Popular culture is loaded with socio-political meaning, intended or otherwise. When actress Michelle Forbes is involved, it is often intended -- for the better. With her keen intellect and passion about politics and society, Forbes responds with enthusiasm to roles that offer layers of meaning. Even when vampires and serial killers are involved.
"It is never," she says from her Los Angeles home, "just a TV show." Her favourite small-screen, big-idea credits range from Star Trek: The Next Generation through Battlestar Galactica to Homicide: Life on the Streets, In Treatment, True Blood and Durham County. "In this day and age, television and film has such a massive impact on us."
What kicks off our conversation is the recent DVD release of two of these potent TV series. Both feature the strikingly handsome, 45-year-old Forbes as a second-season guest star.
One is the American-made True Blood, Alan Ball's lurid cult hit starring Anna Paquin. Vampires rule the sultry, southern U.S. town of Bon Temps. Metaphors abound, as always in vampire lore. Warner Home Video released True Blood: The Complete Season Two on DVD and Blu-ray May 25.
The other show is the Canadian-made Durham County, Muse Entertainment's dynamic thriller series starring Hugh Dillon and co-created by Laurie Finstad-Knizhnik, Janis Lundman and Adrienne Mitchell. Set in a fictionalized suburb of Toronto, it explores the complications of crime in a passive-aggressive, semi-rural setting. Anchor Bay released Durham County: Season 2 on DVD-only July 27.
Forbes (born Michelle Renee Forbes Guajardo in Austin, Tex.) has an interesting take on visiting Canada. "It's funny to think that a very thin border separates the two of us. We look alike (in a multi-cultural sense). We sound alike. And yet it's a completely different feeling when you cross that border."
For her, the feeling is elation because she is fascinated by Canada's unique culture, especially after enduring George W. Bush's America, an era Forbes found suffocating. She also crossed that border to work. Durham County offered stimulation.
"Ultimately," Forbes admits, "not everything we can do can have great meaning. But I feel that I have been really fortunate, (including) on Durham County. That first season especially, Laurie Finstad really wanted to explore this idea of violence in really fascinating and subtle ways: How our youth is both seduced by this sexuality that is being flaunted through our popular culture, but not understanding how directly this relates to the level of sexual violence that is happening."
So, when she came to play Dr. Penelope (Pen) Verrity to Dillon's crusty detective Mike Sweeney, Forbes was already committed. "I was very, very pleased to be part of that team."
With True Blood, she remains a fan of Ball's show, even though her season two character, the villainous Maryann Forrester, is not in season three. "I think what is so brilliant about Alan, and the very delicate tones that he has chosen to be a part of this show, is that the political undercurrent is there if you want it. And it's there if you need it. At the same time, it doesn't have to be. He's never preachy about it."
For many, True Blood is a metaphor for the oppressed, including homosexuals. But of course it's also infinitely more complicated. "I often compare it to Battlestar," Forbes says.
"Battlestar was an extraordinary show that was able to use the future as a political and metaphysical metaphor for today, questioning war and our ethics and our humanity. As well as being deeply dramatic and entertaining on an emotional level. The characters on both shows are deeply rooted in their emotions, making them very real."
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