soul who embraces life. It’s a great part because I get to play two different characters that are the complete antithesis of each other – especially in how they are able to love. Ryan loves being in love and he's good at it. Roman, on the other hand, has real difficulty with love and a consuming need for aggression against it." While the character Ryan, played by Landes, is a sculptor in the film, it was Pace who ended up being the resident artist on set. His first foray with clay was while preparing to film one of his workshop scenes and it turned out he was a natural. "In between shots, Lee would go into a corner with a little piece of clay, and he’d sculpt amazing things," remembers Sandquist. "It’s very much a part of Lee’s process," adds Bergvall. "He goes very deep and tries to experience whatever the character goes through, which is why he went to prison to find his character. So when it came time for him to parody Ryan's sculpting ability, Lee really wanted to go through all the motions and literally get his hands dirty in the workshop and make creations of his own." In fact, a bust of a horse which Roman works on in the Possession film was actually sculpted by Pace. Still, the actor is rather modest about his newly-developed talent. "There was clay on set and I picked some up and started playing with it because I was going to imitate what Michael does, and while I wouldn’t say it was easier than I thought, I did find clay to be really interesting stuff," recalls Pace. "You can just work it into a face by thinking about bone structure. It found the process to be really meditative." Pace also took pains to make his on-screen relationship as authentic as possible, insisting that you can’t "fake" falling in love. "You really have to do it, especially in a love story like this that is so intimate and serene," says Pace. "You really have to find a connection, to actually try to fall in love, and I must say it was a pleasure to fall in love with Sarah. She’s inspiring, fun and lively. It was easy to go there. It isn’t always easy, but with her it was great." No doubt audiences that go to see the Possession movie will feel the chemistry between Roman and Jess as well . . . especially when Roman becomes Ryan. It's a nuance in the tone of the film that was a big challenge for Pace, but also for the two men who were directing him. "Two brothers end up in comas, and when one awakes, he insists he is the other – it's a very fine line, creating the possibility of brothers switching souls, and the concept had to remain plausible for the story to work," says Bergvall. "But that's exactly the kind of challenging movie we love making. If we did it right – and I believe we did – it's because the actors all did such a spectacular job walking that fine line in Possession. They met the challenge in each and every scene." Gellar notes how complicated it was to work with all of the intricacies that made up the complex plot. "The Possession movie is a beautiful story, and to make it work, we picked apart each second of screen time," she remembers. "We had to make sure that each moment worked so that later, when those moments came up again, one could understand what happened and why it happened and what was really going on. As actors, we really had to pay attention – there was no slacking off on this film!"

Be sure and see the Possession movie which opens in theaters in March.

For more information about the Possession movie visit our other links. The Movie    Possession Movie    Directing Possession    PossessionMovie    New Movie

Possession Movie is produced by Yari Film Group



See the official Possession movie trailer at www.possessionmovie.com

Also visit www.theaccidentalhusbandmovie.com for news about The Accidental Husband movie which also opens in theaters in March

Official website for the movie Possession