Stanley Tucci Reveals The Role He Would Never Play Again

Throughout his decades-long career, Stanley Tucci has taken on a variety of roles across many different genres. Whether it’s the career-driven Nigel Kipling in The Devil Wears Prada or the eccentric Caesar Flickerman in The Hunger Games trilogy, the Oscar-nominated actor really has done it all. However, there is one role in particular that Tucci has vowed to never play again.

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight in April 2023, the Golden Globe winner revealed that the role in question is George Harvey in the supernatural thriller The Lovely Bones. “It’s a wonderful movie, but it was a tough experience. Simply because of the role.”

The 2009 film is adapted from Alice Sebol’s original book of the same name and sees Tucci portray a serial killer who is responsible for the murders of several young women. The character is eventually killed off after he falls off a cliff while trying to capture another girl in his car.

Prior to filming Peter Jackson’s big screen adaptation, Tucci also “tried to get out of” playing George Harvey and wondered why he was cast in the first place. “I asked Peter Jackson why he cast me in that role ... which is crazy because I needed a job,” the actor shared. “But I was like, ‘Why do you want me?’ And he said, ‘Because you’re funny.’ And I thought, ‘OK.’ But I understand what he was saying.”

Tucci, who earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his The Lovely Bones performance, went on to explain that Jackson believed he “wouldn’t be overly dramatic” while playing the character. “I would throw it away a bit. Which is what you have to do when you’re playing somebody who’s that awful, right?” He continued: “You can’t play into it. Then, you know, it’s over. Like, the movie’s over. You just have to play against it.”

Meanwhile, speaking to ET, Tucci also disclosed the roles he would “happily” play again: The Devil Wears Prada’s Nigel and Julie and Julia’s Paul Child. “Those are really wonderful roles to play,” he added.