Lee Pace News

Lee Pace is sexually frustrated.

Well, his character of Ned is sexually frustrated, which makes perfect sense considering he can't touch the woman he loves. Here's what Pace had to say about that fact - and a bit more - in a recent interview with TV Guide:

TVGuide.com: Family seems to be a recurring theme this season— Emerson's, Chuck's… will we ever meet Ned's family, whether they be alive or dead at the moment?
Pace: You're absolutely right; family is a big issue this season, how what went on in their pasts has made them the people they are now. Later this season, Chuck and Olive take it upon themselves to find Ned's twin half-brothers, and they make life very complicated for Ned. But it's good for him. He's got a lot of problems, a lot of hang-ups that he's not particularly ready to confront. But… he does, and I think in every episode you see Ned take a step forward. It's all about making life complicated for Ned. Poor Ned!

TVGuide.com: Pushing Daisies is very quaint, very old-fashioned and innocent. But since Ned can't ever touch Chuck, will his sexual frustration ever become an issue?
Pace: Yes, I think so, for both of them. They've been together for over a year now, and it's getting complicated. Is this going to be it for the rest of their lives — spooning through plastic? I like that Bryan Fuller is tackling these things with them because it makes them more grown-up, that they actually do have a sex life.

Due to the writers' strike, fans of Pushing Daisies have been deprived of their favorite show for far too long.

Star Chi McBride recently admitted to USA Today that he's "concerned" about the potential disruptive effect of a new series being off the air for so long. He referred the newspaper to the effect of the long break on some top shows.

"The audience does not like to be fooled around with," McBride said. "You look at Grey's Anatomy's numbers when they came back — there was a huge drop-off. Eventually I think we can get them back, but these hiccups have got to stop."

Pushing Daisies won its time slot last fall, but ratings tapered late in its abbreviated run. How well viewers respond will, of course, determine the show's longevity. Like other second-chance series, it has just 13 episodes to prove itself anew, down from the 22 afforded most second-year shows.

"It's not for everyone," Lee Pace told the newspaper. "It's fairy tale-like, it's very romantic, it's very quirky. There's a very specific mark to hit with a squirrelly arrow. But luckily [creatpr Bryan Fuller's] got great taste."

Anna Friel and Lee Pace recently spoke to Sci-Fi Wire about the upcoming season of Pushing Daisies.

Here are some highlights from the interview:

On the season premiere: "The very first scene of the very first episode is in our beekeeper outfits," Frield said. "She gets her first-ever job at a honey factory, where she's a honey-bee girl."

On a future episode that focuses on nuns: "The nuns are really funny," Pace said. "Mo Collins plays the dead nun in the nunnery episode. She plays this trash-talking nun, and she's funny, funny, funny. In that episode, we're having a good time with the gumshoe-solving-crimes [genre].

Chi [McBride] was doing this real serious, kind of noir, kind of William Shatner [style of] acting. So I did a take where I was kind of making fun of him doing that. That's when he cracked up. I don't know if they'll use it in the episode, but I hope they do."

On episode four and frescorts: "Frescorts are friends for hire, which actually exists," Pace said. "David Arquette is our guest star in that episode. He's someone in need of a frescort. He knew the dead frescort, and he and Ned become really friendly because we're both misfits."

Remember: Pushing Daisies returns on October 1. We can't wait!

Pushing Daisies, sadly, did not earn a nomination for the 2008 Emmy Awards. But two of its stars garnered well-deserved nods in the categories of Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series and Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series.

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series

• Alec Baldwin - 30 Rock
• Tony Shaloub - Monk
• Lee Pace - Pushing Daisies
• Steve Carell - The Office
• Charlie Sheen - Two And A Half Men

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series

• Jean Smart - Samantha Who?
  
• Holland Taylor- Two And A Half Men
• Kristin Chenoweth - Pushing Daisies
• Vanessa Williams - Ugly Betty
  
• Amy Poehler - Saturday Night Live

When asked by E! News if there a moral lesson fans should take from a series on which the lovers don't sleep together, Lee Pace recently replied:

"That wasn't the intention. Some people in America have interpreted it like that, and I don't think it's a bad thing. These are two people who love each other very much and choose to be together even though they're never going to get drunk and sleep together.

It's not that show. I think it's kind of sexy that they can't touch. It's the longest foreplay ever."

Lee Pace, looking adorable as always, answered questions at the Monte Carlo Television Festival.

As for whether or not Ned and Chuck will see other people in season two, the actor offered this mini Pushing Daisies spoiler:

"Maybe. One of the big things that happens at the beginning of the second season is that Chuck moves out. So it's not going to be easy anymore for Ned. It's good. They need to see other people."

It's nice to see the Golden Globe Awards recognize Pushing Daisies, along with its two stars, for their work this season.

