Over the course of the last five seasons Kristin Bauer van Straten’s Pam has gone from a fashionable vampire queen of the one-liner to someone who is all of those things but is also extremely loyal and has vulnerabilities and fears just like the rest of us. Kristin herself fielded questions from Bello about Pam’s evolution, what she’d like to see next, and what makes True Blood one of the best shows out there:
“From an acting perspective, it’s been lovely because my character has evolved so much over the years. The writers are masterful and also my cast is so good, so much fun, and we get to laugh a lot. So all-in-all it’s the perfect scenario.”
Pam’s tell it like it is personality is always fun for Kristin to play. But there are still sides to Pam that she would like to see:
“One of the things that I love about Pam is that you never have to edit what she feels. She doesn’t worry about being liked. Ever. She does it and says it like it is. I also feel like she has so much integrity and honor. I don’t see her as bitchy or evil anymore. I feel like she’s got a very strong code of honor and she doesn’t break it for any reason; and she’s incredibly loyal to Eric. (Alexander Skarsgard). [But] We haven’t really seen Pam be vicious. We haven’t seen Pam be this warrior animal that is a vampire. I’d like to explore that, we’ve seen her fashion side, but I don’t think we’ve seen her feral side.”
What about that accent though? Last year we got a glimpse into Pam’s past and she’s not actually from the south. Not to mention we’ve sen her speak Swedish with Eric:
“We had a guy who coached the first episode, but then we haven’t had him again. My theory with the accent, at least with Pam was that she moved around a lot. She also spoke Swedish, so I though wait a minute, she apparently must’ve picked up this accent after living here for a while. I felt that it should be fairly subtle, it shouldn’t overpower you. That was my theory, I’m glad it worked. You actually don’t ever know until you film something and six months later hear feedback.”
As for what makes True Blood the show that it is, Bauer van Straten credits the vision of creator Alan Ball. Though we see werewolves, fairies, and vampires on our screens every week, just under the surface there’s a larger message about every day issues that the audience can draw from:
“It’s because of Alan Ball. I fell in love with his writing through American Beauty and Six Feet Under. He’s an incredibly sensitive man who has something to say. And he uses this arena of supernatural characters to talk about huge issues that are in the news and in politics everyday on earth–Things that we live with. I feel that it’s very entertaining at first glance. But just beneath the surface are very poignant true remarks about our life in our society. It’s not really a show about vampires or werewolves and shape shifters. That’s just the arena that we’re in, but it’s actually a show about humanity and how we on earth try to live with each-other and how we treat each-other.”
So has there been anything that has shocked Kristin over the last five seasons? Yes. But she’s also still amazed at how in spite of some of the supernatural things that have happened on the show, the characters are still grounded in the human experience:
“I think the one that we all laughed up and giggled the most uncomfortably at the table read was when Bill turned Lorena’s head around and just kept having sex with her. That was somethin’.
There have been a few wardrobe fittings where we wonder with Pam if we crossed the line, and then we thought, there is no line when it comes to Pam’s wardrobe, we can do almost anything we want. So, for pam I haven’t had anything particularly where I thought “oh that’s too far.” I keep ogling over the screen because as an actor you just don’t get to play a character where you have such a strong core of great writing, with all these crazy supernatural things like getting to fly, or eating another human being, while at the same time the character’s grounded in reality. So, I love every second of it. But there’s usually in every episode a day where we’re shooting something, and I just had this last week– and I went “You guys, we’re at work, this is what we do for work.” It’s hilarious and awesome, and then we go back to filming.”
What do you think the most shocking moment on the show has been? Sound off in the comments below!
Source: Bello Blog.com- “TV HANGOVER: True Blood’s Kristin Bauer Van Straten “Expect extreme fun and unpredictability” (EXCLUSIVE)”
Image Credits: Axelle, Bauer-Griffin and HBO, Inc.
