VIDEO: True Blood’s Stephen, Alex and Ryan Are On The Sexiest Men List

True Blood’s Stephen Moyer, Alexander Skarsgard and Ryan Kwanten have been included in this year’s People’s Magazine “100 Sexy Men In 1 Minute Sexiest Man Alive Video.”  The video shows Alex at the 20 second mark, Ryan at the 39 second mark and Stephen at the 1 minute mark.  Good to see our True Blood men represented but they left out a few of our other good looking men from True Blood such as Sam, Nelsan, Todd, Jim and Michael.

VIDEO: True Blood Cast in Paris For Season 2 Premiere

On November 5, 2009 Alexander Skarsgard, Sam Trammell, Michelle Forbes, and Rutina Wesley attended the premiere of Season 2 of True Blood in Paris, France at the Max Linder Cinema.  In the video Alex, Sam, Rutina and Michelle do a Q & A session before the screening of episode 1 and 2. Sam has studied in France before yet he was hesitate to give his answer in French.  Now my French is a little rusty but I believe the announcer is informing the audience that Sam can speak French and then asks Sam to explain the spirit of True Blood to which Sam states in French, “My God, I don’t speak French very well.”

Sex, Blood and Vampires

Vampires seem to be, to borrow a phrase from the fashionistas, the new black right now. Unsurprising, really. They are hot, they don’t age, don’t need botox, and, judging from the raunchy HBO True Blood’s Bill Compton, Eric Northman and Pam, they look good in anything that’s black and leather.

The word vampire has almost become synonymous with Bram Stoker’s Dracula, one of the best-selling books of all time. Stoker’s Dracula is said to owe something to Vlad III of Wallachia who lived in the 15^th century and had a habit of impaling his victims on stakes. But Stoker’s conception of the vampire has shape-shifted and fragmented throughout the world in ways he would barely comprehend, and probably not even recognize.

Indeed, the vampire may seem to be a creature living on the margins of society, but we’ve always had a contradictory relationship with the vampire. Central to the stories humans tell each other, these creatures exist in folklore that stretch back through to ancient times. Almost every culture appears to have some sort of legend about vampires or hungry ghosts who feed on the energy of the living, in one way or another. Yet, very few of them bear any resemblance to Bela Lugosi descending the staircase, holding a flickering candle that improbably lights the cavernous great hall of his castle for the legendary cinematographer Karl Freund. And while some of these other folklores around the world are similar to the traditional Central European myths that have been incorporated into Gothic literature and cinematic lore, there are quite a few which depart from the traditional vampire lore.

The earliest account of these creatures of the night derives from Mesopotamia. Lamatsu was a serpent demon who reportedly stole children from their homes and devoured them. Another incarnation of Lamatsu appears later, in the guise of Lilith. In early Hebraic writings, Lilith took the form of a winged demon with the body of a woman with owl-like talons for feet. She was reported to be the first wife of Adam (before Eve was created). Lilith was formed of the same earth from which Adam was created, therefore, she considered herself his equal. That being the case, Lilith refused to be submissive. She was subsequently banished to the demon realm. Lilith’s offspring were damned to become demons with Lilith taking the title of “Mother of Demons.”

In China, a vampire is created when a recently deceased corpse is possessed by a demon, usually after suicide or a violent death without a proper burial. Unlike the vampires in the West, the Chiang Shih (also known as Jiang Shi) is said to be covered with white or green hair over its entire body. It is also said to have long claws, teeth and glowing red eyes. I think it’s safe to say that it is hardly an attractive specimen when compared to the highly decorative vampires of True Blood. Breathing the Chiang Shih’s breath can be lethal but apparently, it can be repelled by garlic, salt and barriers of rice, thunder or a bullet.

In the Philippines, we have the Aswang. Apparently, the Aswang appears as a beautiful woman but at night, it is compelled to seek victims. It attacks by using a long tubular tongue to drink their blood. After feeding, it appears pregnant. One of the most fearsome creatures of Malay folklore is the Pontianak, a vampire like entity, she (the Pontianak is always female) is characterized by ear-piercing shrieks, long flowing hair and a penchant for the blood of children.

