The Journal. - My Monday Morning: Lee Pace

Episode Date: September 6, 2026

Actor Lee Pace has made a name for himself playing bad guys and mythical beings, like a vampire in “Twilight” to an elvenking in “The Hobbit.” He’s starring in the new “Practical Magic 2�� alongside Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock. In My Monday Morning, a new Journal video series inspired by the longstanding column of the same name, Lane Florsheim sits down with Lee to talk about his intense coffee habit, his belief in witches and his farm upstate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm Lee Pace and this is my Monday morning. Hey, I'm Lane Fulersheim, and this is a show where I talk to people who are great at what they do about the routines and rituals that keep them going. Today, I'm talking with actor Lee Pace. You might know him from cult favorites like The Fall, or as a villain in the Marvel Universe, or even as an Elven King and The Hobbit. This fall, he's starring alongside two beloved witches, Sandra Bullock and Nicole, Kiddman in Practical Magic 2.

For his Monday morning, Lee told me about spotting witches in real life, tending to his garden, and of course, how he starts his week. We'll get into it right after the break. This episode is presented by SAP. Your company's ambitions can't be held back by long implementation, surprise costs, or empty AI promises. SAP Grow AI Cloud ERP gets you live fast, keeps pricing predictable, and delivers built built an AI that gets results the first day, not someday, all on a single platform that's easy to

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Your first credit, at least on IMDB, is Law and Order SVU. And you play a bad guy behind bars. We call it the New York City Yearbook because all the actors in New York do law and order. order SVU at some point. No, it's like the quintessential first credit, right? Yeah, perfect. But I was wondering, like, do you remember when you got that call that you got the part, what it was like being on that set and being grilled by Benson and Stabler?

I knew nothing. I mean, I actually knew nothing. I remember Mariska Hargitay, who's so sweet. I worked for half a day, you know. It was the first time I was really in front of a camera. I was so new to it. And she, you know, kind of crouched so that her eye line was close to the. the lens. And I was like, why is she standing like that? Why is she doing that crazy thing? I

realized now that it was just to kind of keep my eyes closer to the lens so I could, so they could, it could see, you know, when I was doing better. But yeah, it was overwhelming. And, yeah, I remember it. There's so many days on set that I don't remember, but I remember that one. Yeah. In general, what's the best part of playing a bad guy or a villain? I mean, it's fun. Yeah. It's just there's a kind of creative fun to it. And I think the audience has a good time with a heel, right? Yeah, definitely.

And the worst that I am, the more fun, I think, people end up having it. So it's perverse, but I'm into it. And you're about to star in Practical Magic 2, and the first time that the audience sees your character, Ian Wright, He's unconscious and unclothed under a spell. What else can you share about him? I mean, the day I shot that, that was also the first thing that I shot on the movie. And it began with kind of laying there with my eyes closed.

And I hear Sandra Bollick and the Kidman's, Nicole Kidman's voice kind of entering the room and talking. And they both have such, I mean, memorable voices, but beautiful. beautiful. Like the sound of their voices are so, you know, hypnotic. So I was laying there just thinking, I cannot believe I'm about to have this experience. Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman like doing a spell on me. Yeah. That is wild. Yeah. Yeah. They're so good at what they do. And so, I mean, to watch Sandra Bullock put together the comedy of what a character is going to do is not something I understand, really, how to kind of construct, you know, the timing of a bit like that. So it was fun to watch her work, but I learned a lot watching her, you know, be creative in this way and skilled. Being in a movie about witches, do you have any superstitions?

I don't really have superstitions, but I suppose I'm, I guess, aware of, I mean, I can spot a witch. Oh, yeah? Yeah, definitely. Because, you know, when you just encounter someone who has a magic about them, and there's lots of different kinds of witches, obviously, there's a witch that can put a spell on you and you find yourself doing things that they want you to do. you without, you know, making that choice for yourself. And then there are, you know, witches that I've known that just open up experiences for you that you would, that are magical. You know, the timing of them works out in a way of like, like, how did this happen?

