Credit; fanpop
He is an Elven King, a pie-maker with special powers, a Kree radical, a bandit… he is Lee Pace and he is 1000% incredible.
It’s no secret that here at 4YE we love to talk about our favourite actors, and we are pro-fangirling, as long as respect is not forgotten. And really, who doesn’t love a bit (or a lot) of Lee Pace?
Jamie and I recently took the tough mission of listing the Top 5 roles of this talented actor, and after much deliberation, tears, feels, more tears, and the oh sweet sacrifice of re-watching series and movies, we finally made it. Now it’s your turn to be overcome by the wave of feels with our list of Top 5 Lee Pace roles.
1. Ned the Piemaker.
Ahhh, Ned the pie-maker. Like many other people, Pushing Daises was my Lee Pace gateway drug. I watch Pushing Daisies and I just feel…good. Now, Ned is by no means a “perfect” guy. He wakes pies and makes the dead – er, makes pies and wakes the dead. It’s that second part that can be of concern. I think using people’s murders to make money might fall in a moral gray area, don’t you? Also in a moral gray area is waking your childhood crush from the dead and letting her live, knowing full well someone else will have to die if you do. Somehow, despite all the murder, Pushing Daisies is probably the happiest show I have ever seen. And that is due in no small part to the adorableness that is Ned. I don’t think there’s ever been another character like him. He’s kind and sweet and loves his boyhood dog.
Ned the pie-maker is our number one choice mainly because of his innocence and good heart. I mean… The man makes pies, and we all know pies are happiness (or, as he once said: “pie is home”), he solves crimes with his magic finger, he loves his dog Digby and he has some of the most epic and quotable lines ever. Seriously, this character is gold.
I just want to take his face in my hands and admire his cuteness. And then eat some pie.
Take Lee Pace’s beautiful face, his voice (did you know everytime he talks, an angel gets its wings?) and the innocence of Ned and you will have, first, one of the best characters in the history of television, and second, a serious case of feels and Lee Pace fever. You are welcome.
While Pushing Dasies makes us super happy, it also makes us incredibly sad that it ended abruptly. But here’s to hoping Bryan Fuller will make it up to us with a movie or a musical (or both!).
Credit: kingleepace.tumblr
2. Thranduil.
Thranduil, son of Oropher, Elven king of the Woodland Realm and father of Legolas; also known as the sassiest being in Middle Earth and known in the depths of tumblr as “party king/dad Thranduil”. Really, there couldn’t have been a better casting choice than that of Lee as Thranduil. He is tall as an elf, he is beautiful, he has that poise necessary for an elven king… And it’s Lee, simple as that.
In the first Hobbit film we only got about two minutes of Thranduil’s greatness but thank the geek lords and specifically thanks to Peter Jackson, in Desolation of Smaug we finally saw Thranduil in his sassy awesomeness, and a part of me died when I saw Lee in full Elven King costume, with that long blonde wig, the king jewelry, the crown and those perfect (oh so perfect!) eyebrows of his.
For the third film, The Battle of the Five Armies, we will see Thranduil in battle-mode. That’s right: Lee Pace in armor, long blonde wig, battle crown and a sword, slaying some orcs and wargs.
I’m not sure if my heart is ready for that but my body certainly is. Just give me that movie. I need it.
Credit: thranduilings.tumblr
3. Calpernia
Lee’s film career started off on the right foot in 2003 with Soldier’s Girl, a Canadian-American drama produced by Showtime. Judging by the title, you might think Lee played a soldier or something… But no, it was even better: he portrayed Calpernia Addams, a transgender woman who starts dating soldier Barry Winchell (Troy Garity) and eventually falls in love.
Not only is he a better looking woman than me (I’m not kidding: Lee as a woman looks so freaking beautiful!), but it was the very first taste we got of his outstanding acting skills.
It’s no secret that portraying someone of the opposite genre is a difficult task, as you have to keep it as respectful and real as possible, so portraying a transgender woman for your very first film and doing it with such respect, grace and beauty as Lee did is definitely worth mentioning and watching.
This role gave Lee the 2003 Gotham Award in the category of “Breakthrough”, and nominations for the 2004 Golden Globes, Independent Spirit Awards and Satellite Awards, and of course it gave me a serious case of feels, lots of tears and the urge to hug Calpernia and make her pain go away.