In Japan, we have the Gaki. Similar to the vampires in the West, it drinks the blood of corpses and appears pale-skinned, cold with hollow features. The can also shape-shift, transforming into animals or impersonating living people. Some of the oldest can stalk their prey invisibly. In Scotland, we have the BaoBahan Sith that usually disguises itself as a beautiful maiden who preys on young men, lured the victims to their deaths through song and dance. In folklore, it is said that this vampire always dresses in green to hide their cloven feet.

The Dearg-Due is a dreaded creature of Ireland whose name means blood sucker. An ancient vampire who dates back to Celtic times, it is still feared. The only way to curb its vampiric activities is to pile stones on the grave of any who might be suspected of housing such a beast. On the other hand, the Upier, a Polish vampire, is said to sleep in blood, rise at Midday and go to sleep at Midnight. It is also said to have a barbed tongue with which it consumes large amounts of blood. The Asanbosam, West African vampires, are unlike their European cousins, preferring to live in trees rather than coffins.  They take human form but instead of feet, they have iron teeth and hooks.

Let’s face it: unfortunately, the vampires of folklore pale in comparison when compared to True Blood’s Vampire Bill, with his Southern charm or even the Viking vampire, Eric Northman, who is really interesting. In Eric Northman, we have a powerful, dangerous, yet captivating 1000-year-old, leather-wearing, club owning vampire. Compare to these other loathsome creatures of folklore, what’s not to like about these particular vampire?

Source: Skyscanner

Photo credits: HBO Inc

Anna Paquin in Long Island for The Romantics

Anna Paquin (True Blood HBO’s telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse) is in the North Fork area of Long Island filming her new project, the independant film The Romantics, with costars Katie Holmes, Elijah Wood, and Josh Duhamel. Filming in the area will continue into early December, so Anna will be busy right up until True Blood begins filming Season 3.

The production company, Plum Pictures, describes the film as “a zeitgeist love story and generational comedy, taking place over the course of one night at a deluxe seaside wedding” in which “seven close friends — all members of a tight, eclectic college clique — reconvene to watch two of their own tie the knot.”

Anna plays Lila, the bride-to-be, while maid of honor Laura will be played by Katie Holmes.  The film centers on a love triangle between the groom, Tom, played by Josh Duhamel, and Laura and Lia who have both been involved with and fought over him for years.  Director Galt Niederhoffer adapted the screenplay from her novel of the same name.

The Romantics is due for release in 2010.

SOURCES: The Riverhead News Review and IMDB.com

(Photo Credit: Albert. Ortega/PR Photos via iCelebZ.com)

Alexander Skarsgard Talks about True Blood and Straw Dogs

On November 5th Alexander Skarsgard joined his costars Sam Trammell, Michelle Forbes, and Rutina Wesley for the premiere of True Blood in Paris, France at the Max Linder Cinema. Alexander had just flown in from Sweden where he was re-shooting some scenes for his new movie, “Puss”. Prior to this Alexander was in New York where he spoke to JustJared.com. The interviewed started with Alex being asked about his character in another new movie he is starring in, “Straw Dogs”. Alexander had this to say:

“I play a guy named Charlie who’s a guy from Mississippi who was a big star when he was younger — the quarterback of the football team. He was dating Kate Bosworth’s character, who was the cheerleader — the hottest girl in school — and everything was perfect. He had the best life and people were, like, “You’re going to play in the NFL someday!” And then he got injured and nothing really happened for him. The movie starts later [in Charlie's life] and he’s in his late twenties — he’s gotten bitter in a way. And [Kate's character] comes back with her new boyfriend (James Maden), who’s a Hollywood screenwriter. The movie’s about the dynamic between the three of them when they come back, how Charlie reacts to that. He wants her back…”

Alex was then asked what it was like working with the lovely Kate Bosworth to which Alex stated that “she’s amazing” and that she did a great job on the film and she has become a good friend of his.  Alex explained that his favorite part of working on a fim such as “Straw Dogs” was working with such an amazing cast and crew which included James Marsden, Rhys Coiro, Drew Powell, Billy Lush, and director Rod Lurie.

