It takes a strong woman to strip down to her birthday suit the first day on the job, and model-turned-actress Jessica Clark is just that and more.
The 27-year-old Brit is causing a stir on HBO’s True Blood as the beautiful and beguiling Lilith, who we met in Episode 7 when her naked body rose suddenly from a pool of blood. We still don’t don’t know much about Lilith, who is said to be the world’s first vampire — is she even real, or just a V-induced hallucination? — but according to the actress who plays her, the truth will soon reveal itself.
Wetpaint Entertainment recently caught up with Jessica, who gave us the inside scoop on her character, what it’s like being the new kid in Bon Temps, and how she calmed her nerves in front of co-star hottiesAlexander Skarsgard and Stephen Moyer!
Wetpaint Entertainment: As a newcomer on the show, what was it like filming your first scene completely naked in front of a group of people you just met?
Jessica Clark: It was pretty intense. It was my first day on set, so you show up early in the morning, and you start meeting everybody, go to wardrobe — as it were, not that I had a particularly extensive wardrobe. [laughs] And the other actors, everybody on the set was incredibly kind and welcoming. The cast is great, the crew is great.
The scene, as you remember, is in the karaoke bar, so there are a lot of people there. You have almost all the vampires, plus the wedding party, plus the extras, and then you have the full crew as well. It’s a closed set, but a closed set just means anybody that isn’t central to the scene isn’t there, but there were a lot of people who were central to this scene. [laughs]
You must have been nervous! What was your mindset?
My mindset as Jessica was that you obviously want to do a good job, and it’s your first day, and so you get a little anxiety in that respect, but I just really tried to keep my mindset as Lilith, who is this all-powerful vampire goddess. In no way shape or form would she ever experience any self-consciousness or anxiety. To be naked is the natural state coming out of the blood.
So I really just tried to stay present and connected to that power and omnipotence and the thrill of her witnessing The Authority really feast and really worship her in that respect.
How did you get into character? Did you channel Lilith in the biblical sense, or was there some other strong female figure you had in mind?
I read about Lilith herself. I did some research on her. She’s present in various books of mythology, and various histories and different cultures had different interpretations of her over the years.
I just so enjoyed her power as a woman, as a biblical, historical, and mythological woman. For a female to have that kind of power and presence was extremely rare, and she was demonized for it in some cultures, so it was that more so than any other specific character.
I really tried to connect with the different interpretations of her, and of course, the specific interpretations that the True Blood world has created.
