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Tucci is even more against reprising his serial killer role. “I don’t want to play that role,” Tucci said in an interview with “Entertainment Tonight.” “It was a tough experience. Simply because of the role.” Tucci went on to say that he even tried to back out after he’d been cast. “I tried to get out of playing the role, which is crazy because I needed a job. But I was like, ‘Why do you want me?’ And he said, ‘Because you’re funny.’ And I thought, ‘OK.’ But I understand what he was saying. I think what he meant was that I wouldn’t be too — not that I wouldn’t be serious about it, but that I would throw it away a bit. That I would play against it.”
Tucci is clear that he doesn’t want to reprise his serial killer role. “I can’t play that role,” Tucci said. “It’s a wonderful movie, but it was a tough experience. Simply because of the role.” Tucci went on to say that he even tried to back out after he’d been cast. “I tried to get out of playing the role, which is crazy because I needed a job. But I was like, ‘Why do you want me?’ And he said, ‘Because you’re funny.’ And I thought, ‘OK.’ But I understand what he was saying. I think what he meant was that I wouldn’t be too — not that I wouldn’t be serious about it, but that I would throw it away a bit. That I would play against it.”
Tucci is clear that he doesn’t want to reprise his serial killer role. “I can’t play that role,” Tucci said in an interview with “Entertainment Tonight.”
Stanley Tucci is staunchly against reprising one of his memorable roles. While promoting his new series “Citadel” in an April 18 interview with “Entertainment Tonight,” Tucci revealed that he initially had serious doubts about playing serial killer George Harvey in the 2009 film “The Lovely Bones.”
“[It] was horrible,” Tucci said of the role. “It’s a wonderful movie, but it was a tough experience. Simply because of the role.” He went on to say that he even tried to back out after he’d been cast. “I asked [director] Peter Jackson why he cast me in that role,” he recalled. “I tried to get out of playing the role, which is crazy because I needed a job. But I was like, ‘Why do you want me?’ And he said, ‘Because you’re funny.’ And I thought, ‘OK.’ But I understand what he was saying. I think what he meant was that I wouldn’t be too — not that I wouldn’t be serious about it, but that I wouldn’t be overly dramatic about it. That I would throw it away a bit. Which is what you have to do when you’re playing somebody who’s that awful, right?” He added: “You can’t play into it. Then, you know, it’s over. Like, the movie’s over. You just have to play against it.”
“The Lovely Bones” follows a 14-year-old girl named Susie (Saoirse Ronan) who is killed by Harvey then watches her family from a liminal space called “the In-Between” after she dies. The film’s star-studded cast also includes Mark Wahlberg, Michael Imperioli, Rachel Weisz, Rose McIver, and Susan Sarandon. Tucci’s performance wound up netting him a best supporting actor nomination at the Oscars, though the trophy eventually went to Christoph Waltz for “Inglourious Basterds.”
Tucci isn’t the first actor to speak out about the psychological and moral challenges of playing a serial killer. Evan Peters, who played Jeffrey Dahmer in Netflix’s “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” was initially resistant to taking on the role, showrunner Ryan Murphy revealed in October 2022. “It was a real struggle,” Peters told Variety. “I was really thinking about it and trying to process it. I went back and forth a lot.”