In the interview Alex was asked about a sighting that was made of him and the cast of Straw Dogs at a Britney Spears concert. Alex explained that the cast had been given tickets and it was a Saturday night and there was nothing else going on that night so they did go to the concert. Alex was also asked if he had been able to see any of the musicals on Broadway while he was in New York. Alex admits he is not much of a musical fan and that he actually prefers plays. He did say that he saw “Hair” and really enjoyed the music in it. When asked if he would ever attempt to perform on Broadway, Alex responded:

“I want to do more plays, definitely. That’s what I did when I was in Sweden – I did a lot of stage work. So I like to go back and forth between movies, television and stage. I think that keeps me motivated as an actor and keeps me on my toes, so I definitely want to do more theater. I did plays like Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? only they were in Swedish ’cause I was in Stockholm.”

Since this interview was conducted two weeks ago when Alex was in New York City, he was asked how he planned on celebrating Halloween. Alex explained that he would be working on Halloween in Sweden. He laughed about it because he actually thought this was a good thing because if he was in the states everyone would expect him to dress up as Eric the vampire. When asked if he was over the vampire craze yet, Alex said:

“No, I love it. I can’t say that I’m up-to-date on the other shows – I know there are plenty of shows out there, but I’m having a great time on our show and I’m very excited to go back to working with the crew and the cast again. They’re kind of my family now, so I definitely miss them. I’m excited to start again and it’s going to be a fun season.”

Alexander is expected back with his True Blood castmates in December to begin filming season 3 of True Blood.

SOURCE:  JustJared.com

Photo Credit: Photo Credit: Albert L. Ortega / PR Photos via exposay.com

Charlaine Harris Discusses Her Books with ABC News

For whatever reason, people can’t get enough of vampires these days. Charlaine Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse series, has fans anxiously awaiting the next installment in her story, Dead in the Family, due out in May 2010. In the meantime, she will only offer teasers about what’s to come. That’s what she did in her recent interview with Cassie White from ABC News, where she also talked about the success of Twilight and her feelings about True Blood.

Charlaine suspects that people are drawn to vampires because of the intriguing notion of immortality. That eternal youth is an attractive thing. She accepts that her series is often compared to Twilight because of the human-vampire love story, but the originality of her ideas is clear given that Dead Until Dark was released before Twilight. She doesn’t think there needs to be a competition between the two series, and is in fact happy for Stephenie Meyer’s success:

“I see our series as complementing each other. I attract an older readership generally, though I think we do share quite a few readers and I’m glad of that. But I don’t think people are just going to buy one book, or go see just one vampire movie or TV show a year. I think they’re going to want to experience different shadings of offerings in those fields.”

She seems to be very gracious on this subject, holding the view that there’s plenty of vampire fandom to share!

Charlaine loves True Blood, the television adaptation of her work. She appreciates being surprised when events are different than in her books, but she is also excited when something she wrote makes it to the screen:

“Every now and then they use a line I wrote and it just tickles me pink when I hear it. And I love to see my credit at the beginning of every show.”

She has a great relationship of trust with the show’s creator, Alan Ball, and knows what it means to have your work adapted–they can change whatever they want. She put Sookie into Alan’s care because he understood the essence of the story:

“I had to hand all control over to Alan Ball. But having said that, I was pretty careful about who I handed it over to. So I really can’t complain about what he’s done and in fact I’m very happy.”

Alan did, however, get Charlaine into a bit of trouble with fans of her Southern gentleman vampire, Bill Compton, when he mentioned at the Paley Center panel with the True Blood writers that she almost killed Bill at the end of book 9, Dead and Gone:

“I did not kill Bill. Alan sort of said something at PaleyFest in an interview. He said, ‘Charlaine thought about killing Bill in the last book but she was talked out of it.’ That was something of a mis-statement and I certainly wish he hadn’t made it! In casual conversation I mentioned that had been one of the possible endings for Dead and Gone and that I’d thought about it and discarded it. But the truth is, and I think almost every writer does this, I’ve considered killing every character at one time or another, and some of them I follow through with. but some I decide I need to be alive.”

So what does that mean for Bill’s future is still pretty unclear. Charlaine did reveal that Sookie would not be having any steamy, intimate moments with her first love in book 10, but she would not explain further what are Bill’s chances for being the one for Sookie.

One question that was sent in to Charlaine by a reader for the interview was regarding a statement that Charlaine once made that she didn’t understand why so many fans love Eric so much? The reader wanted clarification to this statement since in her eyes she felt that Charlaine had written the Eric character as always being there for Sookie, fulfilling her needs, being truthful and being emotionally connected to Sookie.

