Thursday, August 11, 2011

True Blood’s Fiona Shaw on Playing the Witch, Rehearsing With Vampires, and Conjuring the Dead in Real Life

Season four of True Blood is the season of the witch, i.e., the season of Fiona Shaw. In her role as the sorceress Marnie (who is possessed by the spirit Antonia), the actress is wreaking havoc among the vampires of Bon Temps: erasing Eric’s memory, melting Pam’s face, and generally bringing unwanted sunlight into their lives. It’s all great fun for Shaw, who didn’t get to do much in the way of magic as Aunt Petunia in the Harry Potter series. Now she even gets to levitate. Vulture phoned the actress in London and talked to her about spotting witches on the subway and trying to conjure the dead.
Were you a fan of the books or the show before you signed on for this?
Alan Ball discouraged me from reading the books, which I don’t regret; I don’t want to hanker for material I don’t have. But when I started reading the scripts, and the first lot of Latin came my way, I knew there were challenges ahead! [Laughs.] And when we had the first read-through, and suddenly seeing all these vampires in person, that was very stunning. I had to adjust and remind myself that they’re all just actors. Nan and Pam, they’re my favorites. Both vampires, both very sour.

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