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He doesn't want us to cut through our chains.... He wants us to cut through our feet Lawrence realizes that he and Adam were abducted by Jigsaw |
Doctor Lawrence "Larry" Gordon is a fictional character from the Saw franchise as well as one of the main protagonists of the first Saw movie. He later returned in Saw 3D as a supporting character. He was portrayed by Cary Elwes.
Biography
Suspect in the Jigsaw Case
Lawrence Gordon was a renowned oncologist working at the Angel of Mercy Hospital. He was the husband of Alison Gordon and father of Diana. He and Alison often argued due to his cold and uncaring attitude, which he would also display at work with his patients. At some point he started to have an affair with one of his medical students, Carla Song. He was also the one who diagnosed John Kramer with cancer and therefore played an important role in the latter's transformation into the Jigsaw Killer. While presenting the case of John, who was at the hospital for a routine examination, to his patients he was interrupted by Zep Hindle, one of the hospital's orderlies, who told him that John was an interesting person due to Lawrence constantly only referring to him as "the patient". Seemingly annoyed by the disturbance Lawrence sarcastically thanked Zep for the information about John to get him back to work. However when he wanted to continue on his own Lawrence was again interrupted and called to the reception. When he entered his office he was already expected by Detective David Tapp, the leading investigator on the Jigsaw case, and his partner, Detective Steven Sing who asked him about his whereabouts during the previous night as a penlight with Gordon's fingerprints on it was found at the crime scene of the latest known Jigsaw victim, Mark Wilson.
Lawrence was taken to the police station where he was interrogated. Eventually he revealed to his friend and lawyer Brett that he was with his mistress Carla at the time of the murder which the police quickly found out to be the truth. However despite this Detective Sing asked him to stay for a little longer to witness the interrogation of Amanda Young, a new victim of Jigsaw and the first survivor of one of his deadly games. Upon listening to her Lawrence was visibly horrified by the things she went through. After the interrogation Lawrence was released from custody and brought home by Tapp, who implied that he still wasn't convinced of his innocence. Following Sing's death and his discharge from the force Tapp became obsessed with the idea of Lawrence actually being the killer despite his alibi. His obsession constantly worsened to the point where he rented a flat right across from Gordon's apartment to be able to observe him. Eventually he hired photographer Adam Stanheight to follow Dr. Gordon and take pictures of him.
Abduction
At the night of his abduction by Jigsaw five months after the interrogation of Amanda Gordon worked in his office at home but was interrupted by Alison and Diana as the latter told them about a man in her bedroom. In order to calm her down Lawrence took her back to her room and comforted her but was unexpectedly called to a motel by Carla. He left his apartment, telling Diana and Alison that he has to go to work much to the latter's displeasure. He drove to the motel and met Carla in her room, berating her for paging him at home. When Carla wanted to sleep with him Gordon prevented her from taking off her clothes and decided to end their affair as it got to risky for him. When he was about to leave Carla nearly started to cry but was interrupted when the telephone rang. Upon answering the call anonymously made by Zep Hindle the latter demanded to talk to Dr. Gordon. When she gave Gordon the phone Zep told him he knew about his secret, causing him to hectically leave the room. He went to his car in the parking garage but hesitated when he saw a white light, not knowing that it was the flash of Adam's camera who was still observing him. However he ignored it and got into his car but soon found himself trapped in the parking garage and unable to call for help as both the telephone and his mobile didn't work. Before he could get back into his car, he was attacked and rendered unconscious by a person in a red cloak and a pig mask who had been hiding on the back seat of his car. Lawrence was taken to a grimy industrial bathroom and chained to a pipe by his ankle. (Saw, III)
Test
Lawrence after awakening in the bathroom
