Nelsan Ellis : Vibe

Part of True Blood’s appeal is that the cast portrays their characters so well that it’s hard to believe they aren’t real. Enter Lafayette, played by Nelsan Ellis. Lafayette is a gay man who is flamboyant and egregious but at the same time isn’t stereotypical. He’s masculine but also feminine and will knock any man out if he’s pushed that far.

However, the man behind the character is  the opposite. Ellis is a Julliard trained, perfectly straight Alabama native who initially struggled with bringing Lafayette to life but now that he has it down, he’s hoping that other industry insiders will remember that the character he plays is fictional. In edition to True Blood, he recently rapped a feature film, has his own screenplay in the works and wouldn’t mind appearing in a Tyler Perry project. Here, he tells VIBE how he brought Lafayette to life, what the gay community thinks about the character and how he plans to transition beyond his True Blood role. ⎯Starrene Rhett

VIBE: Lafayette is dead in the book so how did you make the TV character your own?

Nelsan Ellis: I think by the second or third audition I got some bad notes from the casting director. They figured I was playing a stereotype or something like that so I got a friend of mine to come and work the audition with me and somehow I found the character inside of me versus putting on something that wasn’t real. Alan Ball wanted the character to be a myriad of things and at first I was skeptical but I somehow found it, maybe it was God helping me out.

So that stereotype you were playing must have been a Queenie type of gay guy, huh?

Yeah, at first because in the break down he was supposed to be almost drag queenish but I didn’t really play that right coming in, even when I got the job. I didn’t really find Lafayette until the third or fourth episode because I certainly didn’t have him in the pilot. There were takes where I was playing with who he was and takes that I was—they just happened to pick takes that were consistent with who Alan Ball thought the character should be.

 

What do you find most intriguing about the character?

That people like that character [laughs]. There’s something about the dude that’s likeable. Even I was watching myself and criticizing myself—I go, “I like that dude.” The most intriguing thing about him is his strength and his stillness. If you watch Lafayette he doesn’t do very much. He’s not quick on his toes unless he gets heated. He’s just in that southern way—sort of sauntering along, being who he is which is something I never intended. It just happened.

 

What’s been the feedback from the gay community?

Only in that they haven’t seen a dude like that before. And he’s not a stereotype. I think somewhere along the line they didn’t like that he was a prostitute. But I did [laughs]. It’s who he is. I don’t think it’s a reflection of the gay community that's just Lafayette. But this is just from what I hear, I haven’t really spoken to the gay community outside him [laughs].

 

So no men trying to get with you in real life, thinking that you’re Lafayette?

I get that but I don’t sit down with folks like, tell me what y’all think. But I get the hitting on me and stuff. But then again, I do play a gay character.

 

How annoyed do you get when people can’t differentiate between Nelsan and Lafayette?

It annoys me when the industry people are like that but I can’t just get upset with regular folk because all they see is the character. But when the industry can’t tell the difference, I’m like, “Damn that’s a little closed minded,” because when white people play a character people expect it to be a character. But black people—we can’t just be character actors, we have to [really] be the things we’re hired for, which is what offends me. I don’t answer that question, “Are you gay or not,” when it comes down to industry people. But if it’s a regular person asking me, that just says that maybe I’m doing a good job. But when a casting director or an agent asks me that question it takes on a deeper thing that says, “I can’t believe you’re doing this unless you are that.”

 

Speaking of characters being played very well, Snoop Dogg has a crush on Sookie.

I didn’t see the video [for “Oh Sookie"]. They sent it to all of us but I’m in the process of moving and my Internet is down [laughs].

 

True Blood has clearly become a cult phenomenon. What is it about the show that’s so captivating in a culture that’s flooded with vampires ad nauseam?

It’s because it’s edgy and sexy. Everything else is kinda chained and pussy. With True Blood, you don’t know what to expect. You don’t know how wild it’s gonna get. It’s like the Jerry Springer of TV shows but at the same time you got legitimate actors. Everybody on there is a legitimate actor who’s trying to get to the place that the writers are trying to send us to. I don’t think there’s a show as edgy, innovative and quite frankly, they’re shot well. Each episode looks like a movie, so I just think that True Blood has more edge and it has more spontaneous stuff that goes on.

 

Lafayette has been a lot softer lately as he’s being manipulated by vampires and reconnecting with his dysfunctional mother. What new developments can we look forward to with his character?

He’s gonna get softer because he’s gonna fall in love but there’s still gonna be that violent part of Lafayette that don’t take no bullshit. But yeah, they’ve given him a love interest so hes gonna be wrapped up in that and dealing with the complications between he and his mom. But we may see a darker Lafayatte, who knows.

 

Is his love interest human, a vampire, a werewolf or some other mythical creature we have yet to meet?

His love interest is going to have something going on. What? I cannot say.

 

What are your thoughts about gay marriage?

I support it. I think anybody should—I mean—I have my religious views but I don’t choose to oppress them on anybody. I think in this country, anybody can do whatever they want to do as long as it’s not hurting anybody else or violating the laws of society. If you want to get married to a man then get married to a man. If two women want to get married they should get married. It’s not hurting me. The beautiful thing about this country is that I can be a Christian and feel free to do so. Or somebody cannot be a Christian and do whatever that entails. Or somebody can be a Christian and still be gay and I support it. Let gay people get married.

 

Talk about your up coming film, Secretariat.

It’s based on a true story about the fastest horse in history. My character is Eddie Sweat. He’s the groomer to this horse. Lafayette—I—play a real person and it’s a good story. Diane Lane is quite marvelous in it too. The horse’s name is Secretariat [and] his time is yet to be beaten. It's supposed to come out in the fall but I don’t think they have a date yet.

 

You’re also a writer, what are you working on?

My sister was murdered in 2004, by my brother-in-law. She was murdered in front of their then three-year-old son and she was three months pregnant at the time. So I’ve been working on a project called Ugly that Julliard produced Off Broadway and at Santa Monica Play House here in California. The next step is I wrote a screenplay that I’m trying to get done. Now we’re trying to bring the play back or take it to New York again. Domestic violence is an epidemic worldwide and in this country, and I think this will be one way—based on the success of Precious and the industry now trying to take serious black dramas seriously—now I have a fighting chance to get it done and at the same time bring some light to this issue of domestic violence, which again is a huge epidemic. It’s a family secret. The screenplay is called A Bird in the House and the play version is calledUgly. So that’s what I’m trying to get done. I have a few other things but right now I’m focusing on that.

 

Speaking of Precious, Tyler Perry is one of the names attached to that project and he comes under a lot of scrutiny but would you consider being in a Tyler Perry movie?

Hell yeah! I don’t care what they say about Tyler Perry. That man is doing things that not many people are doing who had the power and the money and the credibility long before he did so I don’t think anybody should say a fucking word about Tyler Perry! That man is producing black material and he’s hiring black talent. And he has his own company to do it with. Whether he knew how to do it in the beginning, that’s neither here nor there, but I know that it’s improving. I will be in one at the drop of a dime. My godmother, Viola Davis, was in one. If he will hire me I will absolutely be in one of his movies. I don’t even understand the scrutiny. He’s setting an example by which we should follow. I think if it’s black people criticizing him then they should stop and follow suit. If they think they can do better then they should do better. He’s giving us the blue print. If you think you can do better then follow suit and make it better.