Monday, August 22, 2011

Body Snatched: Interview with Nelsan Ellis

Nelsan Ellis shares what it's like to play a character within a character, what's up with Lafayette's hair, and who he thinks Sookie should settle down with.


Possession is really the word of the season, and Lafayette gets a major dose of it in ‘Let’s Get Out of Here.’ How did you prepare to play the restless spirit of a murdered Creole woman?
Study the actress who’s playing the role. I was studying her dailies, and then she and I got together to work.  I talked a lot to Fiona and tried to figure out what “possession” meant to me. I realized that I don’t become the person – the person becomes me. They get into a body where the mechanics are already there. Mavis has this funky little swish to her walk, but I was like, “No, my hips can’t move like that.” But I’d have something subtle that suggested that that was the direction that my hips wanted to go in. So, I tried to figure out what subtle nuances I could take from her that would remind the audience of who she was inside of me but also stay true to what Lafayette is, what his body does and the fact that he’s still in there.

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