Non-MX Interviews: Lauren Lee Smith (4/08 MGM)


Excerpt from MGM Press Notes 4/18/08: Lauren Lee Smith

PATHOLOGY: About the Production

PATHOLOGY charts the struggle of Ted Gray, a bright young doctor who is challenged and manipulated by a selective group of his peers to whom murder is just part of a gory game. While the doctors indeed kill in ingenious and gruesome ways, the film’s disturbing premise is heightened by how convincingly Ted’s decent into his colleagues’ sinister activities is presented. “The scariest part of this movie is that it could be anyone of us,” says Mark Neveldine, a co-writer and producer of the film. “Anyone of us could be seduced to the dark side.”

The key actors cast in PATHOLOGY were also excited to see that the film transcends the campy tones and gratuitous violence of traditional horror movies. “It’s a thriller,” says cast-member Milo Ventimiglia. He explains, “A thriller to me seems like an intensity of character that could actually happen.”
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“It reminded me of Flatliners and Se7en,” says cast-member Lauren Lee Smith, “and those are the kinds of films I love to watch.”
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Shadowing working pathologists also prepared the actors for the everyday realities of dealing with cadavers. “It was extremely helpful to go into the morgue,” says Smith. “That was incredible to be able to watch the autopsies and to see how they handled the bodies.” She was particularly taken aback with how rough the doctors had to be with the deceased as they sliced or cracked their way inside for a closer look.
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Smith is less charitable in describing her character, the pathologist Juliette. “She’s mean and vindictive.” Yet, Smith adds, “That’s what I like about playing her. I get to go completely outside of myself.”

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