Lawrence Gordon

Saw character
Lawrence Gordon
Gender:	Male
First appearance:	Saw
Last appearance:	Saw 3D
Status:	Alive
Created by:	James Wan Leigh Whannell
Portrayed by:	Cary Elwes

Doctor Lawrence Gordon is a fictional character in the Saw film series. He is portrayed by actor Cary Elwes. He was first seen in the original film, Saw.

Chronology

Saw: Rebirth

Dr. Lawrence Gordon's first chronological appearance was in Saw: Rebirth, which portrayed him as the doctor who diagnosed John Kramer with cancer. A hospital orderly named Zep Hindle hinted to John that Lawrence had been cheating on his wife, and his appearance in Saw confirmed the fact that he was having an affair with his medical student, a woman named Carla]. This, together with his uncaring attitude at work and his crumbling relationship with his wife and daughter, was the reason he was targeted by John Kramer, now known by the media as the Jigsaw Killer.

Saw

While investigating a crime scene involving Jigsaw, Lawrence's penlight was found, tying him to the gruesome murders and making him a suspect. He was brought in for investigation by detectives David Tapp and Steven Sing. Accused of being the Jigsaw Killer, Lawrence managed to prove he wasn't after giving his alibi; at the time of the death, Lawrence had been with Carla. Lawrence was released from custody after watching the detectives interrogate Amanda Young, a survivor of one of Jigsaw's games. However, Lawrence was again suspected of being Jigsaw by Tapp, who had been discharged from the force following Detective Sing's death. Believing he had let the killer go, he watched Lawrence carefully, hiring Adam Stanheight to follow and take pictures of him.

After leaving his home, supposedly to go to work, Lawrence arrived at a motel where he had been called to meet Carla. Annoyed with her for paging him at home, he decided their affair was getting too risky, and broke it off. However, before he left the room, someone called, revealing that someone knew about the secret affair. At the time, Lawrence had no idea that he was being followed and photographed. While leaving the parkade, Lawrence found himself locked in, and unable to call to get out. Before he could get back in his car, he was attacked and rendered unconscious by somebody wearing a pig mask, who is later revealed to be Amanda Young in Saw III.

When he awoke, he and Adam were shackled to pipes on opposite sides of a grimy industrial bathroom. Between them, just out of their reach, was what appeared to be a dead man who'd shot himself in the head, lying in a pool of poisoned blood. A gun was clutched in one of the dead man's hands, with a cassette player in the other. Working together, Lawrence and Adam learned what they had to do to escape, from a pair of cassette tapes which left them clues about objects around the room.

Lawrence learned that he had to kill Adam by 6:00 if he wished to escape, also learning that his wife and daughter's lives were at stake as well. Enclosed with the tape was a key and a bullet for the dead man's gun. Both Adam and Lawrence were supplied with hacksaws, which they found were unable to cut through their chains. It was then that Lawrence realized that they were meant to cut through their feet, not their chains. He then informed Adam that he knew that the Jigsaw Killer was the one behind the "game", and revealed that he was once suspected to be Jigsaw.

By following the clues, Lawrence obtained a box (which his key opened) that contained two cigarettes, a one-way cell phone, and a lighter. Also in the box was a note, meant just for him, that told him that he did not have to shoot Adam; he could instead taint one of the cigarettes with the poisoned blood and let Adam smoke it. The pair attempted to stage Adam's death in this way and fool their captor, but the plan was foiled.

Lawrence then received a call from his daughter and wife, both being held hostage by Zep Hindle, telling him not to believe Adam. He then discovered that Adam had been taking pictures of him for Detective Tapp, and that Zep was in his house. The two men ran out of time, and Lawrence, desperate to save his family, cut through his leg to free himself. He then crawled over to the corpse, took the gun, loaded it and shot Adam in the shoulder.

Later, Zep showed up in the bathroom. Lawrence, furious, tried to attack and shoot Zep with the empty gun. Zep was about to kill him when Adam attacked and killed Zep by beating him with the toilet lid. Lawrence then told Adam that he had to go and get help for both of them, or else he would bleed to death. Adam begged Lawrence not to leave, but Lawrence assured Adam that he would bring someone back to save him. He then crawled out of the bathroom.

Saw II through Saw VI

None of the following five films revealed specifically whether he lived or died. Lawrence is mentioned in Saw III, and his severed foot is seen in Saw II and Saw III. He also appeared in a brief flashback during the latter film, having been rendered unconscious and placed in the bathroom as part of the setup for Saw. His name is seen outside his office door during flashbacks in Saw II and Saw IV, as John enters to learn of his cancer diagnosis. It was revealed in Saw III that Lawrence worked at the same hospital as Lynn Denlon. Also in Saw IV, Dr. Gordon is referenced to, but not by name, when Detective Fisk notes that another doctor from the hospital went missing (referring to Dr. Denlon); the "another" is in reference to the fact that Dr. Gordon went missing before Dr. Denlon.

In Saw V, Lawrence's name appears on a list of Jigsaw victims taken by FBI agent Peter Strahm as he starts his own off-the-books investigation. A flashback to a conversation in Saw VI, between John and William Easton, mentions him by name as well.

Saw 3D

In Saw 3D, it is shown that after he crawled from the bathroom, he used a hot steam pipe to cauterize his wound. After John sealed Adam in the bathroom, he found Gordon, who had passed out by this time, and pulled him into a room where he congratulated him for surviving. Later he fitted a prosthetic foot on him and allowed Gordon to help with some of his traps. He is shown sewing the key behind Michael's eye (Saw II), suggesting Lynn Denlon as a test subject to John (Saw III), stitching Trevor's eyes shut (Saw IV) and writing the second "I know who you are" note that Mark Hoffman found on his desk (Saw V). In Saw VI, Jill Tuck went to Saint Eustace Hospital and dropped a package off for Gordon; this proved to contain a videotape with instructions from Jigsaw to watch over Jill and, should anything happen to her, take immediate action on Jigsaw's behalf to avenge her. After Hoffman kills Jill and tries to flee the city, Gordon and two other people in pig masks ambush him. Gordon takes Hoffman to the bathroom in which his own game took place (Saw) and shackles him next to the decayed corpses of Adam and Zep. Hoffman tries to grab a hacksaw from the floor, but Gordon says "I don't think so" and throws it out of the room. "Game Over" is the last phrase that Gordon says to Hoffman before closing the door and abandoning Hoffman to die.

Reaction

A special feature in the form of a farce documentary called "Piecing Together Jigsaw," available on the unrated edition of the first film, stated that his whereabouts are unknown as of one year after the first film's events. When Lawrence is mentioned in Saw III, Jigsaw said that he had been Lawrence's patient, and Lawrence had been his.

When [Leigh Whannell asked Cary Elwes what he thought about his character's fate on the commentary for the Saw: Uncut Edition DVD, Elwes responded with, "Let's face it, guys. He's severed his whole leg off. The loss of blood alone, even with that pathetic tourniquet he made with his shirt. It's a wrap. He's not going to get two blocks." Also, Darren Lynn Bousman has said on the DVD commentaries for Saw IV that his intent was to leave Dr. Gordon's fate an unanswered question and let fans make up their own minds.

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 likability for the character. I think the 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."