Evan Rachel Wood
In the next episode of True Blood, we get to meet the Queen of Louisiana, Sophie-Anne Leclerq as played by Evan Rachel Wood.
Playing a vampire is in Evan Rachel Wood’s blood. Pun intended. The “Thirteen” actress’ father, Ira David Wood, once appeared as Dracula in a theater production, her brothers are huge fans of horror, and her mother used to read Anne Rice to her when she was a kid.“Vampires are both romantic and dangerous,” Wood told the Daily News of the undead’s appeal. “They could kill you or they could make you live forever. And it’s that anticipation of what’s going to happen that drives people crazy.”
Wood is an accomplished actress who in 1994, auditioned for the role of Claudia in “Interview with the Vampire“, but Kirsten Dunst got the part. She then moved to L.A. with her mom and brother, Ira, to pursue acting. She guest starred on “American Gothic” for a couple of episodes, and appeared in some movies including “Digging to China” and “Practical Magic” before landing her big break on the tv show “Once and Again” playing Jessie Sammler. The show lasted 3 seasons and was suddenly canceled in 2002. Since then, Wood has appeared in a number of movies, including “Little Secrets“, “Thirteen“, “The Missing“, and most recently, “The Upside of Anger” and “The Wrestler”. She is trained in dance and has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. She loves to sing, swim, rollerblade and go horseback riding. Her favorite actress is Cate Blanchett and her favorite actors are Edward Norton and Ewan McGregor. In 2003, Vogue Magazine named her one of the “It Girls of Hollywood.”
On a conference call in which The Vault participated, Alan Ball said the following about Evan Rachel Wood playing Sophie-Anne:
“She is going to be playing, Sophie-Anne the vampire queen of Louisiana. The vampire political structure in the state is that each state has a king or queen they are where the buck stops in terms of vampire politics. She does exist in the books but she doesn’t show up until the fifth or sixth book. It turned out that it had made sense for her to show up in the second season. I had actually gotten a call from Evan’s manager last year, during season one, saying that said she loved the show and would like to do it sometime. I thought great, if we find a role where she fits we’ll definitely make that happen. Then we decided to have the queen appear in season 2 that was the first person that came to mind. In the book she is a young woman, or a young looking woman, she’s more than 400 years old. And Evan is really beautiful and pale and she looks like a vampire to me!”
Wood said, that when he finally called with a part, she didn’t even read the script before saying yes and she thinks she’s perfect for the role of a bloodsucking queen because she has a vampire complexion.
The former girlfriend of goth rocker Marilyn Manson, says she’s sure she’ll become a hit among the make-up team. She says: “Make-up is gonna love me because I’ve got the skin for it; they don’t have to put white make-up on me – to look like a vampire – because I never go in the sun.” The actress added: “I can’t wait to get fitted for the fangs. I’ll probably steal the fangs when I’m done.”
Wood expects that somewhere down the road, she’ll have to get naked for the role. “It’s happened to everyone on the show, so it will probably happen to me,” said Wood. “For me, it always depends on who it’s for and what the context is. I’d probably do it for Alan Ball.”
Queen Sophie-Anne, is decidedly open to trying new things. “She’s not necessarily a lesbian, and I don’t know if I am having sex with anyone yet,” she says, “but I certainly have a steamy scene with someone that I don’t think you’d really expect.” While vampires do have a history of being quite omnisexual, there has been quite a bit of hype surrounding Wood’s character, and based on her own comments as well as those of others involved with the show, it’s been reported that Sophie-Anne was going to be a lesbian. But with only two episodes left of season two, it doesn’t leave much development for Sophie-Anne, so we’ll have to wait and see. I’m glad that it’s already been determined that Sophie-Anne will return in Season 3.
Wood says, “I feel like I have 500 different sides of myself, so when I read something that’s kind of different and weird, I’m curious about it and I want to dive in,” she said. “I love the acting on the show. There are a lot of new faces involved, everybody does a great job. I love the writing – it’s funny, it’s sexy, it’s vampires, it’s me.” The best part about guest starring on True Blood are the sexy costars. “That’s another great thing about my job,” Wood says with a laugh, “I was surrounded by beautiful people constantly.”
She will make her first appearance on August 30 when a desperate Bill seeks Sophie-Anne’s advice. When asked about Wood’s participation on the show, creator Alan Ball was tight-lipped about her character’s significance, though, saying that she will be “more important to some than others.”
You can find out lots more about Evan Rachel Wood by visiting this fan site.
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I can’t wait to see the impact she has on Bon Temps and its citizenry. Bring it on, Sophie-Anne.
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