A nice little article and interview with actress Anna Paquin where she talks about the growth Sookie has made from Season to Season and how much fun she's having playing her!
The Winnipeg born, New Zealand-raised actress who plays Sookie in Oscar-winning writer-filmmaker Alan Ball’s trippy, twisty vampire drama based on the popular series of novels by Charlaine Harris, appeared both resplendent and visibly relaxed in an immaculate ivory cocktail dress and sensible shoes as she made her way from the Beverly Hilton lobby to the main ballroom, through a shaft of reflected sunlight, accompanied by her beau and marriage partner of 11 months, Stephen Moyer. The real — some would say surreal — world of Hollywood glitz and glamour is a far cry from the ill-fated telepathic diner waitress and emotional roadkill Paquin plays on TV, where her character is chased, day and night, by all manner and matter of vampires, werewolves, Wiccans, creepy babies and shapeshifters — each and every one of them hidebound determined to see that Sookie not live to see another sunrise. In one important respect, True Blood’s onscreen fiction of star-crossed love and fortuitous fate has crossed over the factual realm. Moyer, 41, is not just Paquin’s life partner. As followers of the TV version of True Blood well know, Moyer also plays the tragic vampire Bill Compton and a suitor for Sookie’s attentions in the four-year series, now confirmed for a fifth. Paquin, who is slender and petite to Moyer’s manly, masculine bearing, is sunny and upbeat, if a little philosophical at times about being True Blood’s emotional punching bag. This season is proving to be particularly arduous, with Paquin having already been on the receiving end of mock fights and physical confrontations that have, well, gotten a little out of hand at times. Paquin is high-energy, impulsive and talkative, cheerful even, where Sookie is stubborn, self-reliant and given to sudden flashes of anger. "Stubborn people get themselves in a lot of trouble, but they also get things done," Paquin said. "She’s a pretty good person to have in your corner. She’s willing to put herself out there. "Besides, if Sookie wasn’t so stubborn, our show would be a hell of a lot less exciting," Paquin may have been raised in New Zealand but her natural accent is midwestern prairie — Canadian, really — a far cry from the U.S. Southern accent she affects for the hardscrabble bayou belle she plays in True Blood. More Here & Source On and off screen couple Anna Paquin & Stephen Moyer spoke to the Toronto Sun in a very dark and dry humour way about True Blood along with giving props to their supporting cast.
“We do ritualistic animal sacrifice, we host orgies on our trampoline every other Sunday - you guys didn’t get our Twitter feed on that?” said Paquin, standing beside her husband Moyer, in a small media scrum following the True Blood session at the Television Critics Association tour. “And then every once in a while we run through the city and drain people and drink their blood,” Paquin added. “It’s really very romantic.” Paquin plays Sookie Stackhouse and Moyer plays vampire Bill Compton in True Blood, which currently is airing its fourth season Sunday nights on HBO Canada. Paquin, 29, and Moyer, 41, weren’t a married couple when True Blood began, but they are now, having tied the knot last year. Ironically, as Paquin and Moyer got closer off-camera, their characters had a big falling-out on-camera. “I actually pitched to Alan (Ball, True Blood creator) that I was getting a bit bored with our life, and could he add somebody else to the mix,” Moyer said. “Thanks, babe,” Paquin responded, rolling her eyes. An aside from a journalist’s perspective: Generally, I don’t like interviewing two people at the same time. Often they talk to each other, or at the very least they instinctively edit each other, rather than having a genuine conversation with the interviewer. But I have to say, Paquin and Moyer were charming as a duo, especially in the small scrum after the formal panel. They were more animated together, playful even, than on previous occasions when I’ve seen each of them speaking with the media on their own. For example, at one point Paquin and Moyer were asked what they do during their down time on the set. “A quick 10 minutes in the trailer?” Moyer, asked, rhetorically and hopefully. Again, Paquin rolled her eyes. Certainly with Sookie and Bill on the “outs”, and Sookie now protecting and finding herself attracted to Bill’s enemy Eric (Alexander Skarsgard), Paquin and Moyer don’t have as many scenes together this season as they’ve had in the past. “Truthfully, we got to know each other on set, and all the crew and everybody knows us together,” Moyer said. “So they kind of tell us they miss it - I mean, they’re probably lying, but they tell us they miss seeing us together.” When Paquin and Moyer are with each other at home, their favourite TV show - besides True Blood, I assume - is Breaking Bad. “Absolutely, utterly obsessed,” Moyer said of Breaking Bad, which airs Sundays on AMC. Paquin and Moyer also took time to give credit to two of the other actors on True Blood who they feel don’t get as much attention as they should. “There’s always a lot of talk about the weres (werewolves) and the vampires, but Ryan Kwanten (who plays Jason Stackhouse) and Sam Trammell (who plays Sam Merlotte) are unbelievable and consistently amazing,” Moyer said. “I love watching both those guys.” “And they get so little credit for how incredible they are,” Paquin added. “So a big shout-out for them.” Despite genuine admiration for the rest of the True Blood cast, Paquin and Moyer mostly have radar for each other. So how long did it take before they realized they could be more than co-stars? “I waited for her to tell me that she really fancied me before I admitted anything,” Moyer said. Yet another eye-roll from Paquin. But without a doubt, there was love in those peepers. SOURCE Kristin Bauer (Van Straten) spoke to Access Hollywood on Pam's need for revenge and if she will get it. Along with outting where her maker Eric is hiding away.
