Merkin Overtime: Evan Rachel Wood Struggled With Full-Frontal Mildred Pierce Nudity

wood_mildredpierce300.jpgI'd set this whole story up with background about Evan Rachel Wood playing Kate Winslet's daughter in the forthcoming, highly anticipated Todd Haynes/HBO miniseries adaptation of Mildred Pierce, but let's not pretend there's much to discuss at this point beyond the dynamite-looking period styles and holy effing crap, full-frontal Evan Rachel Wood?

Yes:

"I was a lot more nervous than I thought I was going to be," Wood said of the shocking scene she has at the end of the series' fifth and final installment opposite Kate Winslet, who stars as Mildred Pierce.

"I hadn't made my mind up if I was going to go full until we were rehearsing, and I was talking to Todd [Haynes, the series' writer and director] - like 'What do you think?' - and he was like, 'I think we're going to be chickening out if we don't just go for it.'"

At a New York press event for the miniseries, a retelling of the classic James M. Cain novel, Wood told us she credits Winslet, who famously bared all in The Reader, for giving her the courage to strip. "I looked at Kate and she was like, 'You've got to do it. Trust me, it's so brave. Put a merkin on and you'll be fine.'" A merkin? "Let's just say, I had to wear a wig because it was in the '30s, and everything had to look like it was in the '30s," explained Wood with a laugh.

Be right back; I swear I'm only going out to program the DVR.

· Evan Rachel Wood Nervous About Full-Frontal Scene In HBO's Mildred Pierce [XfinityTV]



Comments

  • The Winchester says:

    Wait, this is the girl who willingly has sex with Marilyn Manson, right?

  • Cameron Williams says:

    I don't like chicks to be completely bald down there. Why have they gotta copy each other like sheep? A few years ago it was tattoos and peircings now this. None of that crap makes you one iota more attractive! You're just competing with each other like mindless zombies.

  • Bruce_F says:

    I certainly have no objections to attractive women doing nude scenes but I'm having more than a little difficulty reconciling "Mildred Pierce" and "full-frontal nudity."

  • anon says:

    Gawd. Evan Rachel Wood Naked. How BORING! Is anyone alive out there getting all revved up over this shocking, groundbreaking development? zzzzzzz......I do hope she's less lame on Mildred Pierce than True Blood. naked on HBO , how tired.

  • METOO says:

    Agree with Bruce! Saw the original with Joan Crawford, I know Vida becomes some sort of dancer/entertainer but what does doing full frontal do the story? Aside from pointing out the obvious?

  • Steven L Brooks says:

    I often wonder how much the merkin is used for "historical accuracy" or if it is a way for the actress to not be REALLY naked?