MVP Of the Week: Lee Pace

Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:00 am

I’ve been a big fan of Lee Pace since I first saw him in “The Fall” and “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day.”  He has a rare sincerity and magnetism on screen and shows impressive range in creating remarkably vivid characters with just a gesture or a look.  This month, he appears in two high-profile movies. In “Lincoln,” he plays one of the President’s most outspoken opponents, Fernando Wood.  In “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2,” he plays a sinuous vampire who can tell stories about his days as a Revolutionary War soldier.

More Lee Pace:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRC_zw0q58Q

MVP Runner-up is Rami Malek, another vampire in “Breaking Dawn 2.”  He also appears in last month’s “The Master” as the son-in-law of the character played by Philip Seymour Hoffman.  I first noticed him as the regal but sweet young Pharaoh in “Night at the Museum” and I enjoyed his dim but sweet community college student in “Larry Crowne.”  He also co-starred in “The Pacific.”

Here he is with fellow “Twilight” star Jackson Rathbone in the sitcom “The War at Home.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Alq1cFCOYL8

 

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More From Comic-Con: “Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2” Panel

Posted on July 16, 2012 at 9:52 pm

It was the first last press conference when the cast of “Twilight” got together to talk to the fans and the press about the last episode and the journey that brought them to this moment.  Following their appearance at the enormous Hall H, with fans who had been camping out for days, the actors and author Stephanie Meyer met with the press.  Kristen Stewart told us about the transformation of her character, Bella, who has some major changes in store after she becomes both a vampire and a mother in the last moments of “Breaking Dawn, Part 1.”  She said her reaction to her new persona was, “I’m a sportscar; let’s break her in.  Even the way she walks into a room is different.”  As for filming the sex scene compared to the tender, if energetic honeymoon scene in the last one:  “We’re not even humans any more.  We tried and it was rated R, .  He was trying not to get his white paint on me and I was trying not to get my brown paint on him.”

Kellan Lutz talked about how his character, Emmett, has to battle Bella.  “To see the little things she would change was fun.”

They were all glad to be together again and enjoyed reminiscing about the earlier films.  Stephanie Meyer said that the first time she saw Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner they were in costume already and “they were all dressed up as my imaginary friends.”  They appreciated original director Catherine Hardwicke’s casting choices, and how well they held up as the actors had the unusual opportunity to create characters who have four times as long as the usual movie to explore their journeys.

When they made the first film, some of them were underage and they laughed that “we had some monitoring.”  The boys and girls stayed in different hotels. They laughed about their “cat classes” and said that like their characters, they felt they were surrounded by protectors, the cast and crew all looking out for them.  They especially enjoyed scenes where many characters were involved because “everyone has covers” (shooting the same thing over and over from different angles), so it meant they had more time together.  They laughed as they described the “dance-off” choreographed as a surprise treat for director Bill Condon by cast members Mia Maestro and Toni Trucks.  They were sentimental about the way “the fans have grown with us”

As for the last chapter, there are “a lot more vampires this time around.”  Jackson Rathbone says his character, Jasper, was “tweaked out, like a junkie going through withdrawal, but now gets more comfortable, more at ease.”  Nikki Reed said she finally got to smile — “a big deal! I look forward to having the audience root for Rosalie a little more.”  Ashley Greene says that Alice, always “lovable, friendly, upbeat, gets to act more vampire, gets more of an edge.”  Elizabeth Reaser said the events of the final film force Esme “into a different lifestyle.  She’s a pacifist forced to be a powerhouse.  She doesn’t have a choice; she has to betray her sense of herself in order to protect her family.”  Peter Facinelli laughed that the biggest change for him was instead of dying his hair blonde, he wore a wig.  And he joked about how much he will miss the woods–and the contact lenses.

Lautner said that in the final chapter it has” become less complicated.  Instead of a triangle, it’s a square.”  “No,” said Stewart, “it’s a perfect circle.”

 

 

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