JAMES PUREFOY: “FOLLOWING” IN BLOODY FOOTSTEPS (FANGORIA)

Posted by Abbie Bernstein Feb 13, 2013

In person, actor James Purefoy seems like a charming, erudite fellow. So does his character Joe Carroll on THE FOLLOWING—at first. Carroll is a serial killer who escapes from prison in the first episode of the hit Fox thriller, only to be recaptured by Kevin Bacon’s character, ex-FBI agent Ryan Harding. Alas, Ryan discovers as the series goes on that Carroll has quite a few friends on the outside who are willing to die—and kill—for him in extremely gruesome fashion.

While THE FOLLOWING (which airs Monday nights at 9/8 Central) was created by SCREAM originator Kevin Williamson, the show is notably far more serious than the film franchise—which seems to be fine with TV audiences, who have tuned in en masse for the episodes aired so far. Part of the fun, and the fear, is that anybody can be one of Carroll’s disciples, from an angelic-looking young nanny to a seemingly friendly security guard, and they can have been living in constructed identities for years.

The Somerset, England-born Purefoy is no stranger to horror, having starred alongside Milla Jovovich in the original RESIDENT EVIL as her treacherous boyfriend, played the title role in SOLOMON KANE and appeared as Henry Clerval in the 2007 televersion of FRANKENSTEIN, but he’s never had a role quite like Carroll. He has played a very tricky and occasionally homicidal lawyer in the English miniseries INJUSTICE, but isn’t sure if that character would have followed Joe Carroll or not. “I suppose he might have. I don’t know. I think that character was very much his own man.”

The actor helpfully explains the proper pronunciation of his last name—“Pure—like orange juice—foy”—and then gets down to the business of discussing how came to play a charismatic, persuasive college professor-turned-murderer. Wanting to work in the U.S. was “very much” part of the equation, Purefoy explains. “I was beginning to feel a bit lonely in London. A lot of my friends came over here and have been part of the great American golden age of television. I had been asked to do a number of pilots, and this one was sitting there, and I was offered it and Kevin and I had to go and sniff each other’s behinds like a couple of dogs in the park.”

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