Actor Billy Zane (Tombstone, Titanic) recently told Entertainment Weekly that “actors should get emotional stunt pay” after he transformed into the Sarah Lawrence cult leader Larry Ray for the upcoming Lifetime movie Devil on Campus: The Larry Ray Story.

Ray was an ex-con who moved into his daughter’s dorm at Sarah Lawrence college in 2010 and gained manipulative control over her roommates’ lives.

His abusive sex cult lasted for a decade before he was convicted and given a 60-year prison sentence. Playing Rey required Zane to gain weight and film several abuse scenes.

Zane said: “Actors should get emotional stunt pay. The secondary experience encroaches on the primary. It really does. You’re recreating much weird trauma.

“We’re putting coursing adrenaline through our bodies and depleting serotonin and dopamine and freaking ourselves out and the body registers it.”

I’m pretty sure actors are getting paid way more than average citizens, so while I’m sure it was mentally taxing to play the part, I’m also pretty certain he was compensated fairly.

It’s also very mentally taxing to work jobs in the military, law enforcement, nursing, hell, even teachers have a very mentally and emotionally exhausting job, and we know they don’t get anywhere near the pay they deserve!

So maybe we should start there. At least actors have money to go to therapy when they’ve moved on from particularly difficult roles.

Zane said he was appreciative of the Devil on Campus set, which was safe enough where the cast and crew were able to share laughs and check in with each other when the cameras weren’t rolling.

Zane said of taking on the role: “I’ve played nefarious characters in the past and then shied from it for a while. I couldn’t resist this one because of just the curious nature of it.

“And I hadn’t gone there in a while like this. I liked the platform a lot for it. I have never done a Lifetime movie. I hadn’t considered it. And I thought the network was so well suited for the story, because had it been on any other streamer, the story would’ve been eclipsed by graphic nudity and violence.

“The fact that there was restraint and a level of censorship required in this story, we could go deeper into character.”

Zane said he mostly “enjoyed” the transformation, which also required “putting on a bunch of weight because he was imposing not just in height but in mass.”

Zane continued: “Getting a big belly. He was obviously trying to feed something. I think there was trauma eating going on there. Then the accent, and the weird affectation of his lisp. It’s a lot to chew on, so to speak.”

Devil on Campus: The Larry Ray Story was directed by actor Elisabeth Röhm and also stars Manuela Sosa, Frankie Warren, Erin Walsh and Tedra Rogers. The film premieres on June 23rd on Lifetime.

via: Variety