Unintentional or not, Clemens’s pursuit of turning acting into a serious career is nothing if not impressive. While filming Vampire, she read the script for Parade’s End, the forthcoming miniseries on HBO adapted by playwright Tom Stoppard. “I knew I just had to do this. And, literally, I’m filming this horror film, and the whole time I’m thinking about Parade’s End,” she says. Although she was initially rejected for the role of spirited suffragette Valentine Wannop,
Clemens did not quit. As soon as filming wrapped on Vampire, she flew to London and begged director Susanna White for 15 minutes of her time. White agreed, and Clemens showed up to the audition in Edwardian costume. Fifteen minutes turned into three hours, which included line readings with Stoppard himself—until he abruptly ended the session and walked out. “I walked home bawling my eyes out, in full period dress,” she recalls. “The day before I leave, I get a call that they want me to do another reading. I was like, ‘What? Do you want me in the outfit?’ And then I got the job.”