Vera Farmiga discusses Norma Bates, ‘Bates Motel’ season 2
The hit show Bates Motel is back for the second season and star Vera Farmiga is talking about her character, the mother of Norman Bates.
“I admire her tenacious love for her child. She goes to extreme lengths to give her child the life that she imagines for him, and that is really valiant to me,” Farmiga tells Collider in a Mar. 2 interview discussing Norma’s admirable traits.
“I admire her generous heart. She’s really disarmingly honest. Those are amazing qualities that she possesses. The flip side of Norma Bates is that her software is a bit faulty. She doesn’t wrap Norman in bubble wrap, all the time. After all, this is a story about family dysfunction. I have to work so hard to get an audience to identify with her, to defend her, and to admire her. For me, the name of the game is to present a woman who lives every day in the trenches of maternity, and in the trenches of her own stubbornness and denial. Those negative qualities influence me to be a better parent. Norma’s two demons are denial and stubbornness, and that keeps me in check.”
The biggest challenge for Norma will be separating herself from her son and finding happiness for herself.
“She’s totally too involved, and she’s unable to cut the cord. With survivors of childhood sexual abuse, it’s really complex. It impedes the ability to trust. These poisonous feelings that she has are embedded so deep in her psyche, and she’s never uprooted them. She just has this vault, like a burial chamber, where she squashes all that sadness and stress and torment. She’s totally preoccupied with Norman because she has discovered and suspects that there’s something not quite right, neurologically, with her child. It’s not a job for the faint-hearted. Every ounce of energy is about trying to struggle with raising this atypical child, and doing it as a single parent. She’s also got her own painful history to contend with. She’s got this rampart that she’s built. It’s like the walls of Constantinople. It’s a lifetime of defensive walls that she has.”
Farmiga stars with Freddie Highmore as Norman with Max Thieriot, Nestor Carbonell, Olivia Cooke and Nicola Peltz.
Check out the full interview HERE
Bates Motel is returning to A&E for Season 2 on March 3rd.
Read more at http://collider.com/bates-motel-season-2-3-vera-farmiga-interview/#Fam1Ep6uR8y7YLVA.99
Read more at http://collider.com/bates-motel-season-2-3-vera-farmiga-interview/#Fam1Ep6uR8y7YLVA.99
