“I was a Sarah Lawrence student,” director and executive producer Elisabeth Röhm revealed about the appeal of directing Lifetime’s Devil On Campus: The Larry Ray Story. Based on a true story (explored in Hulu’s docuseries Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence), the film showcases how a smart group of college students were manipulated and taken advantage of. As a passionate alumnus of the school where these events took place, Elisabeth Röhm intentionally dove into the project with the goal of making it clear that Larry Ray’s victims did nothing wrong. “In this case, the victims were very bright, and he was really smart, seductive, funny, and charming.”
(Lifetime)
Playing Larry Ray, an ex-convict father who moves into his daughter’s dorm, is Billy Zane. “I studied his voice, and I put on a bunch of weight,” the actor shared about getting into the role. “Tthe voice was very specific, raised pitch, affected a particular kind of lisp. I loved all of those devices. I haven't done that in a while, those many attractive elements that an actor approaches.” Getting into Larry Ray’s psychology was also a challenge the actor enjoyed. “I haven't played someone that unhinged in a long time. I don’t shy from it personally. I rather enjoyed going to that place because it was very liberating and challenging creatively.”
“Billy was so great with all of these kids and really took it upon himself to be their source of support and make it something that they could be excited about as opposed to intimidated by,” Elisabeth Röhm said of her lead actor’s approach to his young costars. “He reached out to them, so there was a lot of safety, a lot of nurturing from him to them, and they felt it. It really played well into the movie because, of course, he is their Pied Piper, and so there was a deep connection Billy maintained and created with the students, which was great.”
“Elisabeth's one of my favorite directors I've worked with,” Billy Zane complimented the director, whose first directing credit was on the Lifetime original film Girl in the Basement. “She's an actor. It's that simple, actors make good directors. They understand. They get the process… To collaborate with her is a great gift. And under any schedule, one that is pressed nor if we had all the time in the world or all the money, it would be a similar dynamic. She was incredibly brave and smart. It was an emotional intelligence and a willingness to commit to a choice, and it was playful in that respect. All of the things that needed to be set to take on the challenge and give the subject the gravitas and the respect it required, yet have the spirit of play and freedom to propose, where no idea was too radical, and then we'd find a happy medium, or challenge each other to go farther. It was, by all means, unique in the very best sense of the word.”
Elisabeth Röhm also plays a role on screen in Devil On Campus: The Larry Ray Story. “I was a student that this would have happened to,” she said of her decision to appear in the film in addition to her roles as director and an executive producer. “By the grace of God, something like this didn't happen in my younger years there. Sarah Lawrence is an incredible college, and I admire the students and the school so much. I wanted to make sure that the kids themselves really were as they are, which are smart, inquisitive, deep, and complicated.” Röhm also hopes this is the first of many collaborations with Billy Zane. “It's very different when you're walking hand in hand with your star, who is a star, who's done incredibly powerful performances, is a great filmmaker, and a great painter, just a great artist, and a visionary. I think we have the same taste in things. We sparked off each other, and I hope there are many more projects to come.”
Devil On Campus: The Larry Ray Story premieres tonight at 8/7c on Lifetime.