The talented actor Lee Pace plays the lead in the new ABC series "Pushing Daisies" which I watched last week at a special screening at the Forever Hollywood Cemetery. The setting was kinda creepy (I never thought I'd step foot in a cemetery at night!) but the show was great! It is a love story about a young man (Pace) who bakes pies for a living but also has a very special gift: the ability to return someone dead briefly back to life with just a simple touch.
"'Pushing Daisies' makes you feel good, that's what I think people are going to get out of it. It's a show about life, about someone who can touch dead things and bring them back to life. It's uplifting and makes you feel good," Pace says.
Pace, nominated for a Golden Globe award a few years back for his heartbreaking performance as a transgendered female in "Soldiers Girl," and I had a chat before the screening.
"'Solder's Girl' was my very first movie - the very first thing out of the gate," he says. "It was a big, big experience."
The powerful film was about the murder of Private First Class Barry Winchell (portrrayed by Troy Garrity) who was beaten to feath by a fellow solder for being roimantically involved with transgendered nightclub performer Calpernia Addams. Pace portrayed Addams as an alluring, feminine and well-rounded human being and was astonishing in the role. He had only recently graduated from New York's Juilliard Drama School and beat out more than 100 actors to win the part.
"It was a real event that happened and a real event that had a lot of impact on the community and politics so of course it changed the way I felt about things," Pace told me. "[Calpernia] is a good friend and what she's gone through in her life means a lot to me too."

"Daisies" marks Pace's second TV series. Right out of college, he was a part of the cast of "Wonderfalls" but has focused on features since then - most noteably a role in "The Good Shepherd."
"Of course I want the show to be a big hit and I want people to like it and really respond to it because I think it's a good show and I think it's got a good message. And if we can kind of crazy numbers like "Grey's Anatomy's" 21 million, fantastic, I'll take it. But to be totally honest, the [spotlight] stuff scares me a little bit and I'm very new to it but, we'll see."