“I’m not denying that’s one side of Eric, but he’s also a ruthless killer and I think some of my readers tend to forget that in their enthusiasm for his sexier habits.”

Charlaine doesn’t plays favorites when it comes to which suitor for Sookie she enjoys writing the most. She enjoys writing about all of them and that each of them have qualities that she admires otherwise she would have never created them and made them likely candidates for Sookie’s attention and affection.

SOURCES:

abc.net.au

blogs.abc.net.au

(Photo credit: Albert L. Ortego / PR Photos)

Alan Ball: From American Suburbia to Louisiana Vampires

As we all know Alan Ball is the driving force behind the phenomenal True Blood series.  If you look back into the career of this exceptionally talented writer you will see that it all began with a satirical screenplay, “American Beauty”. American Beauty was Alan’s view on typical American suburbia. Alan explained that the script was meant:

“to be an indictment of the shallowness of American values that [Americans] are basically conditioned from birth to accept as gospel. In that regard, I don’t know if there is any more scathing indictment of American culture than American culture itself.”

Prior to American Beauty, which won Ball the 1999 Academy Award for best original screenplay, Alan had been working on the most American genre: sitcoms. American Beauty threw Alan Ball into the spotlight. Alan had this to say about the new found notoriety:

“It was a strange experience… It’s a place that I’m not entirely comfortable. And all the things that are really, really huge traps for an artist of any kind were all just sprung on me at once.”

After American Beauty Ball created the hugely popular HBO Series, “Six Feet Under”. The show ran for five seasons and chronicled the lives of a family of morticians. In 2008 Ball once again worked with the Home Box Office Company and created the new phenomenal hit, “True Blood”. True Blood is an adaptation of Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse novels. Ball discovered Charlaine’s novels while he was waiting for his dental appointment. At the bookstore he was amused by the tagline of one of her books, “Dead Until Dark” , ‘Maybe having a vampire for a boyfriend wasn’t such a good idea after all’. Alan instantly bought the book. Alan admits he couldn’t put it down. As Alan was in the midst of the fourth book he started to envision the books becoming a TV series.

“What I really loved, was that they walked this razor’s edge of tone between romance and the supernatural and horror and comedy and social commentary and Wal-Mart trailer park people… I just found it delightful. It was so escapist and so much fun.”

True Blood has further cemented Ball’s warm relationship with television, in which, it seems, he is content.

“It’s just a lot easier to get interesting, complicated, morally ambiguous stories about flawed characters done on the small screen, than it is on the big screen.”

With such an amazing ability to write about such disparate matters, Alan explains how he deals with such depressing issues:

“One of my ways of dealing with depressing matters, is to make fun of them. It is one of the things that I learned in adolescence, and I’ve never really outgrown it because it has helped me survive a lot.”

As an ending note, Alan Ball will host a screening of True Blood at 10:30 am Sunday, November 8, at UVA’s Culbreth Theatre, 109 Culbreth Road, Charlottesville, VA. At noon that same ay, also at Culbreth, he will introduce American Beauty, which will be followed by a Q&A.  A wonderful opportunity to see Alan in person!

SOURCE:  The Hook

Photo Credit:  HBO Inc.

Ryan Kwanten Featured in Celebrity Portrait Book

Ryan Kwanten who plays the sexy Jason Stackhouse on True Blood will be featured along with 100 other celebrities, in the new book, “About Face”. This is a limited edition (1500 copies) book of portraits done by top celebrity photographer, John Russo. The book is scheduled to be released February 2010 by Pixie Press Worldwide. The book consists of 160 pages of black and white photos shot with Type 55 polaroid film. Jordana Woodland Goguen who is the publisher with Pixie Press Worldwide said she was immediately intrigued when she found out Russo was shooting the portraits. “When Russo showed us the first prints, we were struck by their bold simplistic beauty and our About Face collaboration began,” explained Goguen. The mission for Russo was to capture and record the raw beauty, intrigue, and power of the male face. Type 55 film is now extinct, but it will live on through the beautiful images in Russo’s book.

