“True Detective”
marked HBO’s biggest debut since “Boardwalk Empire” in 2010, and when
it returns for its second episode Sunday night (January 19), not only will
viewers get more of the pitch-black murder mystery and great performances from
Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, but they’ll see Alexandra Daddario
take on her most mature role to date.
The actress is known for her
roles in the “Percy Jackson” series and the most recent “Texas
Chainsaw Massacre,” but on Sunday’s episode, “Seeing Things,”
Daddario takes on a part that she described to MTV News as a “huge
challenge.”
As Lisa Tragnetti, Daddario
plays the young woman who has an affair with Detective Hart (Harrelson), and after
just a brief appearance in the first of eight episodes, her role greatly
expands in the second. Speaking with MTV News, Daddario recalled her decision
to take on the role and how she approached her revealing scenes with Harrelson.
“I think one thing about
this role for me was that it was a huge challenge for me, and I saw it as a
good challenge. I saw it as an interesting challenge,” Daddario said.
“I really wanted to be part of the show, and I understood why the nudity
and all of that was required of the character…. The character is really
different from anything that I’ve done before. The nudity was just part of
that.”
On the day of the shoot,
Daddario took comfort in her more costar, whose experience helped her through a
situation that could have been awkward.
“Woody has done so many
different things. He made the whole situation very comfortable,” Daddario
said. “It wasn’t anything awkward in that sense. I tried not to think
about it too much before shooting the more intimate scenes and just sort of did
it. [Harrelson] has been there done that. He’s Woody Harrelson. If there’s anybody
that I was going to be comfortable with, it’s somebody like him.”
“Seeing Things” only
just started to tell the story of Lisa in the context of Hart’s life, and
Daddario says that there’s likely some trouble coming from the relationship.
“I think she’s definitely
got some issue. Nobody is all good or bad,” Daddario said of her
character. “If anything, she is probably a little bored and emotionally
volatile and naïve. She has probably done things like this before, maybe not
exactly how it all turned out. That’s her role in Hart’s story. She causes
problems for him.”