While we'd love to have seen Chi McBride and Kristin Chenoweth also honored, it's hard to complain about the following nominations:

MUSICAL OR COMEDY
"30 Rock"
"Californication"
"Entourage"
"Extras"
"Pushing Daisies"

ACTOR (MUSICAL OR COMEDY)
Alec Baldwin - "30 Rock"
Steve Carell - "The Office"
David Duchovny -- "Californication"
Ricky Gervais - "The Office"
Lee Pace - "Pushing Daisies"

ACTRESS (MUSICAL OR COMEDY)
Christina Applegate
America Ferrara
Tina Fey
Anna Friel
Mary Louise Parker

Here are highlights from an interview Lee Pace and Anna Friel gave USA Today about their characters on Pushing Daisies:

Q: From your banter, you seem to get along great. Could you engage in this romantic pairing if you didn't?
Pace: I don't know if you could get the specific thing that Chuck and Ned have if you didn't like each other as much as we do.
Friel: I'd be surprised. I've seen really great love stories and then heard through the grapevine that they actually despised each other. I don't think I could do that, if you're working 16-17 hours a day, five days a week. … I see more of Lee than I do my daughter (2-year-old Gracie), my partner (actor David Thewlis) and my family.

Q: What do you think of the central conceit — one touch, life; second touch, death?
Pace: It's sensible for Chuck to move as far away from Ned as possible. They shouldn't be in the same room together. But they can't live without each other.

Q: To avoid contact, pie-maker Ned and Chuck have touched through beekeeper suits, plastic casings, rubber gloves and kitchen wrap. How does it feel to kiss through plastic?
Friel: It's so hot. I highly recommend it. One of the most sexual experiences of my life (she says, laughing). The same with the plastic sacks in the car. That was thicker. Each time we do it, the plastic is getting thinner and thinner. We started with industrial strength and now it's going to super fine.

To read the full interview, click here.

Pushing Daisies star Lee Pace was recently featured in Bend Weekly, an Oregon newspaper.

It sounds like he enjoys working on the show almost as much as we enjoy watching it.

"It's fantastic - this show is the most exciting thing in my life and I love shooting here," the actor said. "I love being on a set 17 hours a day."

Overall, Pace always knew he wanted to star on the big and small screen.

"To be honest, acting was the only thing I really knew how to do when it came down to making a living doing something," he said. "A high school student in Houston at 17, Juilliard was the only drama school I auditioned for. It was foolish thinking.

But it's obviously worked out well.

"I was an arrogant little (jerk) - I just knew I would get in - and luckily I got in," Pace said of his experience with the prestigious university. "Of course, the one thing about Juilliard is that they take the arrogance right out of you. They let you know how you'll be a much better actor if you think less about yourself and more about the work at hand. I'm not arrogant anymore."

Chuck and Ned can't touch lips, despite a couple efforts with beekeeper suits on and saran wrap protecting themselves.

But the same can't be said of Anna Friel and Lee Pace.

During a recent Pushing Daisies fan event, these two actors laid a nice smooch on one another. Check it out and prepare to swoon...

Here's an inside look at Lee Pace, along with other aspects of the series, courtesy of The Associated Press:

Relaxing on the set of Pushing Daisies, Lee Pace taps the air teasingly with his forefinger. It's how Pace's character, Ned, makes others live or die with a single stroke on the darkly whimsical ABC drama.

It's also how Pace keeps British actress Anna Friel, his lively co-star, in line during long production hours. Friel plays Ned's longtime love, Charlotte "Chuck" Charles.

"When Anna acts up on set, I just touch her like this," Pace said, pointing a magic finger.

The finger-tap is a joke on Ned and Chuck's deadly dilemma. In the show's pilot, Ned resurrected Chuck after she was murdered. Now they live together. If Ned touches Chuck once more — directly, skin-on-skin — she's back in a casket, pronto.

"Just sitting together in a car, it's life or death stakes for them," Pace said of the seemingly doomed (or at least physically frustrated) couple. "Every day when we block scenes, I think, `Now how should we hold our bodies?'"

In fact, the physical intimacy of Ned and Chuck is carefully chaperoned on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, especially by executive producer Barry Sonnenfeld, who also directs the series.

"Barry's always going, `Ooops! Don't you dare touch Anna,'" Friel said. "It's hard, trying to fit together into a tight two-shot."

But, is the show trying to be political?

If Pushing Daisies carries a message about sexual abstinence, "that was never the intention, but you can certainly read it in," creator Bryan Fuller said. "I suppose the show is really about the dangers of any kind of intimacy, not just physical intimacy.

Pace agrees, saying the series is far deeper than anything sexual.

"Ned's real gift is the understanding of the value of life and death," the actor said. "He's not careless with his powers. But after he brought Chuck back to life everything is different for him. It's like his life is happening for the first time."

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