I’m kind of bummed that I’m not going to be watching HBO’s Mildred Pierce, but I guess I’ll just end up watching it whenever it comes out on DVD. It premieres this coming Sunday, and it looked good. Anyway, for those who aren’t watching it, Kate Winslet plays the resilient matriarch and Evan Rachel Wood plays the spoiled-bitch daughter. Everything is Depression-era, period detailing. Even the biscuits, you know? Meaning there were no Brazilian waxes during the Depression. So when it came time for Evan Rachel Wood to discuss her nude scene, her screen mom Kate Winslet gave her a word of advice: go for the biscuit merkin.

To prepare for the part of Mildred Pierce’s daughter, Veda, in HBO’s depression-era miniseries “Mildred Pierce,” Evan Rachel Wood worked for months with piano and dialect coaches. But there was one aspect of the role that no amount of studying could ready her for – full-frontal nudity.

“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.

“Kate helped me,” she continued. “She gave me strength. She kind of dared me. I also felt I had to prove it to myself. I had to do it at least once — get it all on film now so when I’m 80 I can look back at it and say, ‘Yeah! I did that!’”

What about “True Blood,” a show that seems to have nudity written into ever actor’s contract? Wood, who stars as vampire queen Sophie-Anne, said she’s still waiting to be asked to disrobe. But even then, she nervously confessed, “I don’t know. It depends. I can’t say I had a lot of fun.”

[From Fancast]

If I had ERW’s body, I would be all “can we get more nudity into the contract?” But I suppose every woman feels like her body isn’t up to snuff, etc. It’s funny to think that there is such a thing as period-detailed pubic hair, but it makes sense. Have you ever looked at 1970s porn? It’s amazing how different the body and the hair situations were even a few decades ago.

By the way, you know what ERW is doing right now? She’s filming in Cincinnati, being directed by George Clooney in The Ides of March. Clooney “hand-picked” her for the role after telling her that she goes from “innocent to sexy in the drop of a hat.” Yeah… Clooney wants to see her biscuit merkin.

Also – is the Marilyn Manson stuff over? I think it is, but you never know. I hope ERW realizes that she could do much better.

Photos courtesy of WENN.