ETOnline: Season four was a pretty major one for Pam -- looking back, what did you think of it?
Kristin Bauer van Straten: It's a really biased memory for me because everything is based in memory of getting the script, picturing the scene and then performing it. So what happens is when I finally watch the show seven months later, I'm looking to see if it looks like what I pictured in my head and if I did what I wanted to do. And I feel like I did last year. I had such a, no pun intended, meaty storyline [laughs] -- also, to have Eric losing his memory and choosing Sookie over Pam gave me a lot to do, which is always fun.
ETOnline: Eric's memory loss was a storyline you'd been pushing for since season one. How did the reality live up to your expectations?
Bauer van Straten: It was better than I thought it would be because they added the dilemma of Pam's rotting face [laughs]. Selfishly I just wanted to see Alex [Skarsgard] act sweet and cute – I mean, in the book he wore pink spandex, which I'm bummed didn’t happen on the show. I thought a 6' 4" Swede in pink spandex would be fabulous, but I guess some things are better on paper. What I didn't realize is I would have this whole other storyline to deal with – which exceeded my expectations. And that always happens with our show. Every year, I've been given more than what I imagined for myself or hoped will happen.
ETOnline: How much time did you spend in the makeup chair last year given the various degrees of decomposition Pam went through?
Bauer van Straten: On average it was five hours. But to just do that one 4-second scene where I pull my face off when Marnie first curses me, that was 9-hours for the test run and then 8-hours on the night to shoot it. Then there were three stages, so I'd sit in the chair, get the first stage applied, then get brought into the field, run the camera for a minute, put me back in the chair for another three hours and then do it again. It was really fascinating process.
ETOnline: How did you pass the time?
Bauer van Straten: It's the most bizarre five hours because I had three grown men working on the right side of my face. Initially I thought I'd watch something, but you can't – in a weird way you have to help them, so you're constantly moving around. Eventually you just zone out, go completely brain-dead. In the beginning, you're aware of people all over you, but it's a bizarre relationship with these makeup people – it bonds you for life.
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