Friday, July 8, 2011

Nelsan Ellis on True Blood’s Season of the Witches, Lafayette’s Mohawk, and Dodging the Marines

Nice interview ...

Give him your tired, your poor, your gay prostitutes, your drug dealers, and your symbolically orphaned and Nelsan Ellis will handily weave them all into one character. Or at least that's what the Southern marine turned actor does on True Blood in the role of Lafayette Reynolds, the short-order cook who's proven it's possible to be both sassy and swaggering. This season, he'll put his moxie to good use, nurturing a relationship with new boyfriend Jesus and taming a coven of overachieving witches. How does he do it all? We spoke with the molasses-tongued Ellis about the turmoil in store for Lafayette as well as Ellis's real-life drama, which easily rivals his True Blood material.
You look nothing like Lafayette in real life. How much goes into physically getting into character?
Um, I wear more makeup than any of the girls on the show. I wore everything initially: eye stuff, lip stuff. That didn't work too well on my face, so it just evolved to where it is now.
What about Lafayette's hair this season? Was the Mohawk your idea?[Whispers.] Yeah, that was my idea. I figure since he's got a boyfriend, he probably wants to jazz it up a bit.
Did you base Lafayette on anyone?
He's inspired by my mother: his spirit, his strength, his femininity, his masculinity, his hand gestures, his hair pieces. A friend saw a picture of Lafayette and goes, "That looks like your mother, dude." I don't look anything like my mother, except when I'm Lafayette. I look like my father.

read on

1 comments:

Rita said...

I for one love Fafayette's mohawk and not everyone does,but that is just me.