BILLY Zane brought a real-life horror story to the big screen in shocking detail with his latest portrayal of a sex cult leader who terrorized a small group of students at Sarah Lawrence College.
In 2022, Larry Ray was found guilty of multiple charges, including racketeering, sex trafficking, money laundering, and forced labor, by a jury in New York.
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He was later sentenced to 60 years in prison.
The disturbing story of Ray’s crimes was depicted in the popular true crime docu-series Stolen Youth, released by Hulu last year shortly after he received his guilty verdict.
A few months later, he was sentenced to sixty years in prison – a life sentence for the 63-year-old.
Now, actor Zane is taking on the role of Ray in a disturbing drama series that aims to help explain how the abuse unfolded over a decade.
But taking on the role of a convicted cult leader can be tricky, Zane said.
He explained the rollercoaster of emotions he felt while preparing for the role and acting out his most disturbing scenes in an interview with Weekly entertainment.
WHO IS LARRY RAY?
Ray’s crimes, described as acts of “sadism” by Judge Lewis J Linman, traumatized his victims both emotionally and physically for years – even after the abuse ended.
The saga begins in 2010, when Ray moved into his daughter Talia Ray’s dorm at Sarah Lawrence College in New York.
Larry had divorced Talia’s mother and allegedly convinced his children that his ex-wife and the government were conspiring against him to keep them apart.
The father would have won over the students by presenting himself as a psychologist and spiritual advisor who could help solve all their problems.
He then befriended his roommates and began psychologically manipulating and physically abusing them.
“He controlled every aspect of our lives when we were in the apartment,” Talia’s boyfriend said at the time in the Hulu documentary.
“When we ate, what we did, when we went to bed.”
Ray allegedly forced his cult members to do everything from domestic chores to performing sexual acts on each other and later becoming prostitutes.
Ray “took all the light from their lives,” the judge concluded.
THE CULT EXPANDS
In 2011, he moved the cult to a Manhattan apartment, where he convinced even more young people to join the group.
Ray maintained control of the cult’s members in part through blackmail, recording the sexual acts members committed in his name and publicly threatening to release them if they did not follow his orders.
A woman named Isabella Pollock, 32, allegedly became his “lieutenant” while in town, helping to control the cult members.
She pleaded guilty to lesser charges related to conspiracy to commit money laundering last year and was sentenced to 54 months in prison.
The terror did not end until the police began investigating Ray after a detailed investigation was published by The cuta subsidiary of The New York Times focused on women’s issues, in 2019.
BECOMING A BAD GUY IN REAL LIFE
Although Zane has played nefarious characters in the past, he said getting inside Ray’s head in this series took its toll — especially since the actor is the father of two young daughters.
He couldn’t resist joining the cast as soon as he got his hands on the script.
“I was as impressed as anyone [by the story]… I was initially fascinated by how susceptible we are as a species, how easily we are swayed by suggestions, and our desire to keep coming back for more,” he told Entertainment.
The complexity of the character was what sealed the deal for him, Zane said.
“From a character study standpoint, I’m always interested in why and what happened and what led to that wiring and logic. It was the cycle of trauma, right?
“We just see this: the attackers were intimidated and the rapists were raped, and the cult leaders were perhaps cult members – even in their own home without knowing it,” he added.
UNDERSTANDING A MANIPULATOR’S MOTIVATIONS
The best actors are able to understand a character’s core motivations and color their decisions and reactions with that information.
For Zane, guessing what drove Ray to commit his crimes was a fascinating challenge.
“I do not think [Larry reflected] in addition to resolving [problems]: Are we out of money? I have to get money! So convince yourself and convince someone else that they owe you money. And if they don’t [have] this they will receive from their parents. Just keep the ball rolling. You have to keep the lights on, keep the machine running,” he told Entertainment.
“You combine that rationalization with the chemistry — the guy was an Adderall addict. He was running from his own demons and his mother.”
“I’m not absolving. I’m not covering anything up. The man is serving time and he should be, but from a performance standpoint, it was a really interesting character study and subject matter,” he added.
“As an actor, I liked [the] transformation, gaining a lot of weight because he was imposing not only in height, but in mass. Get a big belly. He was obviously trying to feed something. I think there was trauma going on there. Then the accent and the strange affectation of his lisp. It’s a lot to chew on, so to speak.”
HOW TO PREPARE TO BE A PSYCHOPATH
Zane was already the right height to play Ray, but needed to gain a few pounds to match his weight.
The star spent weeks before production to gain the baby bump he needed to better resemble the cult leader.
He also worked with a voice coach to gain Ray’s accent and lisp.
“I worked with a vocal coach on the regional accent and specificities and then on the tone [of his voice]; I’m in a much lower register. His was much more nasal and he had a very severe lisp,” he said.
“There were some features that became second nature so I could improvise like him without having to think about each word in turn.”
Preparing for the emotional impact of the work was also a priority.
“Actors should get paid for emotional stunt doubles,” Zane joked.
“You’re recreating a lot of weird trauma. We’re putting adrenaline into our bodies and depleting serotonin and dopamine and scaring ourselves and the body registers that. In this case, we create a space after the cut where everyone can just laugh and check in and say, ‘Wow, that was weird.'”
THE HARDEST PART
Reenacting the violent scenes of abuse was difficult for the cast and crew, Zane said — but one scene stood out as particularly challenging.
The one with Claudia [was the worst]. And the hammer scenes, the abuse scenes,” he said, referring to a scene in which Ray puts a plastic bag over Claudia’s head.
“I’ve played nefarious characters in the past and then avoided it for a while. I couldn’t resist this one just because of the curious nature of it. And I hadn’t been there in a while like that.”
He explained that he stepped out of his comfort zone because he trusted that Lifetime wouldn’t call for gratuitous violence.
“I really liked the platform for this. I’ve never done a movie for Lifetime. I hadn’t thought about it. And I thought the network was a really good fit for the story, because if it had been on any other streamer, the story would have been eclipsed by the nudity graphic and violent,” he said.
“The fact that there was restraint and a level of censorship required in this story, we could delve deeper into the character.”
Filming had a special impact on the actor because of his daughters, Zane said.
“It was scary. It was completely stressful. I thought, “Don’t go to college. There’s nothing there for you. Join the family business!” he told Entertainment with a nervous laugh.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
