NY Post Interview w/ "True Blood's" Anna Camp

[JamesG]

Camping It Up

‘True Blood’ actress reveals why she likes playing the bad girl and why she’d consider a career in rap

by GREGORY E. MILLER
July 8, 2013



The higher the hair, the closer to God.

No one knows that better than Anna Camp, whose surprise return to HBO’s “True Blood” last Sunday as Sarah Newlin has fans of the hit series in a frenzy — in part due to the debut of her enormous new politician’s ’do.

“That was the biggest my hair has ever been and may ever be, ever in my lifetime,” laughs Camp. “We went through a lot of teasing and a lot of hairspray. I had to get an industrial-size brush to get it out.”





With the click of a pair of ferociously spiked heels, the show welcomed back Camp as one of the series’ most popular characters. It’s been four years since she appeared for an arc in Season Two as pastor Steve Newlin’s wife. When she wasn’t busy sleeping with Jason Stackhouse (Ryan Kwanten), she worked to spread the gospel that vampires have no place on Earth. The thinly veiled parody of the country’s right-wingers may seem passé, but Camp gave a certain bite to the role.

“She puts on a show when she walks out of the house,” says Camp, 30. “She doesn’t always say everything she means, but there’s a lot of burning desire.”



And because the perky Camp grew up in South Carolina, she knows the type.

“She’s my mom, to a T,” she jokes. “I just bought my mom her first pair of blue jeans, like, a year ago. She got them tailored and doesn’t wear them ever.”

That's about where the similarities end.







In the new season, things have changed for the Newlins. Sarah’s pastor husband is now not only a vampire, he’s gay. As a result, Sarah picks herself up, dusts off her pants suit and — what else? — writes a tell-all book and sinks her teeth into a political career.

Camp is coy on specifics, but rumors are swirling that Ms. Newlin’s return means she’ll emerge as one of the biggest villains.

“Sarah is really passionate about fighting the vampires more than ever this season, because obviously she’s embarrassed by her husband, and she finds herself in a situation with more power than she ever expected,” Camp says. “Perhaps this isn’t the healthiest thing for Sarah.”





But Camp has no problem playing the bad girl: One of her earliest acting experiences was in elementary school, when she was cast as a drug dealer in a D.A.R.E. play.

“I remember coming home and telling my mom when I got cast, and then being like, ‘What do I wear? What does a fourth-grader wear to play a drug dealer?’” she recalls, laughing.



The role stuck with Camp into adulthood, when she began auditioning, like every New York actor, for spots on “Law & Order”.

“I used to go in and have to walk down to Pier 62 all the time to audition for drug dealers,” she says. “And I was like, ‘I’m never going to get this,’ and I’d have flashbacks to my fourth-grade D.A.R.E. play.”



And in Pitch Perfect, last year’s surprise hit about an a cappella group, Camp played Aubrey, the group’s snobby leader. Her hilarious sniffing made lines such as “A-ca-scuse me?” instant classics.

“When you have the mean girl, you can’t just hate her. You’ve got to love to hate her,” says Camp. “There’s a certain line you have to walk to play the mean girl. You obviously can’t be in on the joke, but you have to commit to it. I’m hoping that that’s what it is, and that directors don’t meet me and they go, ‘Wow, what a bitch. She’ll be a great bitch!’”







“True Blood” creator Alan Ball, at least, seemed to think the opposite.

He originally tested Camp for the lead role of Sookie Stackhouse, which eventually went to Oscar winner Anna Paquin. (“We passed each other in the hallway, and I was like, ‘Oh, Anna Paquin. She’s totally going to get this,’” says Camp.)



Not getting the part of Sookie allowed Camp to take on another career-making role. She starred, full monty, opposite Daniel Radcliffe in the 2008 Broadway revival of “Equus”. But she’s not quite ready to show all that again on “True Blood”, a show infamous for its gratuitous nudity.

“I don’t know if I would do it if they asked me to,” she says. “It would depend if the scene was something that I think really called for it.”



But that’s not to say Camp doesn’t go full throttle on set. At the end of a three-day “True Blood” shoot for what Camp calls “the most epic scene I’ve ever shot in my life,” she bumped her head and began to feel dizzy and nauseous. The resulting hospital visit marked a turning point for Camp’s celebrity — because the staff seemed more interested in her autograph than helping her.

“I was like, ‘I’m about to fall over here and pass out, and you’re asking me for a picture!’” she says.



Camp adds that she’s currently “unemployed,” but is happy to entertain the idea of becoming a rapper, as her Twitter bio states.

“You never know,” she laughs. “My rap name is The Vodka Cran, and if I ever have just the right amount of vodka cran, I’ll bust some beats.”



Perhaps she can hook up with Amanda Bynes, who claims to be working on a burgeoning rap career.

“Oh good, maybe we could meet up!” says Camp. “Or not.”

http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainmen...m4kPiMEDJF7yDM

[irehtman]

Anna Camp has to return to her previous FOX 2012-present comedy as a reduced guest because her previous FOX 2012-present comedy is in trouble right now.

Same thing for Amanda Setton, who is appearing in Hawaii-Five-O as a recurring member in the meantime!