Warlow’s True Blood big reveal on last night’s episode of the HBO vampire drama was the subject of a lot of chatter — much of it from interviews with actor Robert Kazinsky himself.
Warning: If you haven’t yet seen the episode and you don’t know the final twist, then it’s time for you to back out of this article now, because you’re about to encounter some spoilers.
The 29-year-old British actor who plays True Blood ‘s Warlow is also in the middle of a publicity push for his new movie Pacific Rim , which will be released on July 12. The Legendary Pictures film, which will also be available in 3D and IMAX 3D, is a science fiction mashup that features soldiers operating what they call “giant mecha” to fight invading monsters.
That was your chance to back out.
If you’re still here, you must understand that you might be getting some True Blood spoilers.
Kazinsky opened up to Access Hollywood about the not-entirely unexpected twist that Ben is indeed Warlow. You can read the whole interview there , but he’s undeniably enthusiastic about the reveal:
“Ben has always seemed like a very bland character beause you [couldn’t] show the fact that Ben was Warlow…I didn’t even know when I got the job that I was Warlow. I auditioned to play Ben and then I actually found out from the costume, way after I got cast, that I was playing Warlow.”
He also opened up a lot more about his concept of the character:
“Imagine a drug addict who is surrounded by his drug all day long. He hates himself every single time he indulges and he has to fight against his every single urge to take that drug. That is Warlow…He knows what is right and wrong and that’s the difference between a lot of the vampires on the show. [With Warlow] you have a victim and vampire in the same body.”
Kazinsky told Rolling Stone essentially the same story about how he found out that he would play Warlow.
He also described his struggle to win roles after being typecast in the United Kingdom as Sean Slater on wildly popular soap EastEnders. After leaving the role in 2008, he admitted that:
“I had a lot of downtime. I couldn’t book a job no matter how hard I tried.”
Apparently, he also developed a World of Warcraft problem and played for 16 hours a day, becoming a world-ranked player. The flirtation with gaming addiction allowed him to develop a real feel for the world of fantasy that he was able to use to win the True Blood role.
He’s an accessible actor, and he tweeted some light-hearted comments about the episode:
Everyone saw my bottom tonight…. That’s a weird thing to know happened. @TrueBloodHBO
— Robert Kazinsky (@RobertKazinsky) July 8, 2013
I think in time, no matter what I achieve in my career, I hope to be remembered for shaving @Ryan_Kwanten
— Robert Kazinsky (@RobertKazinsky) July 8, 2013
Fans seemed to like what they saw:
I think TRUE BLOOD is finally back on track after 3 seasons! Loved tonight’s episode!
— Chad Darnell (@ChadDarnell) July 8, 2013
What did you think of Rob Kazinsky’s Warlow in True Blood?
[photo of Robert Kazinsky via Facebook ]