The only thing that might make you feel off balance is the absence of Lee’s strong eyebrow game but it’s ok, he still looks perfect.
Not bad for his first role, don’t you think?
Credit: brycepinkham.tumblr
4. Ronan the Accuser
The movie of the summer is inarguably Guardians of the Galaxy, and the lead baddie was none other than our Lee Pace. As Ronan the Accuser, aka Angry Smurf, Lee killed it. There was a perfect balance of genuine terror and cheesy excess with Ronan, which fit in with James Gunn’s vision perfectly. On the one hand we have the terrifying Kree maniac with a voice that rivals any fearsome villain bellow you’ve ever heard; and on the other hand we have the boy Thanos says has demeanor of “a pouty child” (cue Ronan actually pouting here).
There’s that deep fanaticism that has everyone in the galaxy running scared, but there’s also Ronan’s occasional cluelessness. I won’t spoil it for you, but one of Ronan’s very last moments is one of the funniest in the film. And that’s saying something. Ronan’s not only a great fit as a villain for this particular film, but he’s a great Marvel villain in general.
I’ll be honest; I’ve totally imagined Ronan and Loki being BFFs. The only issue might arise when Ronan wants to destroy a world and Loki wants to rule it, but they can cross that bridge when they get to it, right? Here’s hoping Marvel manages to bring him back for the sequel! I don’t know about you, but I love a good recurring villain. Oh, great, now I’m imagining Ronan trying to lead a Dalek army….
Credit: Tumblr
5. Joe McMillan.
Possibly the most underappreciated show of the past year has been AMC’s Halt & Catch Fire. I have to admit, right off the top, that the main character – Lee Pace’s Joe MacMillan – is basically Don Draper from another decade in a slightly different job. It’s distracting and a little off-putting for the first three or four episodes. There, I said it. But that does very little to detract from the performance Lee gives.
Now, personally, I felt very little sympathy for Mr. Draper (Team Betty all the way) but I can’t help adoring Joe. I find myself wondering, “Who hurt you?” Specifically I mean who hurt him emotionally, but I also wonder about the mysterious chest and torso scars Joe rocks. He has this quirky little habit of lying about it. But I digress here. Joe is one of my favorite Lee Pace roles because he’s just ever so complicated. At this point I don’t even know if I like him or loathe him, but I do know he draws me in and fascinates me. Who is he? You can watch every episode of Halt & Catch Fire and you still won’t know for sure.
There’s also the glaring difference from Don Draper in that Joe is completely consumed by his drive to essentially be the future. The future is computers, and Joe is hell-bent on getting there first. Evidently Steve Wozniak (of Apple) praised the show for getting that element of the times completely right, and Joe MacMillan is the embodiment of the race into the future. Aside from all of that, I’m not going to lie; I really appreciate AMC giving us loads of bare-chested and mid-coital Lee Pace. It would be remiss of me to sing the praises of Joe MacMillan without bringing that up.
Credit: leepace-daily.tumblr
SPECIAL MENTION: THE MASKED BANDIT.
If you haven’t watched The Fall, you are missing one of the greatest movies ever made. I’m not saying it just because it’s my favourite movie from all-time, but it really is a work of art in all possible ways. And guess who stars in it… that’s right, Mr. Lee Pace.
His role as Roy Walker/The Masked Bandit gives us so many feels, we cry just thinking about it.
Roy Walker is a stuntman who suffers an accident, leaving him paralysed from the waist down. When in the hospital, he meets a five-year old girl: Alexandria, and because I don’t want to give any important plot points away, I’m going to push you to watch it if you haven’t yet.
Roy is a sweet man but also an emotionally scarred one. You’ll basically feel the need to reach out to the screen and hug him because my God, he needs all the hugs in the world!
Plus, that costume looks, very, very good.
Credit: lucas31gif
Believe it or not, we had the hardest time writing about all these characters (and the gif-hunt was intense!) because we were overcome by the biggest wave of feels you can imagine. It’s all your fault, Lee: if you weren’t such a charming, beautiful, talented man, we wouldn’t have gone through this difficult task.
Remember we will see him once more as Thranduil in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies on December 17th and as Joe McMillan on the second season of Halt and Catch Fire.
Thank you for existing, Mr. Pace!
The post Lee Pace: The Definitive Top 5 Roles appeared first on 4 Your Excitement.