As if Andy Bellefleur (Chris Bauer) hasn’t put up with enough with all of the shenanigans Bon Temps throws at him, he’s left with dealing with four fae daughters at the start of Season 6 of True Blood. Things only seem to be getting worse for the town sherriff, especially after the recent death of three of his ‘young’ ones due to one of our favorite redheaded vampires. Actor Chris Bauer spoke about his specific role this season as a father, incest, and his own Alexander Skarsgard impression.
When asked about the direction Andy is headed in now that recent events have changed things for him, Bauer commented:
“Andy really has to draw a line for himself between power and powerless. And I personally find that line to be one of the most deep and rich veins of humanity. There’s a lot of hubris that goes into thinking you can avenge anything, that you can affect the world in such a way that creates justice. On the other hand, there’s a lot of shame and impotence if you can’t affect your world at all. I think it’s extremely human.”
To add to the sherriff’s plate, Andy must learn how to take care of four ever-growing girls.
How did he deal with the rapid speed of time?:
“We had to discuss how emotionally invested you can get in people in three days. You have to take in that it’s three days in True Blood time, not three days in real time. So I did have to figure out how to manifest a subtle level of realism, because I’ve only known these girls for a few days, which is a slightly different emotional frequency than if they had been 18. But our actual human response to children is a sense of instant bond, instant protection, instant affection, instant concern for their well-being and future. So I just went to that.”
In reality, however, Bauer commented that due to his own “immature” nature, he didn’t speak too much to the many actresses playing his children, but the young ones made him feel right at home as if he were home with his own daughter when she was that young.
“They didn’t understand things like camera direction or how to find the lens, so when you do those scenes with the little teeny girls early on in the season, I would say my line and remind them where to look, remind them what to say, they would have their reaction, and I would say my line, and they would just cut out all my on-camera direction. It was very cute.”
When asked about the ancestral incest found in the show, particularly in his Andy’s storyline with the romatic encounter between Andy’s sister Portia and Bill(Stephen Moyer) (and Bill being Portia’s great-great-great-great grandfather), Bauer agreed that while it’s also confusing, it raises the stakes on his daughters’ attack. The event refocuses one of the show’s original themes of character interaction in a world with very different types of people.
“It’s like two species trying to get along, even though externally we look the same. That’s where all the racism, all the homophobia, all the sexism, all the diminishing-others-for-their-differences comes from. It’s so applicable.”
As for the writing process, the actor said he has not spoken with the writers to pitch ideas. Everyone involved is rarely even together, he said, except for the table reads.
From being a part of these, he has a message for the world:
“The world needs to know that Sam Trammell does a spot-on impression of Alex Skarsgård. Sam is like a character actor in a leading man’s body. It’s ingenious. I’ve tried to do it myself, and I can’t do it. But when Sam does it, it sounds like Eric, and it has this breathy trace of a Swedish accent, you know what I mean? It’s brilliant. I’ve tried to do Joe — I can’t. And it’s not that hard to do Andy. [Laughs.] You just have to growl while you talk.”
We can’t wait to see the rest of Andy’s emotional journey this season!
Source: Vulture.com – True Blood’s Chris Bauer on Faery Fatherhood and His Alexander Skarsgard Impression
Photo Credit: HBO, Inc.
