Mariana Klaveno : Kidult

On HBO's hit series, True Blood, Mariana Klaveno plays Lorena, a tragic vampire who can't accept that the man she loves will never love her back. Despite her convincing, scene-stealing work as the psychotic Lorena, Mariana says she's nothing like her character when it comes to love and relationships. The adorable actress spoke to Kidult about her character's obsession with Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), why she'd never chase a man who doesn't want her, and her practical advice for female stalkers.

We recently saw your character, Lorena turn into a puddle of blood on True Blood. Is she really dead?

Yes. But I would love to do some flashbacks. I certainly don’t have any knowledge of that happening because they keep everything under wraps, but I wouldn’t be surprised if in the next season or 2, they want to show even more of Bill’s history through that relationship. I made some choices about what Lorena’s human life looked like and I would love to get to show that. I’d revisit Lorena any time!

 

The general consensus on Lorena is that she’s psychotic, evil and manipulative. But isn’t she just searching for love?

Lorena does monstrous things but her motivation is always love. She’s a tragic character and that’s what I find so endearing about her — what she desperately wants, she'll never get.

 

What was it like shooting that disturbing sex scene where Bill turns your head 180 degrees?

[Laughs] It was uncomfortable on many levels, but I don’t think I was alone on that. I think Stephen was uncomfortable. You feel vulnerable in those scenes, but I’m lucky to work with people who are professional, supportive and considerate. Don’t worry, those jokes that everyone has made about the scene, we made all of them before you did!

 

Bill not only twisted your head 180 degrees, he also set you on fire, punched you in the face and bashed your head in with a plasma TV. Which of those scenes challenged you the most?

The thing that I had to keep reminding myself was that Lorena is far stronger than Bill. So anything that he’s doing to her — she’s allowing. When he’s twisting her head around — she could, at any moment, throw him across the room, but she doesn’t. There’s also a scene where we’d just come back from killing a stripper and I’m following him into his room and he slams the door right in my face — I looked at the writer and the director and I said, ‘I could just rip the door off the hinges and walk right in… there’s nothing stopping me.’  So we decided that when he punches me in the face, I would smile because the thing with their relationship is that whenever Bill gets into his darker, violent side, Lorena feels like she’s winning.

 

Why couldn't Lorena accept that Bill didn't want her back?

If we go back to the 1st scene that you see them in, she’s obviously been searching for a companion for a long time and had deemed many unworthy. Bill proved himself to be an honorable, good man and so that’s what initially made her fall for him. But the reason she can’t give him up is that she chose him to be with her forever and he didn’t hold up his end of the bargain. I made a decision for myself that Lorena was denied love in her human life and so she continues to search for it in her vampire life. There’s something in her innately that desperately needs that companionship, that relationship and that love.

 

In your own life, have you ever felt like it was worth chasing a significant other who didn’t want you back?

No. I’m not like Lorena in that way. [Laughs] The times when somebody has broken it off with me — I’ve let that be that. I'll never become the psychotic girlfriend.

 

What advice would you give to a girl who is trying to hold onto a man who doesn’t want her?

Don’t break any laws. It will only end badly. [Laughs]

 

What is the key to a good relationship?

Clearly, Lorena doesn't know the answer. [Laughs] I think mutual respect, trust, and honesty are always needed.

 

Is all fair in love and war?

On True Blood? Absolutely. In real life… not so much.