"“What’s great about ‘True Blood’ is they put us in [a] situation and the situation is interesting, but what I find even more interesting how we react and how Pam reacts this year, in this political post-Russell Edgington world where she’s supposed to be shaking hands and kissing babies, Pam goes a bit feral,” Kristin told Access Hollywood as she stopped at the Wired Cafe at Comic-Con 2011 over the weekend in San Diego. “It’s fascinating how the vampires in charge try to rein her in and what her reaction is to that.” A shock even readers of Charlaine Harris’ books couldn’t have seen coming was when Marnie, possessed by an ages old witch casts a spell on Pam, causing her to begin rotting, something Kristin said her character is ready to avenge. “Pam wants permission to go kill the people who did this to her and she’s also trying to keep it hidden that she knows where her maker is, but she’s just not a strategist,” Kristin laughed. While on Sunday’s episode, Pam is likely to face the repercussions for lying to King Bill about where Eric was stashed, Kristin herself couldn’t keep quiet regarding how delightful Alexander Skarsgard’s performance has been as an amnesiac vampire in the past few episodes “Alex without memory… Is that not the sweetest thing… So charming. Alex is so charming and so funny and so smart,” she said of her friend and co-star. “He’s just the loveliest guy and… the scenes with him this year… I told him, the girls are gonna be stratospheric-ally in love, not that they weren’t already.” Kristin’s Pam certainly wants her maker’s memory to come back and she also wants to get her own mojo back. Whether that will happen by the end of the season or not, however, is uncertain. “She’s certainly going to try. Sometimes on ‘True Blood’ things will get worse and worse and more dire,” Kristin said. So could there be a good turn out the end of the dire situation Pam finds herself in? “We always hope so, but even when things get better, they’re so clever about [it], it’s like there’s always a sort of side effect of ‘better’ that we didn’t see coming that creates a new problem,” she said. SOURCE Actor Sam Trammell spoke to NY Mag on what's going on with Mr Merlotte this Season along with Dexter and aliens.
"Congratulations on completing season four. What was that wrap party like? This year a lot of the cast had already gone off to their respective countries. But last year was crazier. There are definitely people on the show that like to have a good time. [Laughs.] Me, one of the writers, [Alexander] Skarsgard, and [Ryan] Kwanten — we're not shy of doing shots, let’s put it that way. You know Kwanten … both those guys … I don't wanna speak out of turn, but they probably wouldn't mind. They drink like champions? Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Kwanten, yeah — for sure. You grew up for a bit in Louisiana. Do you think the accents on the show are, you know, overblown? I think everyone does a really good job. When you talk about the Louisiana accent, the people in the north have different accents than the people in Lafayette, which are a little more Cajun. Everyone sounds a little bit different, but everyone sounds a little bit different in the south. That was very diplomatic of you. [Laughs loudly.] This season, we’re getting the feeling Sam just can’t trust his brother, Tommy. True? [There’s] a huge deception and a huge violation of trust. Tommy is definitely in deep water. He's got Maxine [Hoyt’s overbearing mom], but Tommy's running out of friends in town. And Tommy's trying to cheat Maxine out of her land, so he's really burning a lot of bridges right now. Will he outright turn evil? I don't know if I can really answer that specifically. We're going to find out what price you pay when you shape-shift. That's going to be a big issue. There's a lot of mess that Tommy has already created that I have to clean up, and there's potentially a lot more mess. He's kind of a loose cannon. And what of Sam’s new relationship with Luna? Luna has a very scary ex-husband and father to her child [and a werewolf]. Sam is going to have a major conflict with the werewolves. What if Sam just shape-shifted into a werewolf? [Long pause.] I wonder if I could. Probably so. I like that. Continue Interview & Source Charlaine Harris talks about Alan Ball taking her famous Sookie Stackhouse series to HBO and the fans. Another article where she confirms she will only be writing 13 novels in the series. It's sad it's coming to an end, however the series is so great you can re-read them all several times. Plus we still have the show to enjoy!
