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.”

READ MORE: http://www.fangoria.com/index.php/moviestv/fearful-features/8582-james-purefoy-following-in-bloody-footsteps

Ray Stevenson: Pompeii (shooting starts in 2012) (International Business)

Pompeii (shooting starts in 2012)

If Earth makes it past the Dec. 21 deadline conspiracy theorists insist is the end of the world, Resident Evil director Paul W.S. Anderson is set to release Pompeii, a disaster flick set during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. The movie won't just feature volcanic CGI destruction, but will also include a love story, according to reports that will star Christoph Waltz, Logan Lerman, Ray Stevenson and Milla Jovovich.


Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (April 20)

The end of the world doesn't have to be all doom and gloom as this flick might suggest. Rom coms have taken audiences from working girls climbing the corporate ladder to faked orgasms in Katz's Delicatessen to lifting a boombox in front of a professed love's home, but doomsday?

Sure thing!

In "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World", as an asteroid hurls towards Earth, Dodge (played by Steve Carell) searches out his long-lost high school sweet heart after he wife jets in a panic. Dodge's neighbor Penny (played by Keira Knightley) joins him, putting a wrench in his plans. Directed by Lorene Scafaria.

Men in Black III (May 25)

Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones launch this third 3D installment from the Men in Black franchise, but this time, it's a future mankind they're out to save.

This flick will time travel back to 1969 after Agent J (Smith) catches word that an evil alien named Boris is threatening to destroy the world. Agent J meets the younger Agent K (Jones) in the battle against the baddies.

Prometheus (June 8)

Director Ridley Scott's upcoming sci-fi action flick will pit a team of explorers against an alien life force driven to destroy the human race.

In the movie, a group of researchers venture to the darkest coerners of the universe to find the beginning of life only to find an unknonwn enemy that the film makers say will lead them to "fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race."



World War Z (Dec. 21)

Just in time for the alleged doomsday date of Dec. 21, this novel-inspired film takes a look at a post-apocalyptic world destroyed by flesh-eating zombies. The movie stars Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane, a U.N. employee " who traverses the world in a race against time to stop the Zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatening to decimate humanity itself," according to reports. In the original novel, Lane interviews zombie survivors in an effort to piece together a world war that destroyed every nation on Earth. Directed by Marc Forster.