When Lawrence woke up in the dark he soon realized that he wasn't alone when he heard the frightened yells of another man. He tried to calm him down and eventually found a switch and turned the lights on. The other man was revealed to be Adam Stanheight, who was chained to a pipe as well in the opposite corner of the room. Between them lay what appeared to be the corpse of a man who shot himself in the head, face down in a pool of blood, holding a tape player in one hand and a revolver in the other. Both men found envelopes containing audio tapes in their pockets and after obtaining the tape player Adam and Lawrence learned what they needed to do: Lawrence had to kill Adam by 6:00 o'clock if he wanted to save his wife and daughter who were held hostages as well while Adam simply had to survive until the time was up. Besides the tape Lawrence's envelope also contained a key and a bullet. Initially thinking the key was meant for the shackle he was disenchanted soon after as the key didn't work on either his or Adam's shackle. Using clues from the tapes Adam found a plastic bag in the toilet tank containing a pair of hacksaws and gave one of them to Gordon. However when they tried to cut through their chains Adam's saw broke leading him to angrily throw it against the mirror which broke a piece of glass out of it. After unsuccessfully trying to cut through his chain as well Dr. Gordon soon realized that the saws were not strong enough to cut through their chains and were actually meant to cut off their feet. He then told Adam about the Jigsaw Killer and how he himself was interrogated as a suspect five months ago. However Adam still distrusted Gordon and even threatened to slit him with a glass shard from the mirror when he realized that it was actually a one-way mirror with a camera positioned behind it.
Despite their continuing distrust Adam and Lawrence soon started to talk about the latter's family and Gordon gave Adam his wallet to show him a photo of him and his family, which he said to be his favourite picture of them. However the photo was replaced with another picture showing Alison and Diana tied up in their apartment. On the back of the photo was a message for Gordon, telling him that an "X marks the spot" and that sometimes he might see more with his "eyes shut". Adam told Gordon the photo wasn't in the wallet but refused to tell him about the new picture. However when they got into an argument about Adam not helping Gordon to find a way out Adam finally realized the meaning of the message and told Lawrence to turn off the light. Doing so revealed a "X" written on the wall with a fluorescent paint not visible in the light. When Gordon used his saw to break through the marked part of the wall he found a box inside a small hollow space which he was able to open with a key from the envelope from his pocket. The box contained a cellphone, two cigarettes and a message for Gordon which told him that he wouldn't need a gun to kill Adam and hinted at the blood of the dead man in the middle of the room being poisoned. Lawrence tried to use the phone to call the police. However this attempt remained unsuccesful as the phone was only meant to receive calls, not to make them. This caused him to remember the night in the garage when he tried to call for help moments before his abduction. When he asked Adam how he knew that they had to turn off the light Adam initially refused to tell him the truth but ultimately showed him the photo of his family held captive and apologized for not telling him earlier. Upon seeing that his family is actually in danger Lawrence thinks about killing Adam with a poisoned cigarette. However instead of actually doing so Lawrence formulated a plan to stage Adam's death in front of the camera. He gave one of the cigarettes which wasn't poisoned to Adam who pretended to die. This plan was thwarted when Adam was electrocuted through his chain. Due to this they got into another argument. However the shock also helped Adam to regain his memories of the night he was abducted in his apartment.
Some time later Lawrence was unexpectedly called by his frightened daughter and his wife. When Alison asked him if Adam was with him in the room she told her husband not to trust Adam as he already knew him before. Upon the call being interrupted Lawrence angrily yelled at Adam and demanded him to finally tell him the truth. Eventually Adam admitted that he was observing him for some days already and revealed the photos of him he found in the same bag which also contained the hacksaws. He claimed that he even knew about Gordon's mistress whom he met at a motel the night before. However Lawrence claimed he didn't cheat on his wife due to not actually sleeping with Carla. When being asked who hired him to take the pictures Adam told Gordon about Bob, the "tall black guy with a scar around his neck" which Lawrence immediately recognized as former detective David Tapp. When looking at his photos Adam suddenly found a picture which wasn't from him, showing a man staring out of a window of Lawrence's apartment, whom Lawrence identified as Zep Hindle, an orderly from the hospital. Moments later the clock striked 6:00, marking the end of the game as well as Lawrence's failure.