Right. You know, how did this? I mean, both Sandra and Nicole both have very, like, good witch elements about them. So I suppose that that is, I guess, a magic that I'm, I feel lucky that I've encountered. But they're a bad witchess too. Tell me about some of those encounters. I mean, you don't want to talk about them because you don't want to get their evil eye on you. Right.

You know, that's a real thing. True. So even with the bad ones, they're definitely like, okay, I'm going to protect myself. Well, I was also going to ask, like, Do you have any rituals in your own life, like either around acting or other elements of your life? I mean, as far as acting goes, every movie is different. Every director is different. Every character is different.

So I don't have a very rigid way of approaching it. I went to a drama school that kind of teaches you a lot of tools that it's like sometimes, okay, well, that's a way to think about this and figure out a way into the character. and when I've done a play, the warm up is a ritual. You know, it's nice to go out on the stage and, you know, stretch, get your voice together. Think about like what the hell is going to happen tonight. Because when it's just you in the audience, it's, I mean, George C. Wolf, a director I worked with who I, you know, I learned so much from. He's such a master. He said that theater is the actor's revenge because there's no director editing what you're doing.

The timing is yours. And, you know, those great stage actors talk about like casting a spell. They can get all of the people in that house, you know, leaning forward and feeling the same thing at the same time. And that's those moments when you can kind of feel that happening. from up on the stage. I mean, it's not to sound too corny, but it's more like church than theater. It really does feel like a magical thing that happens.

So that's obviously the goal and, you know, the warm-up, I think helps you think, okay, this is what is about to happen. I'm going to stand on that stage. I'm going to need to move in a way that they see my whole body. And I want my voice to be prepared to communicate what I'm. need it to communicate. Do you have a dream role you haven't played yet? Dream role. Do you know, when I was in school, I did a scene where I played a dog, and I think about

that from time to time, and I think it would be, because I played elves and vampires and, you know, Alien warlords. Alien warlords. I do a lot of that kind of thing. So one thing I have not done is an animal. So I don't know if there's, you know, a role. a whole lot there for me where I can play, like, really not a human. Yeah. Be fun. After the break, Lee gets into his Monday morning routine. Two and five Canadians will hear the words, you have cancer.

That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcf walk.ca.ca. New from Nespresso. Blend wellness into your coffee routine with the coffee plus range infused with functional benefits. Choose the coffee you love with added B vitamins, like coffee plus B12 to help support immune function,

and coffee plus B6 to keep your day moving. Or go with the flow and choose ginseng delight. Our new double espresso with ginseng extract. Whatever lies ahead, don't change your morning. Let your morning change you. Discover Coffee Plus on espresso.com. So what time do you usually get up on a Monday and what's the first thing you do after getting up? Well, I guess I wake up at about 6.30, 7 and lay there for about 30 minutes and worry about things.

And then I get up and start the day, make the coffee. Well, that was my next question. What do you do for coffee and breakfast? I make a mocha. So one of those stovetop, Beuletti things. And I make kind of a big one. Like it's about, it says for like six people, six cups. So it's a pretty strong coffee.

And I don't really do it for the caffeine because I don't notice the caffeine in coffee. It's just the ritual of it. It's like, I mean, I can't imagine starting my day without this big, strong coffee. Are you drinking also? cups. Yeah. Nice. And we always ask about workout routine in this column. And I'm particularly excited to talk to you about this because I know that you just wrapped shooting the fourth season of foundation and in it you play a different clone of the same emperor character. And not only that, but you give the character a different body each season working with your trainer. So I wanted

to ask about that process and just, you know, what did that look like this time and how does that compare to your normal workout routine? Well, Monday is chest day. Okay. So you kind of start the week with, you know, the bench press, all the chest exercises so you can get the pump. So I always look forward to chest day because I take Sundays off. And, well, Saturdays do mostly. So it's a fun way to start the workouts for the week.

And Dury Foundation, yeah, working on is a big part of preparing the character. I love Ian Benson, who is the trainer that I work with on this show. We've been working together on foundation since day one. And not only is he just like a really good person, smart and knowledgeable about what we're trying to achieve. And in it for the long haul, which, you know, it takes a lot of discipline and effort to change your body. and but we just laugh a lot and we can spend an hour and a half gossiping. Best kind of workout. And I like a relaxing workout.

