Video:Michelle Forbes Interview - True Blood
with Rebecca MurrayMichelle Forbes played a maenad who got the town of Bon Temps all riled up in season two of 'True Blood.' On the red carpet at the BAFTA/LA TV Tea Party, Forbes talked about taking on the role and life on the set of 'True Blood.'See Transcript
Transcript:Michelle Forbes Interview - True Blood
Rebecca Murray from About.com Hollywood Movies at the 2009 British Academy of Film and Television Arts/Los Angeles TV Tea Party.
Michelle Forbes – 'Maryann' in True Blood
I'm a huge True Blood freak but I don't want to give away spoilers because there are some people who still haven't seen the finale. Can you believe that?
Michelle Forbes: "Shockingly, no. I don't know believe it."
This reporter next to me [from the press association] has not seen the finale yet.
Michelle Forbes: "I was so glad when it aired because I could finally start talking about it. It was so much fun to do, as you can imagine."
You looked you were having a good time doing it.
Michelle Forbes: "We were all having such a great time doing it. And what a co-star I had at the end there…"
You had a lot of co-stars at the end.
Michelle Forbes: "I did, but I had a special one at the very end. The big white…"
That was then Sam naked.
Michelle Forbes: "That was then naked, yes."
Was that fun to be on a show where it doesn't care that there's nudity, it doesn't care that there's sex, it just goes for it?
Michelle Forbes: "Yeah, well I do think this country tends to be [repressed] about that. It's a part of all of our lives and I think we need to sort of lighten up a little bit. And it's all in the name of good fun and fun sex, and sexy sex, orgies everywhere. And also I just think it's the most beautiful cast around."
Was there any part of that storyline that surprised you or did you expect it to go exactly how it went?
Michelle Forbes: "Everything in that storyline, yes. Whether it was cutting open a human heart or having these orgies, or just punching people in the face on a dime. Yes, marrying a bull – you don't do that everyday. So just about everything surprised me on that show."
When you get one of those scripts, like the one that said you're building a meat tree, I'm sure that's not something you ever expected to be doing as an actress, right?
Michelle Forbes: "There was hardly anything on this show that I ever expected to do as actress. Building the meat sculpture was an enormous amount of fun. Suzuki Ingerslev, our production designer, did a phenomenal job with that. It was just fun from beginning to end. Dancing, we have all that dancing too which was so much fun."
And now we won't see Maryann again.
Michelle Forbes: "No. I believe Maryann has gone to maenad heaven."
We don't know that much about maenads so maybe she's reincarnated as something.
Michelle Forbes: "I think after that goring, I think it's safe to say – unless she's running around with a big hole running straight through her body, I can't imagine… In Charlaine [Harris] and Alan [Ball's] world you never know."
Did you know this world at all? Were you familiar with the Sookie Stackhouse books?
Michelle Forbes: "No, I wasn't familiar. I wasn't familiar, but I am now."
So you get a script and it says you're a maenad, and you're like what the hell?
Michelle Forbes: "Yes. And then you do some research and then you try and figure out how it's lining up to the page. You have some knowledge of Greek mythology and yet you're dancing to the B-52s and you think, 'Hmmm…' But that's fun of it. That was the fun and the duality of it."
What are we going to see you in next?
Michelle Forbes: "I have a show that I did last year called Durham County that's airing on mid October. It's a very dark and mysterious and sort of broody series. It's a deep character study. It's lovely."
Sounds interesting.
Michelle Forbes: "Yes."
No movies in the future?
Michelle Forbes: "Not right now. I've been working, I've done three series back-to-back. I've been working for two years straight. I'm taking a little time off, a little well-needed time off to get back to my life. I want to make sure I still have one. When you're at work for 8 to 20 hours a day… My garden is kind of a mess so I'm back to my garden. I'm tending to my garden both metaphorically and literally."