SheWired's Exclusive Interview with 'True Blood's' Kristin Bauer

Kristin Bauer is excited. The actress, who has played characters like “Man Hands” on an episode of Seinfeld, is currently filming an episode of FX’s upcoming Timothy Olyphant starrer Lawman in Santa Clarita, Calif., where she’s working with some of the same cast and crew as her favorite show, “Deadwood”: “I get to find out all the dirt; that’s the show I’m fanatical about,” she says. And Bauer knows a lot about being part of a fan phenomenon: She’s currently on hiatus from filming HBO’s hit vampire drama True Blood, where she plays surly vampire henchwoman Pam.

With Season 3 still a long way off — it returns in June — recent talk from series creator Alan Ball has centered on Pam’s sexuality, most notably that her character “has a lesbian vibe.” SheWired.com recently caught up with Bauer to discuss playing gay, what’s next for Pam, nude scenes and why she’s excited to have screaming throngs of women chasing after her.

SheWired.com: What can you tell us about Season 3?
Kristin Bauer: The writers tell us nothing! (Laughs) When I see the rest of the cast I’ll go, “Hey, what do you know?” Or they’ll come up to me and say, “Do you know anything?” (The writers) are very smart because I think they realize we’re all fans as well and we’re all excited and we’d all probably talk. All we can sort of guess is what happens in the (Charlane Harris) books and what Alan gives us.

SW: Alan Ball has said that your character, Pam, has a "lesbian vibe." What do you think about her?
Yeah! Well, when I booked the job I was in the Philippines, and I was there for a month, and I had just read for True Blood and the producer of that movie said, “We have to get you back; you have to start work the day after you get back,” and I said, “On what?” And she said, True Blood. I was excited that I got that. (The producers) emailed me the first scene that I had — it was with Sookie (Anna Paquin) and Bill (Stephen Moyer) — and I show up the next day, deliriously tired, not knowing what country I was in, and when I read it I thought, “Oh, she (Pam) likes Bill and Sookie equally.” So it came across in the writing to me that she was definitely at least bisexual; she at least didn’t discriminate — if you’re a hot woman, you’re a hot woman, and if you’re a hot guy, you’re a hot guy. There was some line about how sweet it is looking at Sookie. I didn’t think anything of it; I thought, “Oh, that’s who she is.” Then a few episodes later there was a scene with Sookie in the bathroom where she pulls a piece of vampire Longshadow out of her cleavage and comes really close and says, “I’m beginning to see what all the fuss is about you.” I thought, “Oh yeah, she really likes Sookie.” I didn’t think anything of it. So it makes sense to me; it was in the writing, and it makes sense to me for Pam.

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