I don't want to lift a lot of weight, but I also don't want to get angry. I see guys in the gym just get so mad. No, thanks. And I have to ask, what's the hair care routine? What's the secret? I don't really give a lot of thought to that. I only kind of cut my hair if I'm working. But I'm, you know, I've usually got a pretty messy head of hair.

Yeah. So that requires no maintenance. Easeiest routine. I believe you live upstate on a farm part of the time. Do you have routines around that? Like, are you feeding animals or spending a lot of time outside? Well, I mean, the only animals I keep are chickens. because I don't have good fences, and they would get out.

And a dog. But what are my routines? It's more yearly routines. Because you do different things with the garden at different times in here. I have these paths that I maintain all through the farm, and you have to mow them. I've got a tractor with a brush hog, because I don't mow it with a finish mower. I just mow it so we can run around. get access to the property because I like the way the meadows look when they're wild, especially

this time of year, because late August into September, the golden rod kicks off and it's like I've got, you know, a big wild meadow. You know, it's probably about 10 acres this particular meadow. And when I have nice paths mowed through it, I mean, it's like one of the coolest things that the farm does throughout the year. It sounds magical. Yeah, it's so nice. And then, you know, there's different chores during the winter, obviously. You can prune the trees and stuff.

So it's more, I guess, the routines are that way. I like to plant trees. So I have a lot of trees on the property. And as the years have gone by, it's been incredibly rewarding watching them grow. I planted this big circle of maple trees. And it's about 20 trees. So it's really big, and they've almost tripled in size. So now the center of it is, you know, this great, shady spot.

It's one of my favorite places on the farm. Yeah. Do you spend a lot, do you read there or anything? We just kind of walk through it. Just kind of walk through it. How do you think about balancing work and life? Like, what do you do to relax or find calm? I find a lot of calm swimming because it's really,

I mean, if you swim for an hour, you're exhausted, which is a nice feeling. And it's quiet. So finding quiet, I think, is a calming thing. Do you doomscroll? Yeah, I have my moment. It's the worst, isn't it? Yeah. It's just the worst, actually.

It's the opposite of swimming for an hour. No, it's like getting yourself wound up about nothing, actually. It's like nothing that you have any control over. You're being bombarded with things that are. are going to agitate you. And you can't stop. Why do we do it? It's the worst.

Like, that's one thing that happens on set that I really, it's like I stopped bringing my phone to set because you end up having some downtime and you want to kind of knock, you know, knock your brain away from. Yeah. And you get there and it's just a bunch of crap. Right. It probably really takes you out of the focus of it all. Yeah. But, you know, I guess my algorithm. just gives me absurd things. Like, lately, I get a lot of these AI, very dramatic AI cat videos. Or, like, absolutely, like, they're so dumb, but they're actually so funny. Yeah. And what's a piece of advice you've got in that's guided you or been important to you in life? I forget who gave it to me, but not my pig.

not my farm, which is basically to say, that's not my business. Yeah. That's not my business. Good advice. Well, thank you so much for joining us for My Monday Morning. This was really fun having you. Thank you so much. I enjoyed talking to you.

Thank you. Thank you for having. My Monday morning is part of the journal, which is a co-production of Spotify Studios and the Wall Street Journal. I'm Lane Fulersheim, and we'll be back next Sunday with another episode of My Monday Morning. Follow us on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. And follow me on Instagram, at Lane Fulersheim, for more behind-the-scenes stuff from my Monday morning,

and to let me know what you think of the show. This episode was produced by Jivika Verma and edited by Catherine Brewer and Sarah Platt. Video production by Nathan Singapok. Original music by Nathan Singapok. Thanks so much for joining us. Two and five Canadians will hear the words, you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk.

Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca. Don't you wish you could just hit skip on the worst parts of your life? You know, the same way you can skip an accident. I get it. I'm Siyah and I live in Ice Cove. I've made some questionable decisions that didn't end up the way I planned. And today I'm still figuring it out. Somehow things usually get worse before they get better. Apparently that's how I roll. So bundle up and come along for the bumpy ride.

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