Stanley Tucci Says He “Tried To Get Out” Of ‘The Lovely Bones’ Film: “It Was A Tough Experience”

Stanley Tucci earned his first Oscar nomination playing serial killer George Harvey in The Lovely Bones but it’s a role he would never want to revisit.

“I would not play George Harvey again in ‘The Lovely Bones,’ which was horrible,” Tucci told Entertainment Tonight. “It’s a wonderful movie, but it was a tough experience. Simply because of the role.”

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Tucci said that he asked director Peter Jackson why he had cast him in the supernatural thriller based on the book by Alice Sebold.

“I tried to get out of playing the role, which is crazy because I needed a job,” he added. “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.”

He continued, “I think what he meant was that I wouldn’t be too — not that I wouldn’t be serious about it, but that I wouldn’t be overly dramatic about it. That I would throw it away a bit. Which is what you have to do when you’re playing somebody who’s that awful, right?”

Although Tucci wouldn’t return to The Lovely Bones, he does have other roles he would like to play again.

“I would happily play Nigel in The Devil Wears Prada again. It was a really great experience,” he revealed. “I would play Paul Child again, when we did Julie and Julia. Those are really wonderful roles to play.”

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