Dana DeLorenzo interview: Perpetually graceful and gloriously candid

Dana DeLorenzo – Torn Between Two Lovers – Courtesy of Dana DeLorenzo

Torn Between Two Lovers

1428 Elm: From the little teaser that you put out on Twitter, it would appear that your character, Valerie Spoonts is Sheriff Hector Contreras’ (Luis Guzman) girlfriend.

DD: Well, I’m Paul’s girlfriend but I’m Hector’s paramour. Paul, played by the brilliant Damon Herriman, is Pa (Ben Kingsley) and Ma’s (Jacki Weaver) real son. He concocts a scheme to get back at his parents for stealing their parishioners’ money at their church, Our Lady of Perpetual Grace. He wants to take that money and use it for good, like Robin Hood.

In the first episode, Paul and Valerie discuss finding the right people to help them carry out the scheme. Enter James (Jimmi Simpson) and Hector.

When Paul meets James, he seems broken enough to be willing to assume Paul’s identity and pretend to be a drug-addicted grifter to get close to Ma and Pa. But as it turns out, Paul’s identity comes with its own set of serious problems.

Hector is a Sheriff in Mexico. We need to get him involved so he can keep Pa and Ma in a jail in Mexico for two weeks while we carry out the rest of the plan. We don’t want to hurt them; we’re just going to lock them up and take all their money. Then we’ll let them go.

Valerie sets out to manipulate Hector to get him on board. He is married and has a family. She wants to find his Achilles Heel, a sexual deviance perhaps.

Something she can use to get him to fall in love with her quickly so she can convince him to do this one thing for her. Valerie is doing this out of her love for Paul, so she can help execute his plan; but in the process she sort of falls in love with Hector so it gets pretty complicated.

1428 Elm: In other words, you are part of a love triangle?

DD: Exactly. How do you pick a side when you love two different people for different reasons and they’re on opposite sides? Valerie is lost, just like everybody else, so being with a person who sees her, really loves her and her flaws, that’s a hard thing to give up. She doesn’t want anyone to get hurt, but it’s inevitable.

This is what the show gets you to think about. Good intentions, bad results. All of the characters in the show are driven by the need to right the wrongs. Which creates a snowball effect of more wrongdoings.

And sometimes it’s funny. Life can be funny at its darkest moments. Everyone is going through an existential crisis of some sort. They get to a point where they all ask themselves, “Who have I become? How the hell did I get here?”

This show will break your heart and make you laugh at the same time.