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Monster
2003
For Lee Tergesen fans, this sentence in a review of
"Monster" sums up what you need to know:
"Lee Tergesen ... lends his
talent to one of the most harrowing seven-minute sequences you'll ever
see."
Lee plays Vincent Corey, a fictional character, in this movie
which is "based on a true story." It tells the dark tale
of serial killer Aileen Wuornos, who killed seven men in Florida and
was executed in 2002.
Corey, according to this movie, was Wuornos' first victim. She
kills him only after he inflicts extreme brutality upon her -- tying
her up, beating her, raping her.
But
it's not true.
To avoid controversy, the safest path in praising this movie has been to focus on the performances within
the film. Most notable of course, is Charlize Theron, who won an
Oscar for her performance as Wuornos. Theron underwent a remarkable
physical transformation and undoubtedly deserved the acclaim she
received.
Similarly, Lee Tergesen's performance has received notice,
starting with director Patty Jenkins. Here's part of an
interview
with the director of "Monster," who has praise for Lee as
a pro and what it took to do that harrowing scene:
INTERVIEWER: I love Lee
Tergesen. I’m worried about him getting stuck in bad guy roles.
PATTY JENKINS: Me too. He was one of the very few
people that I didn’t go out of my way to cast against type. ... I
needed to shoot that scene in a half a night. More than anything I
was very worried about having an actor who would be afraid to go
where the character needed to go.
INTERVIEWER: He is definitely not.
PATTY JENKINS: Right. I knew he could be
comfortable with it and be acting as well. We could talk on a more
subtle level of acting than just having to overcome the sheer
graphic concept of what is happening. He’s done it a million times
and he has that nice/scary guy thing. He’s so fucking brilliant
and was so amazing to watch because he was able to convince her that
he was nice enough for her to get into the car.
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