In 2001, Harris published Dead Until Dark, the first in her Southern Vampire series focusing on Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic waitress with a vampire boyfriend named Bill. The books found a fan in producer Alan Ball, best known for the series Six Feet Under, who mounted the TV version for HBO. Harris sat down for a chat last week in Toronto. What books spurred you toward a writer’s life? I read everything, everything when I was young. My family revered reading above all else. I read a lot of Edgar Allen Poe, of course, and the Nancy Drew books. I read a lot of books past my age level. My parents encouraged it. Were you always drawn to the solitary writer lifestyle? That was certainly the attraction, but it wasn’t an option in the beginning. In my first marriage I was the breadwinner. I was working at a minimum-wage job at a newspaper, in the darkroom. That’s not an easy job, but I had to bring in some money. When I got married the second time, my husband offered me the option of staying home and writing, which was an amazing offer. And one he’s really glad he made now. After writing several mysteries, you segued into the supernatural with the first Southern Vampire book in 2001. Why the switch? You know, my career was not going that great, and I thought if not now, when? I needed to shake something up. There are a lot of rules for mysteries, so I wanted to do something different. It was time for me to write a book with everything in it that I always wanted to write, without worrying that it wouldn’t fit into the mystery genre. Did diving into the supernatural grant you fresh creative licence? Oh, it did. I’ve never watched horror movies or anything like that, but I’d always been interested in the macabre. I think Edgar Allan Poe captured fear and the grotesque so wonderfully. That interested me more than the bloody aspect of it. How did Sookie move from the Southern Vampire mysteries to HBO’s True Blood? They came to me. I’d already had an option on the Sookie books that never came to anything, which was fortunate, because when I got the approach from Alan Ball I was able to take it. I’m a big fan of the show, but the series is Alan’s vision of Sookie. More interview and Source Finally got my hands on a nice copy of some of the True Blood cast at Comic-Con this past weekend courtesty of Ew.com
They all seem to have enjoyed themselves and i'm sure the fans did too! First off, I have to say poor Tommy. I can't honestly say I don't blame him for killing his parents. They were so horrible and abuser to him and the final straw came with Joe-lee chaining Tommy up for god knows what. The guilt will probably eat away at him the rest of the Season. But hopefully with Sam's help he won't go to jail for it. But then we should all remember how Luna told Sam and the other shifters how when one shifter kills another they can shift into pretending to be the victims. So I'm guessing Tommy will learn this and use it at his best advantage. But who knows what that will be since they were just very poor red necks. Perhaps the very least to make them seem alive for any surrounding suspicion about their where a bout's?
I have to say the whole haunting going on with Arlene and Terry is kind of amusing. Making them both squirm all over the place dealing with their baby Mikey. Having the Reverend and his new wife (who just happens to be Tara's Mother) coming over singing and waving sage all over the place was interesting for a slight comic-relief. That song was actually pretty catchy! I hope we find out soon if it is in fact Rene haunting them or some sort of other entity that is just bored and messing with them. Either way that creepy old doll definitely needs to go! Poor poor Jason. He is finally able to get away from Hot Shot and the incestuous, animal nature. To be saved by Jessica, to only now to have dreams about his best friends girlfriend. If anything that will cause even more problems with Jessica and Hoyt. I don't think that relationship is long for this world with all the things happening between them lately. I am curious as to how long glamour's last though? Will Hoyt eventually remember what happened and have it out with Jessica? Or maybe she'll give into guilt and confess what she did. Either way it's not looking good between them and Jason fantasizing about Jess will only make things worse. I am glad that Bill decided to glamour Portia into staying away from him. That was just some creepy stuff going on between them. I know they're so removed from being related, but still ICK. Although I do like the idea of seeing Bill dating other women then obsessing about 'Sookeh' all the time and manipulating her so much. I think seeing him away from that relationship will make the fans come back to liking Bill again. But they'll probably still have him hovering around Sookie every now and then to keep all the stories intertwined. I have to say a huge sigh of relief came over me when it was revealed that Eric was just dreaming about feasting on Sookie with the influence of Godric. That would have put a damper on everyone waiting for some Sookie and Eric love affair. And finally we got to see them finally embrace (even it was only for a tiny bit at the end of the episode to keep us waiting for the next episode as HBO likes to do). But Pam really? Did you really have to tell Bill where Eric is hiding? God knows how much Bill is going to flip out over that and run to her house. I'm guessing to see them in a compromising position. Especially since Bill always seemed to think he 'owned' Sookie and now he is a little power hungry with being the new King of Louisiana. It's not going to be pretty next Sunday that's for one thing.. A few of the cast members and Alan Ball have decided to speak up for the Trevor Project and make their own 'It get's Better' videos. I think it's a fantastic campaign in today's world where there is so much bullying going on. No matter what they say or do to you. It DOES get better. This is Alexander Skarsgard's. But click below for other's videos. If other cast choose to participate I'll update this post with theirs as well :)
- Kristin Bauer (Van Straten) - Rutina Wesley - Alan Ball - Stephen Moyer - Anna Paquin - Britt Morgan - Nelsan Ellis - Sam Trammell - Deborah Ann Woll - Joe Manganiello - Janina Gavankar - Todd Lowe - Carrie Preston - Jim Parrack - Ryan Kwanten / Chris Bauer - Fiona Shaw - Kevin Alejandro - Lauren Bowles |