My Monday Morning: Lee Pace

0:00I'm Lee Pace and this is my Monday morning. Hey, I'm Lane Floreshime and this is a show where I talk to people who are great at what they do about the routines and rituals that keep them going. Today, I'm talking with actor Lee Pace. You might know him from cult favorites like the Fall or as a villain in the Marvel Universe or even as an Elven King in the Hobbit. This Fall, he started alongside two beloved witches, Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman in Practical Magic 2. For his Monday morning, Lee told me about spotting witches in real life, tending to his garden, and of course, how he starts his week. We'll get into it right after the break. Your first credit, at least on IMDb, is law and order SVU.

1:10And you play a bad guy behind bars. We call it the New York City Yearbook because all the actors in New York do law and order law and order SVU at some point. No, it's like the quintessential first credit, right? Perfect. But I was wondering, do you remember when you got that call that you got the part, what it was like being on that set and being grilled by Bunsen and Staubler? I knew nothing. I mean, I actually knew nothing. I remember Mariska Hargote, who was so sweet. I worked for half a day. It was the first time I was really in front of a camera. I was so new to it. And she kind of crouched so that her eye line was close to the lens. And I was like, why is she standing like that? Why is she doing that crazy thing? I realize now that it was just to kind of keep my eyes close to the lens. So I could see when I was doing better. But yeah, it was overwhelming. And yeah, I remember it. There are so many days on set that I don't remember, but I remember that one.

2:10Yeah. In general, what's the best part of playing a bad guy or a villain? I mean, it's fun. It's just there's a kind of creative fun to it. And I think the audience has a good time with the heel, right? Yeah, definitely. And the worst that I am, the more fun I think people are having. So it's perverse, but I'm into it. And you're about to star in Practical Magic 2 when the first time that the audience sees your character Ian Wright, he's unconscious and unclothed under a spell. What else can you share about him? I mean, the day I shot that, that was also the first thing that I shot on the movie. And it began with kind of laying there with my eyes closed. And I hear Sandra Bullock and the Kidmans, Nicole Kidmans voice kind of entering the room talking.

3:10And they both have such, I mean, memorable voices, but beautiful. Like the sound of their voices are so hypnotic. So I was laying there just thinking, I cannot believe I'm about to have this experience. Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, like doing a spell on me. Yeah, that is wild. Yeah, wild. They're so good at what they do. And so I mean to watch Sandra Bullock put together the comedy of what characters could it do is not something I understand really how to kind of construct the timing of a bit like that. So it was fun to watch her work, but I learned a lot watching her be creative in this way and skilled. Fiend in a movie about which is do you have any superstitions? I don't really have superstitions, but I suppose I'm I guess aware of the fact that

4:17I mean, I can spot a witch. Oh, yeah, definitely. Because when you just encounter someone who has a magic about them and there's lots of different kinds of witches, obviously there's a witch that can put a spell on you and you find yourself doing things that they want you to do without making that choice for yourself. And then there are witches that I've known that just open up experiences for you that you would that are magical. You know, the timing of them works out in a way of like how did this happen? You know, how did this? I mean, both Sandra and Nicole both have very good witch elements about them. So I suppose that is I guess a magic that I'm I feel lucky that I've encountered. But they're a bad witch is do you know, tell me about some of those encounters.

5:17I mean, you don't want to talk about them because you don't want to get their key of a lie on you. Right. You know, that's a real thing. Sure. So even with the even with the bad ones, they're definitely like, okay, I'm going to protect myself. Well, I was also going to ask like, do you have any rituals in your own life like either around acting or other elements of your life? I mean, as far as acting goes, every every movie is different, every director is different, every character is different. So I don't have a very rigid way of approaching it. I went to a drama school that kind of teaches you a lot of tools that it's like sometimes that, okay, well, that's a way to think about this and figure out a way into the character. And when I've done a play, the warm up is a ritual. Yeah. It's just to go out on the stage and, you know, stretch, get your voice together, think about like what the hell is going to happen tonight.

6:19Because when you're when it's just you and the audience, it's, I mean, George C. Wolf, a director I worked with who I, you know, I learned so much from you, such a master. He said that theater is the actors revenge because there's no director editing what you're doing. The timing is yours. And you know, those great stage actors talk about like casting a spell. They can get all of the people in that house, you know, leaning forward and feeling the same thing at the same time. And that's those moments when you can kind of feel that happening from up on the stage. I mean, it's not to sound too corny, but it's more like church than theater. It really does feel like a magical thing that happens. So that's obviously the goal and, you know, the warm up. Yeah. I think helps you think, okay, this is what is about to happen. I'm in a stand on that stage. I mean, I need to move in a way that they see my whole body.