Lawrence reaching for the phone
Lawrence was called again by Alison and heard shots and screams causing him to panick until he was electrocuted as well which rendered him unconscious for some mere seconds. Adam desperately tried to wake him up and finally even managed to do so. However this caused Lawrence to further panick as he didn't know that his family actually managed to escape from Zep and despite Adam's frequent attempts to calm him down he started to cut off his foot while a screaming and horrified Adam was forced to watch. When Lawrence grabbed the dead man's gun and aimed at Adam the latter begged for his life but Lawrence shot him in the shoulder with the bullet from his envelope, intending to kill him, which caused Adam to collaps.
Lawrence severing his foot
Shortly afterwards, Zep entered the bathroom and Lawrence desperately tried to shoot him but was out of bullets. Zep then prepared to kill him as he didn't kill Adam in time. However, Adam, who had survived the gunshot, knocked him to the ground and started to fight for Zep's gun. Adam eventually managed to get the gun out of Zep's hands and bludgeoned his head with the lid of the toilet tank. Lawrence promised to find help for Adam and crawled out of the bathroom, leaving Adam behind alone. (Saw)
Becoming Jigsaw's Apprentice
Lawrence's leg before cauterization.
Due to his injuries and his massive loss of blood Lawrence wasn't able to make it very far. He soon reached a hot steaming pipe in the hallway leading to the bathroom and after some hesitation pressed the stump of his severed foot against the pipe in order to cauterize the wound. However the immense amount of pain caused him to lose consciousness.
Lawrence cauterizing his stump
Moments later he was found by John Kramer, his patient, the real Jigsaw Killer and the person behind his family's abduction, who had been posing as the dead body in the bathroom all the time. He took Gordon with him and during a brief regain of his consciousness Lawrence recognized his patient who smiled at him and congratulated him for his survival before Lawrence passed out again.
Lawrence's stump after cauterization.
When he woke up again he panicked as John was taking care of his wounds but eventually calmed down when he fitted a prosthesis as a replacement for his foot. His treatment caused him to trust John despite the things the latter did to him and caused him to do and eventually he was convinced to become another one of his assets. (Saw 3D)
Lawrence's name on an FBI document in Saw V
Soon after his treatment and release by Jigsaw Gordon went to the police and told them about his game evident by the fact that his, Adam and Zep's name all appeared on a FBI list of Jigsaw victims. However he didn't tell them the truth about John and the bathroom was never found. (Saw V)
After the events in the bathroom Lawrence quit his job at the Angel of Mercy hospital, presumably to gain distance from Carla and started to work at the Saint Eustace Hospital and also joined a self-help group of Jigsaw survivors. (Saw VI, 3D)
As Jigsaw's apprentice he assisted him in setting up more of his deadly games on many occasions. Several months after his game he performed a surgery on one of John's victims, Michael Marks, an abducted police informer, and placed a key behind the victims right eye. This game was part of another test planned for corrupt Detective Eric Matthews. (Saw II, 3D)
Six months later he suggested to abduct Dr. Lynn Denlon, a surgeon from the Angel of Mercy hospital, to make her participate in what was going to be John's final game in which she had to keep him alive until another victim, her husband Jeff, passed a series of tests on his own. Lawrence suggested her to John due his knowledge of both her excellent skills as a surgeon and her connection to Jeff. He was probably the one who also provided the medical supplies for the game. (Saw 3D)
Two weeks before Lynn and Jeff's game began Lawrence helped John to prepare another test for John's former lawyer Art Blank and a man named Trevor. During another small operation Lawrence sewed Art's mouth and Trevor's eyes shut for their game. (Saw 3D)
