The last season of True Blood left us chomping at the bit for what the final season may have in store for us. And now, with season seven set to premiere tomorrow night on HBO, we simply can't wait any longer. Before we wash our hands of Bon Temps, we attempted to gain a small amount of insight from one of the show’s newest infected creatures, played by newcomer Chelsea Ricketts.
Here, the young actress, who's previously been seen on The Killing as well as The Secret Life of the American Teenager, gave us the lowdown on putting on vampire fangs for True Blood and what to expect on its sure-to-be-insane final bow.
How did you get into acting?
When I was two years old, I won an OshKosh B’Gosh modeling competition and a trip for four to Disney World. After that, my parents put me and my sisters into acting, but I was the only one that ended up loving it. I've been doing it ever since. Although I went to high school in Texas and didn’t move officially to Los Angeles until I was 18, I'd fly back and forth between the cities for jobs.
What are some of your biggest influences?
I love cinema. I am a huge movie buff; I love to watch good actors. Rachel McAdams is one of my favorites and, obviously, Meryl Streep. I don’t think there's anything that I necessarily pull from them, I just love the art of movies and I think it's magical.
Were you into supernatural dramas like True Blood before joining the show?
Oh my god! Walking Dead and True Blood! I read all of the books and watched all of the zombie-style movies. I love that genre I love it so much!
How did you get a role on True Blood?
I was actually at my home in Texas and my manager called me and said I had just been offered a recurring role on True Blood. I was freaked out. I had been watching the show since the pilot.
It seems like everyone is going to finally be under one arc this season. It also seems like this is going to be the first season where we see a lot of the characters on screen at the same time.
That is what's so cool. These upcoming scenes are like massive. I got to work with Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, and Alexander Skarsgard all in one big scene!
Can you give us a little insight into your character?
Totally. I can’t really say much but I can tell you that I'm a bad vampire, a bad girl, and my name is Lucinda. I'm one of the infected vampires. The only thing I can really say, if I had to describe this season in one word, is that it is epic.
And your character is infected with the Hep-V virus. How big of a role are the zombie vampires going to play this season?
It's a pretty big part of the season, especially early on. We have kind of a lot to do with everything that is happening.
Who's been your favorite villain throughout the entire series?
I would have to say Marnie. Season four was amazing; she would have those supernatural powers and her eyes would turn black. She was awesome.
Any funny stories from the set of True Blood?
Well, a lot of us were new, especially a lot of us Hep-V vampires. We're not like Alexander Skarsgard and Stephen Moyer, who've been working with these vampire teeth for several years now. So we got vampire teeth and the crew would pour blood in our mouths and all this gory stuff and, in between each take, we'd be spitting everywhere. [Laughs.] In the show, they make all of it look so sexy, but I don’t think I did. I was slobbering and spit was pouring out of my mouth while trying to act. [Laughs.]
Can you give us one word that describes the return of Alexander Skarsgard’s character Eric?
Unexpected.
What do you have coming up other than True Blood?
I have From Above with Danny Glover, which is coming to theatres, which is also odd because it's already out on DVD, so they flipped that around. But I have that and then I have a movie called Ambivalent. It's coming on Lifetime and I play a young troubled woman. Then I have a horror film coming to theaters probably next fall called Lost Time.
Interview by Vincent Angiolillo
