A Bloody Good Actress

Lindsay Pulsipher, the actress known around these parts for playing werepanther Crystal Norris on HBO‘s True Blood, is starring in an upcoming horror film titled The Oregonian.  It is the feature debut of her boyfriend, Calvin Reeder, whose previous projects include short films Piledriver, Little Farm, and The Rambler, all of which Lindsay also starred in.  The Oregonian premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, and was considered “one of the most exciting horror entries” by the website Bloody Disgusting, who had a chance to interview Lindsay by phone.  When asked to describe her character, she explains:

“She’s leaving this terrible home life. She’s kind of escaping her past. And she gets into a car accident and…the way I think of it is she doesn’t know if she’s alive, dead, or floating somewhere in purgatory, heaven or hell, or wherever. So it’s kind of her journey. She discovers where she’s going, and who she is, and what she’s about to become.”

She describes her boyfriend (the director) as “esoteric” and “surreal”, and thinks that even after watching the movie, viewers may still not understand it.  When trying to describe the feeling of Reeder’s films, she says:

“You’re kind of in this alternate universe and you’re just trying to kind of grasp it. And I don’t think you ever really can. You just kind of have to enjoy the ride, you know?”

A Nightmare to Film

Shooting took place in Seattle, which is where the director is based.  Lindsay found it physically draining to work in the mountains, in the freezing rain, especially since she had the flu while filming the first half of the movie.  Being drenched in freezing cold blood didn’t help matters.  On top of the physical demands, Pulsipher also found the film emotionally draining.  To get the part just right she “had to go to some dark places”.  That being said, she actually credits the nightmarish conditions with helping her character’s development saying:

“Yeah, while we were shooting it was kind of rough, but now in hindsight it’s kind of a beautiful thing. I love the way that it kind of impacted everything. It’s kind of nice.”

The Horror of It All

According to Lindsay, The Oregonian “gets pretty gory but it gets really weird, in addition to the gore.”  She agrees with her interviewer that Reeder’s films, in general, “defy easy categorization” to the point that Reeder himself doesn’t think they’re horror films.  When Lindsay is asked whether she believes they are, she responds:

“Well you know, I think that there’s definitely scary elements in each film. But I always look at his films as more art films than I do horror. But there’s definitely that element of terror that he carries in all of his films. But I don’t think that I would say they’re horror, because that sounds too simple. It’s more layered than that to me.”

She admits, however, to being a huge fan of the genre.  Declaring the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre as one of her all time faves, she says:

“I think that’s one of the most beautiful films ever made. I definitely appreciate [the genre] for sure. That doesn’t mean that when I’m on set of Calvin’s films that I don’t wonder ‘what the hell am I doing?’”

Lindsay does enjoy this type of work, though.  Which is a good thing, considering she’s becoming a series regular on True Blood.  She’s currently filming Season 4, but claims not to know much about what we have in store.  Oh, the suspense!  So what do we think of our Crystal?  Are we looking forward to the storyline between her, Jason, and Hotshot?

Source: bloody-disgusting.com– Sundance ’11 Interview: ‘The Oregonian’ Star Lindsay Pulsipher

(Photo credits: Scott Honea)

Edited by: Shanea O’Connor