After Jigsaw's death Lawrence wrote an anonymous letter to Detective Mark Hoffman, another accomplice of Jigsaw who didn't know about the doctor's involvement in any of the games. In the latter he told Hoffman that he knew about his secret. (Saw 3D)
After John's ex-wife Jill Tuck received a black box which John previously gave to his executor. The box contained an envelope addressed to Lawrence. Willing to carry out her late ex-husbands final request she brought the envelope to Lawrence's office at the Saint Eustace Hospital. In the envelope was a video tape from John who asked Lawrence to watch over Jill and to immediately act on John's behalf if anything should happen to her, telling him to got the place which was the most meaningful to him, the bathroom. In return for that John promised to reveal all of his remaining secrets to Lawrence. (Saw VI, 3D)
Final Request
Lawrence attending the survivor group's meeting
After receiving the video Lawrence was alerted when Mark Hoffman's identity was revealed to the public. He attended another meeting of his survivor group where he also met Bobby Dagen, an author who tried to gain fame and success by publishing his book "S.U.R.V.I.V.E. - My story of overcoming Jigsaw" in which he claimed to be a Jigsaw survivor on his own. However due to his involvement in John's operations Lawrence was aware of Bobby being a liar and sarcastically mocked him and his "remarkable" ability of getting something positive out of his horrifying experiences. Soon after Bobby, his entire crew and his wife were abducted by Hoffman and put into another series of deadly games in order to put the police forces under pressure and get to Jill Tuck who was held at the police station at the time for the sake of her own protection, as Mark Hoffman wanted to kill her for putting him in a trap on his own.
Lawrence, Brad and Ryan kidnap Hoffman
Soon after Hoffman started to carry out his plan for revenge he eventually managed to invade the police station and kill Jill Tuck. When her death was reported to the public by the press Dr. Gordon finally decided it was time to take action and allied with Brad and Ryan, two other Jigsaw survivors who were put in a trap by Hoffman before. Together they went to Hoffman's hideout in a hangar, hiding their faces behind pig masks. When Hoffman blew up the hangar and was about to flee he was attacked by the group and injected with an anesthetic by Lawrence who revealed himself to Hoffman seconds before the latter lost consciousness.
Lawrence's decomposing foot in Saw 3D
Following John's final instruction Lawrence took Hoffman to the same bathroom where he was tested months ago and chained him to a pipe right next to the decomposed corpse of Adam. When he entered the room and Hoffman woke up he started to panick and tried to grab the hacksaw to free himself from his shackle.
Lawrence denying Hoffman's only chance of freedom
However Lawrence took the saw and threw it out of the room. Ignoring Hoffman's angry and desperate yells Lawrence turned off the light and closed the door, leaving Hoffman to die with the words "Game Over." (Saw 3D)
Non-Canon Appearances
Saw: Rebirth
Dr. Lawrence Gordon appeared in the animated comic Saw: Rebirth which served as a prequel to the first three films. He was a cold, uncaring doctor, and the person who diagnosed John Kramer with cancer. A hospital orderly named Zep Hindle told John that Lawrence had been cheating on his wife, and had an affair with one of his medical students, Carla Song. This was the reason he was targeted by John Kramer, now known by the media as the Jigsaw Killer.
Saw: The Video Game
Lawrence was mentioned briefly in one of the case files that can be found in Saw: The Videogame.
Saw II: Flesh & Blood
He is also mentioned in David Tapp's notes and audio tapes in Saw II: Flesh & Blood. Tapp mentioned that Gordon "fits the profile" of Jigsaw, and even suffered an emotional breakdown when he was young and had to be institutionalized as a result. He also delves into his investigation of Gordon's illicit relationship with Carla Song. It is further mentioned that he was responsible for the treatment of the terminal cancer patients, including John Kramer, Campbell Iman and Charles Carlyle. Tapp speculated this might have been the reason for cold and distanced personality.
