Navigation 001.Index 002.Print 003.Online 004.Film 005.Theater 006.Production Notes In Brazil, the American TV star sees the bright side of the strike Português Terra by Danilo Lima, Translated by Marcela March 20, 2008 Lee Pace, star of the TV show Pushing Daisies, arrived in Brazil to discuss the first season of the show, which premieres on April 10th in Brazil. At a conference this afternoon in Sao Paulo, the actor commented on the difficulties that the writers strike caused and how he gave life to the shy character from the comedy, one of the most exalted shows of the season. In Pushing Daisies, Pace plays Ned, a man who discovered, when he was a boy, that he has an extraordinary gift: every time he touches something dead, including people, he can bring them back to life. The problem is, if he touches them again, they die, forever. The show takes a new direction when he decides to bring back his childhood sweetheart, but he has to can never have any kind of physical contact with her. The actor came to the interview with that look: white shirt, a pair of jeans and sneakers. He had a serious and shy attitude, but he got excited when he remembered the best moments from the first season and confessed that he thinks the show is weird and difficult for the audience. "It´s a complicated and weird show. With the ‘break’ that we had after the writers strike, we can fix a few things and make them more adequate to the audience,” explained the actor. In fact, Pushing Daisies doesn´t follow the ordinary model of the American Television, beginning with a different structure of direction. The visual effects, strong colors and innovative camera angles challenged the crew that had to double thier efforts with a limited budget and the threat of a possible cancellation. However, the show is already a success. The positive answer from the American critics, according to Lee Pace, was the factor that most provided the confirmation for the second season. On it's fist year, Pushing Daisies also was nominated to three Golden Globes and won two awards for Best Comedy TV show at the Family TV awards and the Satellite Awards. Lee Pace had doubts about join the cast of the show. The invitation from the creator Bryan Fuller, who wrote the character specifically for him, made him reconsider. “I read the script and saw that it was better than a lot of the movies over there and I ended up getting involved”, he remembers. “The most difficult thing is to sign a long contract with TV, to play the same character for several years can be consuming”, he said. “That show encourages me because it´s happy. Sometimes when we do something very disturbing, we come back home depressed. That doesn´t happen here”. The writers strike in November left Pushing Daisies in a complicated situation. With eight recorded episodes, the writers had to find a solution to close the season early on the ninth episode. “We didn´t know how long it was going to last. Some people said that they would only be weeks and others said nine months to come back to work. We could come back on the next week. The writers had to modify all the history, make cliffhangers that leave the audience interested in following the second season”. The strategy of the American channel, ABC, Pushing Daisies had the first season closed and the second confirmed to 2008. “Until now we are stopped, waiting to start”. According to the actor, the strike wasn´t like a ‘vacation’ period, because he was doing TV appearences and promoting the show in several countries. Although he´s the lead actor of a show that deals with supernatural elements, Lee Pace said this kind of genre is not his favorite. But, there are exceptions: “I think Heroes is a good show. And there is Lost too, with all the things they solve on the island, it´s beyond the supernatural”. And define: “I believe Pushing Daisies is more like a fairy tale, an ability that only this character has and how he deals with it”. The second season, which comes back for it's second season in the US, will have more evolving stories. “ In the first year we had to introduce the characters, how they connect. It would be fun have a villain, or someone who is the opposite of Ned”, he said, excited. However, he considered: “I wouldn´t like there to be more characters with the same ability, I don´t think that would fit here, 'cause its a fairy tale. I like this simple idea, it's just this person with all the problems that the responsibility brings”. Source