True Blood’s Carrie Preston was interviewed by the AV Club and she talked pretty much about all her films and TV appearances.
Carrie Preston, is a veteran of stage and screen who has lately begun to move beyond smaller character parts in movies and on television, tackling directing—with the feature film 29th & Gay and the upcoming That’s What She Said in addition to her role on True Blood.
Below is the part of that interview where Carrie talks about her role of Arlene Fowler on True Blood:
Carrie Preston: The role is designed by the writers to play on the stereotype of Southerners in the media. She’s designed to be ridiculed. [Laughs.] What I like about playing her is being able to ground her in some kind of truth while still honoring that humor and that thing that she represents. I love it that I’m responsible for serving up the humor on the show, but what has been wonderful for me is that the writers have also given me more dramatic things to deal with. They’ve trusted me with some of those more touching themes that I didn’t expect that I was gonna be given the opportunity to play back when we were shooting the pilot. For me, that’s what makes the show work, that balance between the drama and the comedy, and that the show never takes itself so seriously that it becomes sanctimonious. I think that’s part of why the fans like it so much. It trusts that the audience is gonna go with us through all of the tones we hit along the way.
Our responsibility as actors is to not judge these characters, but to empathize with them and to figure out why they’re reacting the way they are. The higher the stakes, the more conflict, the more interesting they are to watch. It’s actually a gift as an actor when you’re given really high stakes to play, because ultimately that’s gonna be more compelling than if you’re just playing a scene where you chatting with someone in the kitchen over coffee. They don’t have scenes like that in True Blood. [Laughs.] It’s very rare that we actually sit down and have a one-on-one with someone. Everybody’s pretty much on the move, dealing with these extraordinary circumstances. There are 50 storylines up in the air at all times. I think the audience has become comfortable with that, and frankly that’s what they expect now. Not just from our show, but I think a lot of television in general. That kind of kinetic speed just keeps people watching.
To read the entire interview where Carrie talks about her other projects, go to: avclub.com
