Terrifying real-life sex cult that inspired Lifetime’s Larry Ray Story as star Billy Zane breaks silence on abuse scenes
BILLY Zane has brought a real-life horror story to the big screen in shocking detail with his latest performance of a sex cult leader who terrorized a small group of students at Sarah Lawrence College.
In 2022, Larry Ray was found guilty of several charges, including extortion, sex trafficking, money laundering, and forced labor, by a jury in New York.
LifetimeBilly Zane plays evil sex cult leader Larry Ray in a recent series on Hulu[/caption]
APLarry Ray forced his daughter’s friends into prostitution in a 10-year ordeal[/caption]
Sarah Lawrence CollegeSarah Lawrence College in New York where Ray began his sick abuse[/caption]
He was later sentenced to 60 years in prison.
The disturbing story of Ray’s crimes was outlined in the popular true crime docuseries Stolen Youth released by Hulu last year, shortly after he received his guilty verdict.
Just months later, he was sentenced to sixty years in prison — a life sentence for the 63-year-old.
Now A-list actor Zane is taking up the role of Ray in an upsetting drama series that aims to help explain how the abuse unfolded over a decade.
But stepping into the shoes of a convicted cult leader can be complicated, Zane said.
He explained the rollercoaster of emotions he felt while preparing for the role and enacting its most disturbing scenes in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
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 the dorm room of his daughter, Talia Ray, at Sarah Lawrence College in New York.
Larry had divorced Talia’s mother and reportedly convinced the children that his ex-wife and the government were conspiring against him to keep them apart.
The father reportedly won the students over by presenting himself as a psychologist and spiritual advisor who could help solve all of their problems.
He then befriended her roommates and began psychologically manipulating and physically abusing them.
“He controlled every aspect of our lives once we were in the apartment,” Talia’s boyfriend at the time said in the Hulu documentary.
“When we ate, what we did, when we went to bed.”
Ray reportedly forced his cult members to do everything from household chores to performing sex acts on each other and later become prostitutes.
Ray “took every little bit of light from their lives” the judge concluded.
THE CULT EXPANDS
In 2011, he moved the cult to an apartment in Manhattan where he persuaded even more young adults to join the group.
Ray maintained control of cult members in part through blackmail, recording the sex acts that members committed on his behalf and threatening to release them publicly if they did not follow his orders.
A woman named Isabella Pollock, 32, allegedly became his “lieutenant” while in the city, helping control cult members.
She pled guilty to lesser charges related to the conspiracy to commit money laundering last year and was sentenced to 54 months in prison.
The terror did not end until police began investigating Ray after a detailed investigation was published by The Cut, a subsidiary of The New York Times focused on women’s issues, in 2019.
BECOMING A REAL-LIFE BAD GUY
Although Zane has played nefarious characters in the past, he said getting inside the head of Ray for this series took its toll — especially since the actor is a father of two young daughters.
He could not resist joining the cast once he got his hands on the script, however.
“I was as mind-blown as anyone [by the story]… I was initially fascinated by how susceptible we are as a species, how easily swayed we are by suggestion, and our desire to keep coming back for more,” he told Entertainment.
The complexity of the character is what sealed the deal for him, Zane said.
“From a character study standpoint, I’m always interested in the why and what proceeded and what led to this wiring and logic. It was the cycle of trauma, right? Clearly this is a recurring theme in our society.”
“We just see it: bullies were bullied, and rapists were raped, and cult leaders were maybe cult members — even in one’s 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 at what drove Ray to commit his crimes was a fascinating challenge.
“I don’t think [Larry reflected] on it other than solving [problems]: We’re out of money? Gotta get money! So, convince himself and convince someone else that they owe you money. And if they don’t [have] it, they’ll get it from their parents. Just keep the ball rolling. You got to keep the lights on, keep the machine going,” he told Entertainment.
“You couple this rationalization with chemistry — the guy was an Adderall addict. He was running from his own demons, and his mother.”
“I’m not absolving. I’m not whitewashing at all. The man is doing time and should be, but from a performance standpoint, it was really interesting character study and subject matter,” he added.
“As an actor, I enjoyed [the] transformation, putting on a bunch of weight because he was imposing not just in height but in mass. 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.”
HOW TO PREPARE TO BE A PSYCHOPATH
Zane already had the right stature to play Ray, but he needed to put on a few pounds to match his weight.
The star binged for weeks before production to gain the belly he needed to best 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 specifics and then the pitch [of his voice]; I’m much lower register. His was much more nasal and he had a very kind of serious lisp.” he said.
“There were a few features that had to become second nature so I could improvise as him without having to think about every word in turn.”
Preparing for the emotional toll of the work was a priority too.
“Actors should get emotional stunt pay,” Zane joked.
“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. In this case, we created a space after cut where everyone can just laugh and check in and go, ‘Whoo, that was weird.'”
THE HARDEST PART
Re-enacting the violent abuse scenes was difficult for the cast and crew, Zane said — but one scene stood out as particularly challenging.
That one with Claudia [was the worst]. And hammer scenes, the abusive scenes,” he said, referring to a scene where Ray puts a plastic bag over Claudia’s head.
“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.”
He explained that he went out of his comfort zone because he trusted Lifetime not to ask for gratuitous violence.
“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,” he said.
“The fact that there was restraint and a level of censorship required in this story, we could go deeper into character.”
Filming took a particular toll on the actor because of his daughters, Zane said.
“It was terrifying. It was completely stressful. I’m like, “Don’t go to college. There’s nothing there for you. Join the family business!” he told Entertainment with a nervous laugh.
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