As we reported to you in April, we had the privilege of speaking to Candace Devine of the music group David & Devine about a number of subjects including their work with Mariana Klaveno. Fans of HBO’s True Blood know Klaveno as Bill’s (Stephen Moyer) wonderfully evil maker Lorena, and last week we here at True Blood Fan Source were so honored to have the opportunity to speak to her and get her thoughts on everything from her music taste to Lorena’s final death. While she may have played a vicious, conniving woman on True Blood, we were so impressed with how friendly, outgoing and generous Ms. Klaveno was with her time. Below is a recap of our conversation with her where her sense of humor, which had to stay hidden on the show, really came through.
1. We heard that you just got back from the Chiller Theater Expo in New Jersey – how was that? Did you have any strange fan encounters while you were there?
The expo was a lot of fun and allowed Mariana to interact with fans that loved Lorena. One fan went so far as to bring her flowers and she really found the fans to be, in general, lovely and gracious. While everyone loved to hate Lorena, they clearly don’t feel the same way about Klaveno.
2. You participated in the NOH8 campaign last year, was there any special reason that you did that or what prompted you to get involved?
Mariana explained to us that she has many ties to the gay and lesbian community through family, friends, etc. and she was really devastated when Proposition 8 was passed in the election so she felt she really had to do something. She really felt it was important to do what she could to fight the ignorance and intolerance that was behind this and she said she would absolutely do it again if she had the chance.
We spoke with Mariana about two of our staff who had participated in this campaign and had their pictures done while in Los Angeles for Paley Fest in March 2011. She joked about how good the airbrushing and touch ups are on the pictures, helping the participants to look their best. You can click here to see the her picture, along with that of our co-owner Shanea O’Connor and our staff member Isis Nocturne.
3. Were you familiar with David & Devine’s music prior to meeting them?
Mariana revealed that her brother had been close friends with Candace for quite some time and that she had the opportunity become friends with Candace as well. Through that connection, she was introduced to Dave and then attended one of their concerts. She was extremely impressed by the show, their music, their chemistry and stage presence. A conversation came up where it was discussed that David & Devine were looking to make a really great video and they wanted to have as much star power as possible. Klaveno then offered her services for the video, thus fulfilling a lifelong goal that she’s had of appearing in a music video (haven’t we all had that dream at some point – fantastic that she got to live hers).
4. What did you think of the final video?
We loved the video for ‘Til the Sun Comes Up’ (seen here) and when we asked Mariana what she thought she replied:
“I think its so fun. I love that they made the choice to go with a dark theme and a poppy song. I think if you had done one of the more serious or melancholy songs with the melancholy video it would have been overkill but I think they made the smart choice of pairing it with a poppy song. The contrast is really great and the end result is we kind of sneaks up on you – the sort of emotional dark place it leaves you in the end. I think the special effects are top notch and I love videos that tell a story. I think it really came out great.”
5. What type of music do you regularly listen to – is David & Devine the type of music you would ordinarly listen to?
Mariana tells us that listening to David & Devine is a departure from her normal type of music. She listens to more indie rock like Arcade Fire, Interpol, etc. but once she heard David & Devine’s music she fell in love with it. She describes her music taste as eclectic but she generally gravitates to the indie rock, alternative bands.
6. You were trained as a theater actor – which medium do you prefer as an actor. The stage or television?
Mariana told us that she finds both the stage and television satisfying in their own way but that her first love is live theater. She feels that there is nothing more electric than live theater and there is an instant connection to the audience which she loves. On the flip side she finds the process of acting for and engaging the camera to be fascinating as well and she finds that experience to be challenging and interesting.
7. How did you get involved with True Blood?
Unlike some of the other actors on the show who auditioned for one part but ended up being cast in another role, Mariana auditioned for the part of Lorena. When she first auditioned, the role was only scheduled for one episode in Season 1 but there was a chance it could be a recurring character. She read twice for the part and both times she was lucky enough to read for Alan Ball himself. She described the experience of reading for Ball as nervewracking at first but she felt really fortunate that she was able to get in front of him at all. She left the audition feeling like she hadn’t landed the part but she consoled herself with the fact that she at least got in front of Alan Ball. Naturally it was a surprise to her to find out that she had landed the part and the icing on the cake was finding out that the role had been expanded to a much bigger part.
8. Bill and Lorena’s relationship was much more complicated than other maker/progeny relationships on the show. What did you think of their complex relationship?
Mariana described Bill and Lorena’s relationship as “doomed” saying that Lorena had found what she was looking for in Bill but Bill clearly did not feel the same way. She says that the very thing that drew Lorena to Bill was the same thing that prevented him from loving her back. His honor and the fact that he is really at his core a decent man essentially made Bill turn away from Lorena.
9. Do you think there is anything either character could have done different to stabilize that relationship?
Mariana joked that if we had asked Lorena then she would definitely say yes but she doesn’t feel that there was anything that could be done to change the way they turned out. She thinks that the fact that the two were never meant to be is what made them so compelling and dramatic. Mariana says that one of her favorite scenes was the episode before Lorena’s death where she was torturing Bill and he says “I wish I could have met you before you were turned” and it stops Lorena completely and we see a glimpse of how moved she is. She goes on to say that it is one of the few times we get to see inside Lorena and how she really was a human before all this and she was somebody who loved and was possibly a beautiful person on the inside.
