Anna Camp Reveals How ‘True Blood’ Prepared Her For Her Role In ‘Hysteria’

Anna Camp is trading in her trademark blonde locks for a “mousy and muted” mom-wig from the 1980s in Peacock ‘s new thriller/horror series Hysteria , in which she plays Tracy Whitehead — an devoutly religious mother willing to do anything to keep her teenage daughter out of trouble, even if it’s at the expense of others. Sound somewhat familiar? This isn’t Camp’s first time playing an antagonist zealot. Many may also remember her role as Sarah Newlin in the HBO horror series, True Blood .

“I grew up in the South. I grew up around very religious women’s communities and a certain way that women presented themselves to the world. And I feel like Sarah Newlin was really kind of like a first stepping stone into building on to Tracy,” Camp told DECIDER in a recent Zoom interview, admitting that she gets “chills” thinking of how her previous role helped “prepare” her to play the villain in Hysteria , which takes place during the Satanic Panic of the 1980s.

While Tracy initially appears to be your stereotypical holy-roller in the Peacock series, we soon learn that she has a much darker side to her. Tracy decides to have her rebellious daughter “re-programmed” by a criminal who refers to himself as “The Reverend” — the same man her family shipped her off to when she was a teenage stowaway living at a hippie commune with a mystery man. But when her daughter’s secret boyfriend is killed in the kidnapping process, a terrified Tracy scrambles to cover up the murder with false accusations.

“I am always attracted to characters like that that have this sort of inner conflict where they have this mask that they present to the world and how they want to be seen,” Camp said, before adding, “I think at the end of the day, [Tracy] was taught to be shameful of who she really is as a person. So those are the most fantastic characters to play because they’re such a challenge and there’s so much going on inside of them.

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In DECIDER’s new interview with Camp, she also talked about that epic wig she wore in Hysteria and which heavy metal song from the ’80s she would’ve liked to see the Barden Bellas perform in Pitch Perfect . Check out our full chat below.

I love this show and I especially love the way it captures the ‘80s, whether it’s through the soundtrack or the hair. What was your favorite part about going back in time to this era?

ANNA CAMP: Oh, my gosh. So many things. But definitely for my character of Tracy, I loved my wig. I loved my hair. It was so exciting. Every day I got to go into the hair and makeup trailer and sort of become this other person. Katie Ballard is our hair designer, and really, when she puts it on my head, like everything shifts and changes and it’s that quintessential mom hair from the ’80s. So that was definitely my favorite part.

I have to ask about that wig you wore, because it took me a few seconds to even recognize that that was you. What was your first reaction when you put on the wig?

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It’s a crazy process because you read a script and then you get the role. And, you know, I had an idea of what maybe I was going to look like, but it wasn’t really what it turned out to be, which was really, really fun. And it really informed who I was. I thought they were going to use a blonde wig, like, really, you know, that kind of, what I’m known for as being a blonde. And it’s kind of got some gray in it and it’s very mousy and muted. And it just made me feel like an entirely different person. So that’s a huge compliment that you didn’t recognize me. I had some friends of mine come visit me on set and they walked past me. They had no idea that it was me. So that’s why I love acting as I get to sort of really transform into different people. And I just love playing Tracy so much.

Tracy is a super complex character. While she starts off as this very religious, godly woman, we learn that she actually has a much darker side to her. What was it like to play someone so multifaceted? What helped you get into character?

It’s a real gift to get to play roles that you expect them to be one thing and then the writers sort of give you this incredible backstory. I got to discover more about Tracy as I played her because, you know, you don’t get all the scripts right away. You get to sort of read them as you’re shooting. So it was really exciting to see what was really bubbling underneath the surface of her. And I am always attracted to characters like that that have this sort of inner conflict where they have this mask that they present to the world and how they want to be seen. It’s a real protective thing. Like even her hair, her wardrobe, everything is really buttoned up because I think at the end of the day, she was taught to be shameful of who she really is as a person. So those are the most fantastic characters to play because they’re such a challenge and there’s so much going on inside of them. So it was truly a real gift to get to play her.

Your role as Tracy is in some ways reminiscent of your iconic True Blood character, Sarah Newlin. Is that something you were conscious of? Have you been looking to get back into the genre space?

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I love genre. I always have. I just did a horror movie like a year and a half ago, and it was my first time really delving into horror, except for, True Blood was very genre. But as I was going through this with Hysteria , I felt like in a way, playing Sarah Newlin prepared me to play Tracy. True Blood was obviously a bit more campy, no pun intended. But yeah, I grew up in the South. I grew up around very religious women’s communities and a certain way that women presented themselves to the world. And I feel like Sarah Newlin was really kind of like a first stepping stone into building on to Tracy. You know, I’m older now. I’m like, that’s like over ten years ago. So I’ve grown as a person and I felt like the role was just something that was ready for me to step into because it has been a while since I’ve played somebody so similar as Sarah. So it was really exciting and I get chills thinking about how I was preparing to play this role back on True Blood .

The music in Hysteria is so good. Of course, you’re no stranger to a great soundtrack with your work in the Pitch Perfect franchise. What’s your favorite metal song? Is there one you would have liked the Barden Bellas to perform?

Oh, my God. Well, you know, I listened to this song a lot during my preparation for the role. There’s Danzig’s “Mother.” I love that song. It’s so good. And like, I guess it would have been kind of rad to see the Barden Bellas sing “Mother” and all of our mothers could come up and we get all those things together, so it would be kind of a full on Bella. And then the Bellas mothers singing “Mother” from Danzig. That would be super rad.

We’re a site that celebrates all things streaming. Since spooky season is coming up, what’s your favorite scary movie?

My gosh. My first scary movie that I watched at a really young age, which I probably should not have watched, but I love it so much and I don’t know if it really holds up as much anymore, but I loved Poltergeist . I really was affected because I think I was, like, the same age as Carol Anne, you know what I mean? And I was like, afraid to watch TV for a while. I was going to get sucked into the TV, but I recently watched it maybe a couple of years ago, and I don’t know why I was so terrified of that house and the monster, like, the spinning thing. Because now when you look at it, it looks so cheap. But at the time, I had never seen anything like that. And it was so crazy. So I love Poltergeist . I think it’s a great movie.

Hysteria is currently streaming on Peacock.

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