SOURCE:  Yahoo Finance

Photo Credits:  John Russo

Bill And Eric On The List For The Battle Of The Hottest Vampires

In a list that is sure to start some heated arguments, GuidetoBeautySchools.com ranks the hottest male vampires of film and television. Read on to find out where your favorites from True Blood, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Twilight, and The Vampire Diaries stand, and then feel free to defend or rearrange them in the comments!

20. Stuart Townsend- Lestat, Queen of the Damned

19. Paul Wesley- Stefan, The Vampire Diaries

18. Ethan Hawke- Edward, Daybreakers

17. Aidan Turner- Mitchell, Being Human

16. Kellan Lutz- Emmett Cullen, Twilight

15. Jason Patric- Michael, The Lost Boys

14. Alex O’Loughlin- Mick St. John, Moonlight

13. Tom Cruise- Lestat de Lioncourt, Interview with the Vampire

12. Ian Somerhalder- Damon Salvatore, The Vampire Diaries

11. Gerard Butler- Dracula, Dracula 2000

10. Stephen Moyer- Bill Compton, True Blood

9. Wesley Snipes- Blade, Blade

8. Jason Dohring- Josef Kostan, Moonlight

7. Brad Pitt- Louis de Pointe du Lac, Interview with the Vampire

6. Kiefer Sutherland- David, The Lost Boys

5. David Boreanaz- Angel, Buffy the Vampre Slayer/Angel

4. Antonio Banderas- Armand, Interview with the Vampire

3. Alexander Skarsgard- Eric Northman, True Blood

2. Robert Pattinson- Edward Cullen, Twilight

1. James Marsters- Spike, Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel

Their reasoning behind Bill being relatively low on the list is that, good looks and old-fashioned manners aside, he is not very interesting. And he doesn’t dress well. There are not enough words in the English language to disagree with that as strongly as I would like to. First of all, Bill can never go wrong with a henley and some tight pants. Or with no clothes at all. Also, how is it not interesting to have a vampire who is tortured by what he is?! He was turned against his will simply because he was a good man that Lorena found worthy to be her companion. He almost staked himself to stop from being a monster like his maker wanted him to be. He fell in love with Sookie and has found his way back to his humanity. He’s still a vampire and flawed. So sometimes he slips up and does something wrong, but he has someone who loves him and forgives him because she knows that he would sacrifice himself to protect her. If that’s not layered, I don’t know what is!

Eric earned a higher spot on the list because he is more of a bad boy, but why that automatically makes him hotter is beyond me.

On the one hand we have a whiney, questionable dresser, who plays Wii. On the other hand, we have a powerful, leather-wearing, club owning badass who can tell the other hand what to do.

This is clearly a matter of opinion, and the debate between Bill and Eric among True Blood fans will never be resolved. We’ve all got to agree to disagree on that one. But what we can all agree on is how crazy we are about this show. It has two great guys to fantasize over, both of whom should be higher on a list of hottest vampires than #10 and #3. And this is coming from someone who also watches Buffy and loves Spike and Angel, but seriously- True Blood is by nature sexier. Thoughts?

SOURCE: guidetobeautyschools.com

(Photo credits: HBO Inc.)

Junie Lowry-Johnson Wins 2009 Artios Award for Casting True Blood

Junie Lowry-Johnson, casting director for HBO’s True Blood vampire drama series, won a 2009 Artios Award for Best Casting for a Television Pilot – Drama at The Casting Society of America’s 25th Annual Artios Awards ceremony held at The Times Center, in the newly built New York Times Building.

True Blood’s Carrie Preston (Arlene Fowler) was on hand at the awards ceremony as a presenter, and comedian Janeane Garofalo hosted the event.

The Artios Awards recognizes outstanding achievement in casting based on the criteria of originality, creativity and contribution of casting to the overall quality of a project. The term “Artios” is from the ancient Greek word meaning “perfectly fitted.” Earlier this year, Junie won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for her casting work on True Blood, but since the Artios Awards are presented by her peers in the field, this award is a true testament to her work.

BroadwayWorld.com has a complete list of winners from the event.

Carrie Preston looked lovely in black as she walked the red carpet before the event.

SOURCE: BroadwayWorld.com and Backstage.com

(Photo credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd. via broadwayworld.com and Albert L. Ortega / PR Photos)

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