7:22And I want my voice to be prepared to communicate what I needed to communicate. Do you have a dreamer all you haven't played yet? Dreamer all. Do you know, when I was in school, I did a scene where I played a dog. And I think about that from time to time. And I think it would be because I played elves and vampires and, you know, alien warlords. Alien warlords. I do a lot of that kind of thing. So one thing I have not done is an animal. So I don't know if there's, you know, a rollout there for me where I can play like really out of human. Yeah. After the break, Lee gets into his Monday morning routine. So what time do you usually get up on a Monday and what's the first thing you do after getting

8:22out? Well, I guess I wake up at about 6.37 and lay there for about 30 minutes and worry about things. And then I get up and start the day, make the coffee. Well, that was my next question. What do you do for coffee and breakfast? I make a mocha. So one of those stove top, be a lady, things. And I make kind of a big one. It's about, it says for like six people, six cups. So it's a pretty strong coffee. And I don't really do it for the caffeine because I don't notice the caffeine in coffee. It's just the ritual of it. It's like, I can't imagine starting my day without this big, strong coffee. Are you drinking all six cups? Yeah. Nice. Yeah. And we always ask about workout routine in this column. And I'm particularly excited to talk to you about this because I know that you just wrapped shooting the fourth season of foundation and in it you play a different clone of the

9:22same emperor character and not only that, but you give the character a different body each season working with your trainer. So I wanted to ask about that process and just, you know, what did that look like this time and how does that compare to your normal workout routine? Well, Monday is Chester. Okay. So you kind of start the week with, you know, the bench press, all the chest exercises so you can get the pump. So I always look forward to Chester because it takes some days off. And well Saturdays too mostly. So it's a fun way to start the workouts for the week. And during foundation, yeah, working on is a big part of preparing the character. I love Ian Benson, who is the trainer that I work with on this show. We've been working together on foundation since day one. And not only is he just like a really good person, smart and knowledgeable about what we're

10:24trying to achieve and in it for the long haul, which, you know, it takes a lot of discipline and effort to change your body. And but we just laugh a lot and we can spend an hour and a half gossiping. That's going to work out. And I like it relaxing workout. I don't want to, I want to lift a lot of weight, but I also don't want to get angry. Yeah. You know, I see guys in the gym just get so mad. No, thanks. And I have to ask what's the hair care routine? What's the secret? I don't really give a lot of thought to that. I don't, I only kind of cut my hair if I'm working, but I'm, you know, I've usually got a pretty messy head of hair. So that requires no maintenance. I believe you live upstate on a farm part of the time.

11:25Do you have routines around that? Like are you feeding animals or spending a lot of time outside or? Well, I mean, you are, the only animals that keep our chickens because I don't have good fences and they would get out. So in a dog, but what are my routines? It's more like gherly routines because you do different things with the garden at different times in a year. I have these paths that I maintain all through the farm and, you know, you have to mow them. I've got a tractor with a brush hog and because I don't mow it with like a finished mower. I just mow it so we can run around and get access to the property because I like the way the meadows look when they're wild, especially this time of year because, you know, late August and the September, the golden rod kicks off and it's like, I've got, you know, a big wild meadow. You know, it's probably about 10 acres, this particular meadow. And when I have nice paths mowed through it, I mean, it's like one of the coolest things

12:31that the farm does throughout the year. It's magical. Yeah, it's so nice. And then, you know, there's different chores during the winter, obviously. You can print the trees and stuff. So it's more, I guess, the routines are that way. I like to plant trees. So I have a lot of trees on the property. And as the years have gone by, it's been incredibly rewarding watching them grow. I planted this big circle of maple trees and it's about 20 trees. So it's really big and they've almost tripled in size. So now the center of it is, you know, this great shady spot. It's one of my favorite places on the farm. Yeah. Do you spend a lot of, do you read there or anything? We just kind of walk through it. Just kind of walk through the nights. How do you think about balancing work in life? Like what do you do to relax or find calm? I find a lot of calm swimming because it's really, I mean, if you swim for an hour, you're

13:34exhausted, which is a nice feeling. And it's quiet. So finding quiet, I think, is a calming thing. Do you doom scroll? Yeah, I have my moment. It's the worst, isn't it? Yeah. It's just the opposite of swimming for an hour. No, it's like getting yourself wound up about nothing actually. It's like nothing that you have any control over. You're being bombarded with things that are going to agitate you. And you can't stop. Why do we do it? It's the worst. Like, that's one thing that happens on set that I really, it's like I stopped bringing my phone to set because you end up having some downtime and you want to kind of knock, you know, knock your brain away from. Yeah. And you get there and it's just a bunch of crap. Right. It probably really takes you out of the focus of it all. Yeah. So I guess my algorithm just gives me absurd things.

14:36Like lately, I get a lot of these AI, very dramatic AI cat videos or absolutely, like they're so dumb. But they're actually so funny. Yeah. And what's a piece of advice you've gotten that's guided you or been important to you in life? I forget who gave it to me. And not my pick, not my farm, which is basically to say, that's not my business. Yeah. That's not my business. Good advice. Well, thank you so much for joining us for My Monday Morning. This was really fun having you and thank you so much. I enjoyed talking to you. Thank you. Thank you. My Monday Morning is part of the journal, which is a co-production of Spotify Studios and The Wall Street Journal. I'm Lane Floreshime and we'll be back next Sunday with another episode of My Monday Morning. Follow us on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts and follow me on Instagram,

15:39at Lane Floreshime for more behind the scenes stuff from My Monday Morning and to let me know what you think of the show. This episode was produced by Jeevik Averma and edited by Catherine Brewer and Sarah Platt, video production by Nathan Singapak, original music by Nathan Singapak. Thanks so much for joining us.