Mariana revises her answer and says maybe had they met as humans it could have been different. She thinks the relationship was doomed because Lorena is very flawed and that Bill always blamed her for turning him. Bill never wanted to be turned and he never really embraced that he was a vampire and that was a subject that came up many times between the two. He always rejected the idea of vampires being superior to humans and that feeding off them was the right thing to do because he always blamed her for turning him against his will.
We discussed that this attitude was reflected in the way Bill was with Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) at first in that he was unable to be a real maker and show her what to do. Mariana feels that Lorena got a bad rap and she talks about the flashback scene where Bill went to see his family and says that you can see in that scene that she is not a total monster. She says you can see the loving way she teaches Bill that as a vampire you can’t go back to your human life – that’s just going to cause pain.
10. What do you think Lorena’s best quality was?
Mariana jokes that her best quality was her fashion sense and her ability to really rock a dress and we must say Lorena did wear some pretty fabulous clothes! Joking aside she thinks her best quality was her loyalty saying:
“You can say what you will about her, but damn if she wasn’t loyal. She loved him until the bitter end.”
11. What did you think of Lorena’s ‘final death’ and how they had her go out?
Mariana says that she thinks they gave her a great death. She had wanted to have a knock down, drag out fight with Sookie, played by Anna Paquin, and the two would talk about how fun it would be to have that scene. Ultimately Anna pointed out that Lorena would definitely win since she’s a vampire. Mariana thought it was great that Sookie got to have her chick fight with Debbie Pelt (Brit Morgan). She described the episode before her death as beautiful and she loved that you get to see a glimpse of possibly who she was before she was turned. You also get a little bit of history on Lorena and helps to give us insight into why she was as vicious and tortured as she was. When her maker’s name was mentioned it shook her to the core and really upset her and you get a flash of sympathy for her. She likes that you get to see her as a tortured, flawed woman for a moment instead of a vicious monster and thinks it is great writing when you think “oh wait, maybe I do feel for her” just before she dies.
12. Will we be seeing you in any flashback scenes?
Good and bad news in this answer. Mariana says that she doesn’t think we will be seeing her at all in Season 4 but possibly in Season 5. That should make Lorena fans happy! She says everyone from the actors to the directors to the writers love doing the flashback scenes because on top of being so much fun, it illustrates so much about Bill’s character and it is always compelling to see what has made Bill the man and vampire he is today. Mariana says she would love to come back and do a flashback scene. She leaves it as “maybe, maybe not” but that she would love to.
13. Is there anyone from the cast that you didn’t get to work with but would like to at some point in the future?
Mariana laughs and says that she would love to work with 90% of the actors on the show. Her role had limited interaction with the other cast members and she says she was more than overjoyed to work with Stephen and Anna who are, in her words, incredible actors and wonderful people who she counts as friends. Aside from that she would have loved to have worked with Nelsan Ellis (Lafayette Reynolds), Sam Trammell (Sam Merlotte) and Carrie Preston (Arlene Fowler). Mariana says there are so many talented people on the show and she would have loved to have worked with any of them and would love to work with them in the future.
14. You recently tweeted that you will be appearing tomorrow on Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, can you tell us about the role that you are playing. (Episode aired on May 4, 2011)
Mariana played Veronica Day in the episode of Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior that aired May 4, 2011. We watched this episode and loved seeing her back in action. She describes her character as “not the most stable girl” and is morally and ethically compromised. She says the people on Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior tend to be creepy killers and she is no exception. Seems like she has a thing for bad girl characters! She jokes that she would love to play more good guys but she has a lot of fun playing the bad guys. You can see a couple of clips of Mariana on Criminal Minds here.
15. What can we expect to see next from you – do you have anything else on the go, anything we should look out for?
Mariana tells us that she did a film called ‘No God, No Master’ which should be coming out soon, likely at the upcoming festivals. Other than that she says she has been pretty spoiled by being on True Blood and she is having a hard time finding something as interesting and challenging as Lorena. She is reading a lot of scripts and trying to find the next project.
16. Are there any final comments or things you would like Lorena fans to know about her?
Mariana says “I hope that everyone loved to hate me” and that she is so greatful to everyone on Twitter, Facebook, etc. who have reached out to her and said that they missed her on the show and how much they missed her on the show. She wants to say thank you to all her fans for all that praise and she really appreciates it. She finishes by saying you never know, maybe those 6 inch heels and fabulous dresses will be making another appearance. We certainly hope so!
Again we cannot thank Mariana Klaveno enough for taking the time to talk to us. She was so warm and giving and we really appreciated her time. We would also like to thank her publicist Page Bingham of Pinnacle PR for setting this interview up for us.
Photo Credits: Michael Todd, CITYist.com
YouTube.com, Til The Sun Comes Up Video
HBO, Inc.
Michael Buckner, Getty Images
Video Credit: Mariana Klaveno.net