Personality
Lawrence was an arrogant man who acted in a cold and uncaring manner towards the people around him, especially his own patients. Most of the time he valued his work more than interpersonal relationships. Being proud of his high intellect he showed signs of pathological narcissism and therefore treated other people such as his orderly Zep Hindle like second-class humans who were beneath his level.
Lawrence also had a charming personality as seen when he began to have an affair with his medical student Carla who seemed to be actually devoted to him. However despite this relationship with Carla he couldn't bring himself to sleep with her as he still loved his wife even though their relationship was quite unstable due to him spending more time with his work than he did with his family. He also loved his daughter Diana and tried to be a good father despite. When they were abducted by Zep Hindle Lawrence suffered a mental breakdown and ultimately even cut off his own foot and tried to kill Adam Stanheight in order to save his family's life.
When he was eventually recruited by John Kramer as one of his apprentices he began to understand John's message and learned to appreciate the life of his patients, his family and himself. Feeling somehow responsible for John he helped him in his mission of testing other peoples' will to survive and didn't hesitate to put those people in other deadly traps despite the things he went through on his own, feeling no remorse for assisting John and therefore causing the death of many of his test subjects.
Appearances and References
- Saw - Cary Elwes
- Saw II - (name, voice and foot)
- Saw III - (foot, flashback, name, mentioned) - Uncredited
- Saw IV - (referenced and name in flashback)
- Saw V - (name on file)
- Saw VI - (mentioned)
- Saw 3D - Cary Elwes
- Saw: Rebirth - Cary Elwes
- Saw: The Video Game - (mentioned in case files)
- Saw II: Flesh & Blood - (mentioned in case files)
Behind the Scenes
Lawsuit
Many fans speculated that Dr. Lawrence Gordon would reappear in new installments of the franchise. This was considered unlikely, since in August 2005, actor Cary Elwes filed a lawsuit against his management firm and the producers of Saw. He alleged that he was promised "a minimum of one percent of the producers' net profits" and did not receive the full amount as promised, but, since then, the whole matter was resolved out of court.
Cary Elwes on Lawrence
According to Elwes, much of Gordon's development throughout the film was not in the script but improvised and discussed as the film went on, "As far as his breakdown is concerned, that was not in the script. That was something that James and I worked on- we said we have to take this guy from being the paternalistic character who was trying to calm Adam down at the beginning of the film and by the end, they have swapped roles. I said to James I thought that would be an interesting dynamic if we did that, so we worked on that until there was a nice balance there. I tend to not think in terms of likeability for the character. I think they grey areas are much more fascinating to play because we're all grey. No one is black and white or good or bad or happy or sad or what have you. [we all have] particular idiosyncrasies that make them fascinating and that's how I tend to approach a character. I try not to judge them because if you get into the area of judging the character you're playing you're getting into a sticky area."
Trivia
- He is the only main character to survive all the way from Saw to the end of Saw 3D.
- Lawrence is one of the only persons who failed their test but still survived, the other one being Bobby Dagen.
- He is the first and only protagonist to become a Jigsaw apprentice.
- Many fans claimed to have seen his corpse in Saw II, but the claims were confirmed to be false in the Saw II commentaries.
- In Saw II and III, Lawrence's foot was lying on its left side, but in Saw ad Saw 3D, it was lying on its right side.
- Lawrence Gordon was originally planned to appear in Saw: The Video Game, released to coincide with the release of Saw VI. He was by Jigsaw and sent to the Whitehurst Insane Asylum and to follow Jigsaw's game in order to release his family. He was planned to appear as a boss to David Tapp, who had to defeat him. However Gordon wasn't included in the game as Lionsgate had plans for him in Saw VII so had him removed from the storyline of the game. [1] [2].
- It is likely that Gordon was the person who put a key under Campbell Iman's eye.
- It is possible that Dr. Lawrence Gordon provided the used syringes for The Needle Pit.
- According to the audio commentary Alison separated from Lawrence and took Diana with her due to his unstable state of mind.
Gallery
