True Blood’s Nelsan Ellis definitely loves playing Bon Temps’ flamboyantly gay tough guy Lafayette Reynolds. And what’s not to love? That swagger, those outfits, the sassy southern lingo, and that eye shadow. While Ellis isn’t exactly like his stereotypical alter ego, he recently admitted to the New York Post that he and Lafayette are more alike than you’d initially think:
“The only difference is behavior and what we do in life. But other than that, he comes out of my anger, my pain, the femininity that’s in me from watching my mother, and my masculinity. He comes out of me. That’s hopefully how I make him human.”
He also admitted that finding his place in Hollywood wasn’t very easy. After graduating Juilliard he headed west to find a job, but had a difficult time getting his foot in the door:
“Everybody kept saying, ‘I just don’t know how to sell you,’ ” he recalls. “I’m odd. I don’t think you can put a finger on me. I have some sex appeal, but I’m not the sexy dude. Although I can be a leading man, you wouldn’t look at me and go, ‘He’s a leading man.’ ”
Before landing in Bon Temps, Ellis had guest spots on a handful of network television shows, but then Ellis met Lafayette and things changed almost instantaneously. Ellis’ incredible portrayal of the short order cook / prostitute / drug dealer made Alan Ball reconsider Lafayette’s fate from the Charlaine Harris books the series is based on: getting murdered. Ball told the Post:
“I knew the first day of working with him that Lafayette couldn’t die, because Nelsan is such an extraordinary actor and presence. I wasn’t going to let that go.”
Even though Ellis doesn’t divulge any season 4 spoilers, he did say that Lafayette has a lot to do and that “exploring new territory is fun.” And it sounds like we’ll be seeing Lala lose control when it comes to his new-found power(s).
Click here to read Ellis’ interview in its entirety.
Source: New York Post – Rise of Lafayette
Photo Credit: HBO
