RORSCHACH TEST
Lee Pace on Thirst Traps, Galactic Rule, and What It’s Like to Be 6’5”
Lee Pace wears Shirt by Acne Studios (worn throughout).
“It’s like we took the first season and added diesel to it,” says the actor Lee Pace from his hotel in Prague, about the second season of Apple TV+’s Foundation, loosely based on the works of Isaac Asimov. The 44-year-old Texan dialed in from a cozy couch with a breathtaking view of the European city. As we spoke last week (prior to the announcement of the SAG strike), he panned his device around the room while pointing out some of the city’s bridges. It’s that welcoming energy that Pace has injected into an array of eclectic characters in both film, television, and theater. From fantastical sagas featuring hobbits (The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies) to quirky and inquisitive men (Pushing Daisies), and even the 2018 Broadway revival of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America (in which Pace played the closeted right-wing lawyer, Joe Pitt), Pace has displayed his talents across mediums and genres. With each project he reveals new layers; in last year’s Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, opposite Rachel Sennott, he showed off his comedic chops to deliciously chaotic effect. So, to honor his range, we subjected Pace to our juicy Rorschach Test, in which he sounded off on a number of semi-random topics, including but not limited to sex scenes, galactic rule, thirst traps, first dates, cowboys, and the Supreme Court.
———
THE SUPREME COURT
“[Laughs] The Bad News Bears.”
———
BEING 6’5”
“Bumps on the head. I run into things all the time. I probably hit my head once a day. That’s the part of being tall that people don’t talk about.”
———
FIGHTING NAKED
“Everyone should try it at least once. We shot [the naked fight scene in the first episode of Foundation] for three days. But we rehearsed it for months. I worked with the stunt guys and we perfected the moves. And I found that part of it really enjoyable. I love learning something new, and I got to work with real experts on how to choreograph that fight. And it’s like a dance; a violent dance, but you want to do it in such a way that no one gets hurt.”
———
ISAAC ASIMOV
“OG Space Daddy.”
———
THEATER BFAs
“A trade school.”
———
MARRIED LIFE
“Wonderful. It’s the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
———
LEG DAY
“I’ll tell you this: I was on my way to the gym about a week ago and I saw these two men. One of them was in a wheelchair and he was being pushed by another man. It was a very, very hot day and they caught my eye. I had my workout and did a few other things, and then I saw them again on the opposite side of town. They were both drenched in sweat. And Prague is a beautiful city, there’s nothing better to do here than just roam around. And I’ve been thinking about them ever since, how lucky they both are. One of them is so lucky to have a good friend to push them around this beautiful city. And the other one is lucky to love someone so much. I mean, the place where I spotted them later in the day was miles away from where I had seen them earlier. And I thought, ‘God, what lucky men.'”
———
COWBOY BOOTS
“What’s that Willie Nelson song? [Pace sings] Mama don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys / Don’t let ’em pick guitars and drive them old trucks/ Make ’em be doctors and lawyers and such. I love Willie Nelson. I saw him live at this outdoor arena right outside Austin and it was everything you could ever imagine. Everyone sang along. He’s a hero. A true original. Willie fucking Nelson.”
———
BEING IN YOUR 40s
“Well, I’m only listening to Bob Dylan and the Beatles these days. So that should give you a sense of how it’s going.”
———
GALACTIC RULE
“I will refer you to the Hainish Cycle series by Ursula K. Le Guin. She creates this world where there are these planets that were once part of an empire, but it has all since fallen apart. She’s interested in people and cultures in different, completely unique settings. And she has this world that’s founded on consent, respect, and spiritual patience. It’s not laser guns and spaceships.”
———
GAY VILLAINS
“Oh, I can’t. I don’t have anything.”
———
THIRST TRAPS
“I love the way the internet has developed its own language, and ‘thirst trap’ so perfectly describes that phenomenon.”
———
SUMMER IN NYC
“Sexy.”
———
SHORT KINGS
“Absolutely! I don’t know. [Thumbs up]”
———
FIRST DATES
“I’m married now, so I don’t understand dating anymore. When I look back, I remember that it was nice just to meet someone new and really look at them and be like, ‘Are we going to have a relationship? What’s going to happen now?'”
———
YOUR DMs.
“I never go to them. It’s a big mystery.”
———
PUSHING DAISIES
“What a cast, what a writer, what a character, what a world. It was a thrilling time in my life.”
———
FIVE-INCH SEAMS
“I mean, comfort. They’re the best.”
———
WOODWORKING
“I miss it. I haven’t had a big project in a long time. I built my house upstate and I carved a timber frame, basically. So for an entire summer, I was by myself in the woods designing and chiseling out these pieces. My hands were all covered in scars. Looking back, I might have used gloves, but you want to feel the pressure you’re putting on the chisel. You want to feel the wood, the angle that you’re carving at.”
———
PROVINCETOWN
“The most beautiful beach, the most beautiful grasslands. There’s four different kinds of beach around Provincetown. And what a privilege to be on the East Coast and be able to see the sunset over the water. It’s the best.”
———
RACHEL SENNOTT
“Genius, genius, genius.”
———
FAST FOOD
“Irresistible. When I’m on a road trip, I’ll hit them all. Let’s get Taco Bell at about 10:00, and then we’ll slide up to a McDonald’s at a truck stop around 2:30. Let’s just really sit here, listen to music, and go for it.”
———
SEX SCENES
“I’ve had sex scenes with a lot of really great friends, so I’ve had nothing but good experiences with them. I’ve been lucky to be very friendly with a lot of the people I’ve had the privilege to have a sex scene with.”
————
Groomer: Jillian Halouska
