Actor coaxed into taking horror role in ‘Creation’
How did the Australian actor Anthony LaPaglia, best-known for playing tough guys and mobsters in gritty dramas and the TV series “Without a Trace” (2002-09), end up in the new horror film “Annabelle: Creation?”
He has a teenage daughter. “The major factor here is that I have a 14-year-old daughter who is really into this whole horror genre,” LaPaglia said. “Nothing I’ve ever done in my life has impressed her at all. She never even watched my TV show.
“When I was reading this script, my daughter said: ‘Oh, God, you have to do this movie! You can’t say no,”’ he recalled during an interview at a Los Angeles hotel. “I went from being an OK dad to being a really cool dad.”
The scene: The nononsense John Kelly, retired Marine general recently appointed chief of staff to bring order to the White House, holds his first meeting with President Donald Trump, Cabinet members and advisers.
The group is gathered around a large conference table with Trump at the head when Kelly arrives. Everyone but Trump (who is distracted by something on CNN) reflexively stands and salutes.
Kelly: “As you were.”
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. . Russian diplomat Sergey Kislyak?”
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Kelly: Get those things out of here, and let’s get down to business!
Steve Bannon: Can we start by deporting Muslims? Kelly: "What the . . ."
His aide whispers that Trump ordered Attorney General Jeff Sessions to sit under the table as a subtle sign of his status. Kelly sighs.
Kelly: “All right, Mr. President, let’s discuss your surprising military order regarding transgender troops. . . "
Trump: “I don’t want them in the military. They’re a
The film, set in the 1940s, is due to open nationwide on Friday. It is a prequel to the hit “Annabelle” (2014), itself featuring a character that made its debut in a cameo in “The Conjuring” (2013).
LaPaglia plays Samuel Mullins, a mild-mannered doll maker whose young daughter is tragically killed — only to return in ghostly form to haunt the remote home he shares with his wife (Miranda Otto).
The girl’s favorite doll, now possessed by her ghost, has been locked in a closet in the child’s room, wallpapered with religious symbols to keep her silent. That changes when the Mullinses can’t stand the quiet of their decaying home and invite six orphan girls and Sister Charlotte (Stephanie Sigman) to move in.
One curiosity-sparked night raid later, and the doll is free and inflicting agony on everyone around her.
“I loved that there’s not a ton of blood and guts,” said LaPaglia, 58. “It’s psychological. It’s a much more difficult way to tell a horror story and raises the genre a little bit.”
He also liked the idea of working with a popular young director: David F. Sandberg, who was fresh from the critically acclaimed “Lights Out” (2016).
“He had a true vision for the film and knew what he wanted to do with it,” LaPaglia said. “On the set, he was never upset or nervous; his assurance was very attractive. It makes you feel safe as an actor. I could trust him to make this movie.”
That trust went both ways: Sandberg let LaPaglia add a scene to deepen the relationship between the Mullinses.
“He actually put in that scene, which is unheard of on a big movie,” the actor said. “My thought was that sometimes you need the option of knowing a little bit more, so the stakes are higher.
“At the same time, I realized that horror is not really about the dialogue,” he acknowledged. “It’s what’s between the dialogue where you find out what’s really going on.”
Mullins is a mysterious, quiet-yet-gruff man who is mourning both the loss of his daughter and the medical degeneration of his wife. The young orphans who move into the now-dilapidated house fear him.
LaPaglia — by design LaPaglia as Jack Malone in the former series “Without a Trace”
said that their biggest fear in life is being completely alone. There are days when that’s my biggest desire!”
The horror scenes, the actor said, didn’t intimidate him — not even the one in which Mullins has a showdown with the evil Annabelle, brandishing a crucifix at her.
“I wasn’t scared of the doll,” he recalled. “What scared me was wondering how far over the top I had to be to do this scene. And my fears were confirmed: I fell down during one of the takes and split my pants.”
“I saved the pants,” LaPaglia added with a laugh. “I usually collect one thing from every movie, and here it was the pants.”
Growing up in Adelaide in southern Australia, LaPaglia said, he loved movies so much that he quit his job as a shoe salesman and enrolled in acting classes at the South Australian Casting Agency. With a few classes under his belt, he moved to Los Angeles, where additional classes helped him lose his Aussie accent.
He made his TV debut in an episode of Steven Spielberg’s “Amazing Stories” (1985) and his big-screen debut in “Cold Steel” (1987).
His first starring role came as Chicago Mafioso Frank Nitti in the television movie “Nitti: The Enforcer” (1987), and he went on to a string of credits that includes “Betsy’s Wedding” (1990), “The Client” (1994), “Empire Records” (1995), Spike Lee’s “Summer of Sam” (1999), “Company Man” (2000) and “Lantana” (2001).
Yet some of LaPaglia’s best roles have been on television. He won an Emmy Award for his recurring role as Simon Moon, the obnoxious brother of Daphne Moon (Jane Leeves), on “Frasier” (2000-04) and remains bestknown to many as FBI agent Jack Malone on “Without a Trace.”
There have been persistent rumors suggesting that he was originally cast as Tony Soprano but turned down the role.
“That’s a long story,” LaPaglia said warily. “I didn’t turn it down. Let’s leave it there and just say that the right person got the job.”
The actor, who is divorced from actress Gia Carides, lives in Los Angeles near his daughter, Bridget — who, along with friends, has already seen an early screening of “Annabelle: Creation.”
“I was ‘dad of the year,’” LaPaglia said with a smile. “And then it wore off within 24 hours.
“But that’s life.”