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044 OCTOBER 2015
Walton Goggins has quickly
become the new Bill Paxton in
terms of the roles he lands in
movies like Machete Kills and Tarantino’s
Django Unchained and upcoming western
The Hateful 8. He’s also a familiar face on
television.
Prior to appearing as Timothy
Olyphant’s nemesis, Boyd Crowder, in
Justified, Goggins worked with Sons
of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter on his
crime series The Shield . He later
pitched the idea of appearing on
SOA as a transgender character.
Sutter liked the idea and Venus
Van Dam was born, making her
debut in the show’s fifth year
and securing a bigger role
in the sixth and seventh
seasons, not least as
a love interest for the
oversexed Tig (Kim
Coates).
Transforming
himself into the
transgender prostitute
with a heart of gold
wasn’t as simple as
putting on a dress,
a wig, and a pair of
heels, however.
“You have all
these incredible
technicians –
makeup and the hair
department for the
obvious and then the
prosthetic department
and wardrobe,” he
explains. “These
guys deserve as
much recognition
to this character.
They own it just as
much as I do and
Kurt does. They're
extremely talented.
"But for me, preparation starts a good
probably 10 days before I get here. I
just start my process. I always start off
scared, really insecure about pulling it
off. And then I start with a facial. Then
I get waxed and then I get a mani-pedi
and then I shave my whole body. And
then I shave my whole body again
and then I shave it again. It starts
with a trip to the pharmacy to pick
out the right things and the right
kind of perfume. And it's a process.
I spent more money to look this
way than my wife does. She gets
pissed off because I buy really good
shit.”
Beyond the cosmetic
applications, Goggins fully
embraced the responsibility that
comes with portraying a
transgender character.
“The hardest part for me
is the extreme insecurity
that I felt getting into her, and not wanting to
do a disservice to this community and trying to
do it in a way that is extremely respectful," he
says. "I wanted to live up to that. And I know
Kurt is the same way. I know he has the same
fears. We talk about it. Once we do it and we
get it, then it's like you just put your best foot
forward and know that you're coming from a
good place and let the chips fall where they
may.”
Venus’s acceptance by SAMCRO as a friend
and ally, without judgement, is another strength
of the show that resonated strongly with
Goggins.
“That's kind of been the journey, winning
them over and if she can win them over, well
then she can win the audience over, can't she?
I mean that's kind of the whole point and this is
arguably the most testosterone driven show on
television, really. You know, these mothers are
tough, and for them to embrace her, I think that
says a lot about them. I mean the episode I did
last year with Katie [Sagal], with Gemma, and
the way that she treated Venus when she first
met her, to the end of that conversation, her
just saying ‘whatever you need, baby, I'm here
for you. I got you.’ It just speaks volumes about
who these people are and how far they've
come in their ability to love someone that's not
only outside of their club, but outside of their
framework for normalcy.”
He’s also gratified by the acceptance the
audience has shown for the character.
“I feel like we've done our job, and
thankfully, that has been the response. I get
it first hand on the street all the time. And I
just got back from doing this movie in New
Orleans and there are people – men, women,
conservative, liberal, Hispanic, black, white,
Chinese, you name it – that really embraced
her. And that just means the world to me and I
know it means the world to Kurt.”
So will there always be a place for Venus Van
Dam in Walton Goggins’ heart?
“She's allowed me to see the world through
her point of view, and that's forever changed
me,” he says. “In some ways she is the most
at peace, self-realised person I have ever
played, more so than Boyd, more so than
Shane [Vendell in The Shield ], more so than any
role I've ever done in any movie. She is here
and present and I think that the fact that she's
transgender is just f-ing awesome."
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Walton Goggins frocks up again as transgender prostitute
Venus Van Dam for the final season of Sons of Anarchy.
She's allowed me to see
the world through her point
of view, and that's forever
changed me