Lee Pace Always Knew ‘The Fall’ Was Special

I was looking at the reviews on Letterboxd, and there are all these young viewers discovering the film now. There’s so much love for it. A lot of people are just like, “Where has this film been all my life?”

That makes me so happy, I’m like, grinning ear to ear. What a gift to hear that a movie you made 20 years ago is finding a life like this.

Not every film is for every person, and especially the good films. Films that have a real point of view, filmmakers that have a real point of view, chances are they’re not going to hit the business in the same way that the very, very popular things do or the things that seem to get the kind of media attention associated with them that the zeitgeist can catch on to them.

It’s exciting to be a part of a community that creates things that are diverse and interesting. It doesn’t always hit the same benchmarks of success that other people do, what matters is that people connect to it, that some people find it and connect to it.

I was putty in Tarsem’s hands in that experience. I was so young. I had opinions about things and I did what I could to help him work with Catinca because it was just the two of us inside of that little tent made by the bed. So I would try not to block her light or whatever. But this movie is all Tarsem and I had a role to play in it, but it really—and Catinca did as well, and everyone involved with it did—was all in service of a deeper vision that he had, like an emotional hunger to express himself in the very collaborative way that a film is made.

Watching The Fall now it’s astounding what a complete, lived-in statement it is about cinema and storytelling. Looking back, what do you know now about filmmaking that you didn’t know in 2004?

I mean, oh gosh, so many things—so many good things, so many bad things. Honestly, the chemistry of every set is so different, every rehearsal room, every set, every director, the other colleagues you have are so different. When the really good ones come your way, you find your tribe, your people, don’t take it for granted. I mean, that’s what I would tell myself back then is that, “This is unique. This is something to treasure.” I did, but I also thought this was going to be my life now. There was a degree that I wish I would’ve woken up every day and thought, “You’re in India right now shooting with a genius, working with some of the most exquisitely talented people.” You know what I mean? “Put a pin in this. Remember how extraordinary this is.”